The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials recently sent a comment letter to the Federal Aviation Administration regarding the agency’s “Designation: Restrict the Operation of Unmanned Aircraft in Close Proximity to a Fixed Site Facility” notice of proposed rulemaking or NPRM published in the Federal Register on May 6.
[Above image by FAA]
AASHTO said in its letter that it broadly supports the FAA’s NPRM as its “approach appropriately balances the need to protect critical infrastructure with the continued safe and authorized use of the national airspace.”
The organization noted that it also supports FAA’s approach of avoiding broad no-fly zones by instead providing owners and operators of critical infrastructure with a defined pathway to request site-specific protections.
“Managing access for vetted and known operators is especially important for state departments of transportation that rely on unmanned aircraft to conduct maintenance, inspection, and hazard monitoring activities along transportation corridors, bridges, tunnels, and other infrastructure that may fall within new or future restricted areas,” AASHTO said.
Additionally, the organization “further supports” the FAA’s proposed burden of proof, which is necessary to prevent the over-designation of facilities as critical infrastructure and to avoid unnecessary restrictions on unmanned aircraft activity.
“This approach appropriately focuses on facilities whose disruption would have consequences beyond local impacts,” AASHTO said.
