In early June, the drone industry was buzzing over President Trump’s two executive orders regarding drone regulations. In particular, UAV professionals and advocates were excited about the “Unleashing American Drone Dominance" executive order, which set a 30-day deadline for the FAA to put forth a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for drone flights beyond visual line of site (BVLOS). According to the order, the final BVLOS rule, known as “Part 108,” would be issued within 240 days of the publication of the NPRM.

Missed Deadlines

However, the 30-day NPRM deadline of July 6 has come and gone, and the notice has yet to be issued. This setback continues a series of missed deadlines by the FAA. Last year, for example, President Biden signed the FAA reauthorization Act of 2024 in May. That act gave the FAA a September 16 deadline to publish a Part 108 NPRM. As noted in Commercial UAV News, that deadline passed without action.

Not surprisingly, industry leaders have been frustrated by the lack of progress on Part 108. Compounding the problem, a series of mysterious drone sightings over the northeastern US in late 2024 led to widespread public concern over drone operations, and the stepping down of FAA administrator Mike Whitaker in January 2025 left a leadership vacuum at the top of the agency. Trump’s drone-focused executive orders, however, did much to raise hopes in the industry that regulatory action was coming soon and commercial drone operations would finally benefit from clear rules enabling longer flights.

New FAA Chief

It remains to be seen whether the FAA will issue the Part 108 NPRM in the near future, but there has been some encouraging recent news for the drone industry. In early July, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Bryan Bedford as the head of the Federal Aviation Administration. Bedford, the former CEO of Republic Airlines, has 35 years of experience in the aviation industry. Industry leaders, including the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International and the Commercial Drone Alliance, see Bedford’s appointment as an opportunity to bring stability to drone industry policy.

Progress on BVLOS Waivers

Another piece of encouraging news came in the form of a Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General report on BVLOS waivers. Released in late June, the “FAA Has Made Progress in Advancing BVLOS Drone Operations but Can Do More To Achieve Program Goals and Improve Data Analysis” study found a dramatic increase in BVLOS waivers over the past few years. According to the study, the “FAA increased approvals for BVLOS operations from 1,229 in 2020 to 26,870 in 2023.” To spur this increase, the agency “used small UAS rule waivers, air carrier operating certificates, and regulatory exemptions.”

The study was conducted to “assess FAA’s efforts to advance beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations outside the parameters of existing drone regulations.” As such, it made several recommendations to enhance the FAA’s efforts to advance BVLOS drone operations. These include improvements to the BEYOND program, the consolidation of drone flight data across FAA programs, and the creation of “a formal policy on how to incorporate societal and economic benefit data into future operational assessments for specific BVLOS drone operations.”