jebmo’s posthaven

The space above your head—currently filled with sky, maybe some clouds, and the passing bird or plastic bag—is valuable. Many a company would rather see it filled with drones, saving lives with emergency drugs, delivering items you ordered online, monitoring crops, and handling a bajillion other tasks. But if given free rein, some worry, these quadcopter capitalists might darken the sky with their machines, deafen us with their buzzing, and shower debris on those below when they inevitably collide.

To avoid an aerial apocalypse, the FAA has so far taken a restrictive approach to drones. It limits commercial operation by requiring permits and imposing restrictions like banning beyond-line-of-sight flights and nighttime operations.

That approach won’t work forever. The FAA is already inundated with requests to operate outside those restrictions, which it sifts through on a case-by-case basis, sometimes taking months to give the thumbs up. But while it prioritizes safety, the agency does want to help drones take off.

That’s why today, in a widely welcomed move, the FAA announced it is granting a much greater degree of freedom to 10 drone programs around the country in what it’s calling an Integration Pilot Program. The goal is test a variety of ways to open up the skies, without yielding the control that has made American aviation incredibly safe.

This effort started last year, when the regulator asked drone operators and builders to partner up with state, local, or tribal governments to propose ideas that would work in their jurisdictions. The forced combination of public and private bodies is supposed to give the FAA insight into how much power it should give local municipalities, if it eventually expands the permissions nationwide.

Out of 150 applications, the FAA selected these 10. In typical government style, the announcement was big on pontificating politicians and short on detail. The FAA announced the authority that will lead each project. Now it’s up to them to now figure out the particulars and make their own, detailed announcements about what their drones will be doing.

“A successful drone-based package delivery system is totally reliant on the ability to fly drones beyond visual line of sight, and until recently those permissions have been distinctly limited by the FAA due to safety and implementation concerns,” says Diana Cooper, who leads policy and strategy at PrecisionHawk, which designs the autonomous systems drones need to fly when a pilot can't see it. It’s one of the partners selected in a North Carolina Department of Transportation proposal that will use drones for medical deliveries.

Another winner is the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority. (To give you an idea of how big these projects are: Its partners are the city of Memphis, the University of Memphis, the Tennessee Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division, Agricenter International, FedEx, GE subsidiaries AirXOS and Avitas, Intel, Flirtey, 901Drones, Express Drone Parts, and ForeverReady Productions.) Its five use cases include monitoring the perimeter fence at Memphis airport and checking the runway for debris. FedEx will use drones to deliver aircraft parts to maintenance crews. Nearby farmers will use the aircraft to watch their crops, and the city of Memphis has plans for aerial infrastructure inspections.

Drone builder Flirtey is working with four authorities selected under the Integration Pilot Program. In Reno, Nevada, it will use drones to deliver defibrillators in response to 911 calls, using a network of FedEx stores as bases. It thinks dropping the heart-jolting devices from the sky—before an ambulance can arrive—could let bystanders perform effective first aid. “Based on historical cardiac arrest data, one Flirtey drone equipped with a defibrillator can save one life every two weeks in Reno,” says CEO Matthew Sweeney.

Zipline, a drone operator already running a national drone blood delivery system in Rwanda, wants to start operations in the US. It’s part of a proposal from North Carolina, which will also involve Flirtey, Matternet, and AirMap, a company tasked with “deconflicting”—that’s making sure these things don’t fly into each other.

“The genius of the Integration Pilot Program is that it relies on collaboration to open the skies, harmonizing the way society balances the concerns of some communities with our desire to quickly achieve the full promise of drone technology,” says AirMap cofounder Greg McNeal.

Other parts of the country that might start seeing increased drone activity include San Diego, where drones could help monitor the border and run medical deliveries. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma wants to keep an eye on livestock herds and test the effect of weather on drones. North Dakota will run night flights, and Kansas will investigate how rural communities could use drones. The University of Alaska, Fairbanks will use them for remote surveys, and Lee County Mosquito Control District, in Florida, thinks drones could be key to controlling other flying pests.

Conspicuously absent are Amazon and other companies that have proposed using drones to deliver consumer goods. For these pilots, the FAA emphasized the “worthy” projects, with an emphasis on medical deliveries.

“While it’s unfortunate the applications we were involved with were not selected, we support the Administration’s efforts to create a pilot program aimed at keeping America at the forefront of aviation and drone innovation,” Amazon's head of public policy, Brian Huseman, said in a statement.

The emphasis on do-goodery is likely a smart move when it comes to public acceptance of drones. Communities are more likely to welcome an emergency anti-venom delivery buzzing over them than one carrying your latest impulse buy. But US secretary of transportation Elaine Chao says she’s asking the FAA to talk to many of the partnerships that weren’t selected to see if they can operate under the current rules or with waivers.

Meanwhile, the people running the projects that did make the cut are keen to get started. Flirtey, for one, is hoping to start deliveries of defibrillators in just 90 days. Expect to see a flurry of announcements—and to hear that unmistakable buzz.

Open Skies