By: Dawn Zoldi
The FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations presents significant practical impacts for small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) businesses. Experts at the recent Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA) BVLOS Stakeholder Summit evaluated where the rule supports entrepreneurship and safety…and where it risks burdening or sidelining small operators. Here’s the breakdown.
Key Proposed Rule Requirements Affecting Small Operators
The NPRM aims to chart a new path for integration of small UAS into airspace, with an emphasis on enabling diverse applications ranging from package delivery and emergency response to infrastructure inspection.
Central mandates in the draft rule include the introduction of a two-tiered structure: “permitted” operations with lighter paperwork for smaller, simpler missions, and “certificated” operations for larger, higher-risk undertakings. Other cornerstones are population-density-based limits, safety management system (SMS) requirements, extended record-keeping, and explicit operator training standards, augmented by oversight on area of operations and strategic deconfliction protocols.
While the FAA intends to spur economic opportunity with the rule, as always, robust safety standards remain imperative for the agency. Small business stakeholders in the UAS sector expressed concern over unintended consequences. Some requirements that appear manageable for large companies may prove disproportionately difficult for leaner operations.
Successes: Where the Rule Supports Small Businesses
Genuine scalability can occur when intent meets implementation. We’ve already seen how recently streamlined processes have reduced procedural times from years to months and accelerated lifesaving deployments for public agencies. Along those lines, experts seem to wholeheartedly embrace the inclusion of a “permitted” operational entry point. Unlike the more demanding “certificated” status, permitted operations allow small firms to participate with manageable paperwork and costs, which should catalyze local entrepreneurship and public safety missions.
The NPRM also incorporates organizational SMS principles and shifted risk responsibility from individuals to entities. This approach provides a structural platform that mid-sized companies can use to scale operations safely and robustly while also embedding aviation safety culture into foundational business practices. Related training requirements make room for defined upskilling and consistent safety oversight. This should support workforce growth.
Shortfalls: Critical Concerns for Small Operators
Despite some strengths, the proposal seems to have triggered concerns over hidden barriers. Experts observed that many of the proposed provisions would impose significant proportional costs on small companies. In particular, compliance infrastructure, reporting and the technical leap required to move from “permitted” to “certificated” status has smaller operations worried. Some rule elements which might prove workable for multinationals with legal and IT departments, may overwhelm a single-operator farm business, a local contractor or a smaller niche delivery provider.
Fleet Caps: Knee-Capping Effect?
Experts viewed fleet size as a proxy for operational complexity as especially contentious. Some argued that the rule’s arbitrary threshold, such as the 100-aircraft cap, creates dangerous regulatory cliffs. The addition of a single drone could suddenly position an operator into a vastly different compliance regime. This could freeze growth and discourage ambition.
The rule’s current fleet-size caps are also viewed as a proxy for complexity, lacking sensitivity to operational diversity. For example, an operator delivering packages in a low-density region may reach the permitted threshold quickly but still operate at lower systemic risk than a high-density urban service. Without more nuanced scaling, these hard numbers risk undermining organic UAS business growth.
Recordkeeping Burdens: Death By 1000 Paper Cuts
Thought leaders voiced significant criticisms about data management burdens. The rule envisions lengthy record retention, anywhere from twelve to twenty-four months depending on context, for data covering everything from flights and deliveries to personnel training files. While this may match established aviation standards, the infrastructure and cost involved in collecting, storing and producing “oceans of data” sits uneasily with single-operator, small-scale missions.
Experts also expressed skepticism that such broad record retention would actually improve safety, especially when the overwhelming volume of routine records might mask the truly relevant information, such as anomalies and root causes of failures. Public safety and commercial proponents argued that more focused reporting, centered on exceptions and accidents, would offer better regulatory value than a blanket paper trail. For vertically integrated firms with their own IT systems, compliance might be arduous but achievable. For solo operators or public agencies, this requirement could present a crushing challenge.
Complexity, Growth and Fleeting Up
The transition from permitted to certificated status seems to be a gray area in the rule. While experts welcome the ability to start under less stringent rules, the step-up presents practical questions, such as: can small companies grow their compliance mechanisms fast enough to keep up with business demand if a new contract doubles their fleet size overnight?
The experience of one participant with Part 135 certification, a 16-month process at lightning speed, raised doubts about whether regulatory throughput can match business realities. Will the regulators themselves be able to keep up with all the paperwork that might be generated?
Training, Certification and Operational Approvals
The proposed rules emphasize operational and organizational training to embed a systematic safety culture through documented procedures and SMS platforms. While most stakeholders see merit in this, ambiguity over what actually constitutes adequate preparation for scaling from permitted to certificated status troubles even experienced trainers. Some areas, such as training in real operational environments with specific aircraft types, require additional clarity so small businesses can confidently invest in internal programs and know their investment will carry forward as they expand.
Some leaders warned that requirements like strategic deconfliction and explicit area-of-operations approvals unnecessarily add bureaucratic overhead, particularly where there is minimal operational overlap or urgency. Operational approvals, in particular the requirement for FAA sign-off on every new area of operations, sparked frustration for businesses that serve dynamic sectors like infrastructure inspection or on-demand training. The lag time to secure approvals will surely clash with the need for rapid response, especially in disaster relief or urgent public safety support. Many believe this element, imported from older aviation rules, needs adaptation for BVLOS small UAS realities.
The Asks: What Small Businesses Need
For the FAA’s vision to unlock genuine small-business opportunity, sector voices recommended these types of changes:
- Requirements relating to record keeping and reporting could be streamlined or tiered, with greater emphasis on anomaly detection and root-cause analysis over routine data hoarding.
- Fleet threshold triggers should be revisited and made more flexible to take into account the nature and risk profile of operations rather than imposing broad ceilings.
- Pathways for scaling from permitted to certificated status must be clearly defined and administratively manageable to minimize friction and uncertainty during business growth transitions.
- Training standards should be adaptive to emerging operational models, especially as automation and autonomy reshape operational competence.
If the final rule balances safety and access with attention to practical business realities, the UAS sector can expect a blossoming of local operators, new service markets and a safer, more vibrant airspace. Now it’s up to small businesses to make their voices heard through their own public comment.