Over the last several years the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has worked with a spectrum of drone industry participants as part of it’s Drone Advisory Committee.
The DAC is a broad-based, long-term Federal advisory committee that provides the FAA with advice on key UAS integration issues by helping to identify challenges and prioritize improvements. The committee helps to create broad support for an overal integration strategy and vision. The committee helps to create broad support for an overall integration strategy and vision.
Membership is comprised of CEO/COO-level executives from a cross-section of stakeholders representing the wide variety of UAS interests, including industry, research and academia, retail, and technology.
The FAA just released the new slate of members for the 2021 DAC and what’s most notable about the new faces on the committee is who, and what, is no longer represented.
Brendan Schulman, VP of Policy & Legal Affairs at DJI and one of the longest serving members of the DAC is not on the new committee. Which means DJI, as the global leader in everything drone related, no longer has a voice (on behalf of DJI drone owners) in shaping FAA policy as it relates to UAS.
Some may point to the friction between China and the US as the reason for this change, as well as questions about national security and the recent blacklisting of DJI by the US Commerce Department. Either way, it’s one more small nick in DJI’s armor in the US that has the potential to create challenges for DJI users down the road.
The second item of note in the new DAC membership list is the absence of any representation from the FPV drone community. Several names were put forth, including Zoe FPV, who put out a plea in 2020 to ‘help save our hobby’.
Coincidentally, with DJI’s upcoming release of their first FPV drone, we’ve been wondering just how FPV will fit into FAA rules for VLOS, licensing and safe-airspace. With this announcement from the FAA, it doesn’t look like it will fit at all.
Also dropped from the FAA Drone Advisory Committee is a member from the Academy of Model Aeronautics, a self-supporting, non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote development of model aviation as a recognized sport and worthwhile recreation activity.
Dropping the AMA voice from the DAC is significant. The AMA is the largest model aviation association, with close to 200,000 members.
Normally drone enthusiasts, especially those in the FPV community, aren’t lining up to read mintues from or watch livestreams of FAA committee meetings. With these changes that seem to lighten any input that FPV flyers have with the FAA, that interest needs to change.
You can learn more about the FAA Drone Advisory Committee, as well as read their meeting minutes and watch streamed meetings at the FAA website.
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