UNCREWED UPDATE By AUVSI
PART 108 AND THE AIRSPACE YOU ALREADY FLY
By Scott Shtofman, VP & Counsel, Regulatory Affairs, AUVSI
If you fly power-line patrol, aerial application, EMS, news or law enforcement, you spend part of every week below 500 feet. You’ve also been sharing that airspace with drones for years, usually without incident and often with direct coordination. The FAA’s Part 108 rule for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations, now in final White House review after the proposed rule drew more than 3,000 comments, will set the terms of that sharing for the next decade. More than half of those comments were about one question: Who yields to whom?
The proposal
Drones flying under Part 108 would have right of way over crewed aircraft below 400 feet, with four exceptions: (1) when the crewed aircraft is broadcasting ADS-B Out or an approved low-cost electronic conspicuity device; (2) in Class B or C airspace; (3) during takeoff or landing at an airport or heliport; (4) over the most densely populated areas. I was a part of the framing discussions around right of way during the BVLOS Aviation Rulemaking Committee process.
Most of the helicopter community objected, and AUVSI agreed on one point: Population-based reversals do not work in a cockpit. Those zones are not charted; they shift over time and at 100 knots you cross one in seconds. AUVSI asked the FAA to drop them. A right-of-way rule that changes based on a map nobody carries, or can refer to inflight, makes everyone less safe.
The case for equipping
The equipage test is where AUVSI and much of the Rotor Pro readership likely part ways. A drone can reliably see and yield to an aircraft that is broadcasting. It cannot reliably see one that is not, and adding sensors to find non-broadcasting traffic adds weight, cost and complexity to an aircraft that weighs 55 pounds or significantly less. AUVSI asked the FAA to require electronic conspicuity for crewed aircraft below 500 feet; to authorize affordable non-certified devices so the requirement does not become a financial burden, and to keep the airport and heliport carve-out intact. Equip, and every Part 108 drone in the country is obligated to get out of your way. For a low-altitude pilot that is a better deal than today, when a drone’s ability to yield depends on what its operator can see.
Power lines and public safety
Shielded operations, including flights close to structures like power lines and towers, would carry relaxed detect-and-avoid requirements. AUVSI supports that and asked the FAA to widen the envelope, while keeping the principle that these flights stay at or below structure height, where a helicopter should not be.
20 Sept/Oct 2026
AUVSI’s comments also included a full public-safety appendix built from agencies flying drone-as-first-responder programs under today’s waivers. Chula Vista, California, alone has flown more than 25,000 responses without a midair collision. Drone units already coordinate with low-altitude helicopters as a matter of routine and the rule should let that continue.
Shared airspace, shared conversation
Part 108 will hopefully be published by the end of 2026, but the conversation will not stop there. The FAA has already reopened the docket once on right-of-way and conspicuity, and the final text may move again. The FAA, DOT, NTSB and TSA are all invited to AUVSI’s Drone and AAM Policy Symposium, Nov. 9-10 at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. Drones and helicopters share the airspace below 500 feet and the rule that governs it will be better if the pilots who fly there weigh in before it is final. Details and registration are at
auvsi.org/drone-aam-policy-symposium.
AUVSI is the world’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing uncrewed systems, autonomy and robotics, with more than 8,000 members across manufacturing, operations, public safety and academia. Membership means a seat at the table on Part 108 and every rule that follows. Learn more at
auvsi.org.
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