The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has further accelerated the expansion of drone operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) by granting two additional companies the green light for BVLOS activities. UPS Flight Forward, with its Matternet M2 drone, has received approval for small package deliveries, while uAvionix, utilizing its Rapace platform, will leverage the Vantis Network to test its detect and avoid technology. This milestone follows the FAA’s recent authorization of Phoenix Air Unmanned to conduct BVLOS operations with SwissDrones SVO 50 V2 drones for a range of purposes, including aerial work, photography, surveys, powerline inspections, and pipeline patrols.
The FAA’s decision to grant these BVLOS approvals is part of its commitment to developing standardized rules that can make BVLOS operations a routine, scalable, and economically viable facet of the drone industry. The agency is actively working on establishing a framework that can facilitate BVLOS operations safely and efficiently.