As the FAA prepares to issue final commercial drone regulations,
and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2016 (the
"FRA") heads to the House of Representatives for
deliberation, this past week the FAA quietly issued a historic
decision, approving commercial drone flights at night.
In a previous article, we analyzed Cape Productions, Inc.'s
("Cape") petition to amend its Section 333 exemption to
relax the requirement of the 500 foot operating distance from
people.1 After reviewing Cape's safety record and
its plans to mitigate risk, the FAA granted the amendment. We noted that the Cape case raised an interesting
question about what other restrictions the FAA may be willing to
relax for Section 333 exemption holders that will go the extra mile
for safety. That seems to be the case here.
