One of the leading aviation safety and BVLOS drone networks, ResilienX, has received a Certificate of Waiver from the FAA to fly BVLOS operations without visual observers. This was enabled through their partnership with NUAIR, who provides a FAA-accepted surveillance infrastructure network for the organization to operate within. This is a big win for their ORION-X network.

To better understand how this waiver will advance their operations, Commercial UAV News spoke to Ryan Pleskach, COO and co-founder of ResilienX.

At the core of ResilienX's business is ORION-X, an automated drone-as-a-service platform that abstracts the operational complexity of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flight while maintaining rigorous safety and airspace integration. Rather than focusing on a single use case, ORION-X orchestrates mission planning, risk-aware flight routing, airspace coordination, and execution across a distributed network of assets. Customers can simply request aerial data without owning or operating any equipment.

A current pilot project with a Detroit TV station illustrates the model well: ORION-X flies a drone remotely from Syracuse with a pilot based in Denver, and has the ability to hand off camera control to the news agency on scene and provides live aerial footage at a fraction of what a shared helicopter would cost. While this specific operation is conducted under a separate waiver, it demonstrates the flexibility of the ORION-X architecture to support distributed operations, including remote piloting, dynamic control handoffs, and mission execution across geographically dispersed teams within approved regulatory frameworks.

Curious about what the waiver process looked like for ResilienX while operating with NUAIR’s network, Pleskach broke down each step of this unique process. While the process may seem daunting on the surface, they got their approval in a reasonable timeframe and with only a few follow-up questions from the FAA.

"It was essentially a two-step process. The waiver itself was approved in January, and then it took another 60 days or so to merge that waiver with the NUAIR Letter of Agreement and work within both NUAIR and the FAA's requirements," said Pleskach. 

Throughout his explanation of the process, one thing was clear: providing every detail, no matter how seemingly insignificant, will keep things moving.

"If you have your documentation lined up, the process actually goes very smoothly. The FAA only came back with two or three clarifying questions on our initial submission. We made sure to over-provide information upfront, which I think really helped streamline things," explained Pleskach.

Now that they have the clearance they need, the company is wasting no time getting their current operations up to speed with this new waiver and the allowances it comes with.

"We are launching operations now in Syracuse, and actively coordinating in other areas of the country. Our pilot program in Detroit is already underway, and we're aiming to expand that to a much larger footprint by spring or summer," said Pleskach.