Hi all, Thanks to Nabiha for posting this link. I've been trying to understand how, if the law stated 4.4 pounds, the FAA agreements allow UAVs up to 25 pounds. With the full recognition that there's more information needed, here's one possible explanation for consideration: The law says that "Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act [e.g. May 14], the Secretary shall enter into agreements" that, among other things "allow a government public safety agency to operate unmanned aircraft weighing 4.4 pounds or less." However, the law didn't explicitly say that the FAA *couldn't* authorize heavier UAVs. It just says that UAVs of 4.4 pounds or less must be provided for. So, if the FAA had, on May 14, entered into agreements that placed an upper limit of 3 pounds, it would not have been in compliance with the law. But, a cap exceeding 4.4 pounds is apparently, from a strictly logical standpoint, believed by the FAA to be within the scope of the language. I'm not saying that I agree that this was the intent of the law, but that this may be one explanation for the 4.4 vs. 25 pound issue. If that is indeed the case, it's probably not a bad idea to re-examine the entire UAV section of the law with this sort of thing in mind to whether there are other sections where the language admits this sort of flexibility. Again, the above may not be the correct explanation, as it seems like we are missing some information regarding the decisions that led to the 25-pound number. Thanks, John
Of interest:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-14/drones-up-to-25-pounds-allowed-f...
Any speculation as to why the increase from 4.4 lbs to 25 lbs?
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