FAA approves, on a case-by-case basis, applications from  government agencies and private-sector entities for authority to operate  UASs in the national airspace system. These agencies  are  interested in expanded use of UASs and state and local governments  would also like to begin using UASs for law enforcement or firefighting. Small UASs could also help companies survey  pipeline or transportation infrastructure. A lack of regulations for  UASs limits their operations and leads to a lack of airspace for UAS testing  and evaluation and a lack of data that would aid in setting standards. These requirements call for a person operating an aircraft to maintain  vigilance so as to see and avoid other aircraft. FAA and DOD are addressing some technological challenges, but  TSA has not addressed the security implications of routine UAS  operations. FAA is taking steps to  develop data to use in developing standards, but has been slow to analyze  the data that it has already collected. UAPO is developing a program plan to inform the  aviation community of FAA’s perspective on all that needs to be  accomplished and the time frames required to create a regulatory  framework that will ensure UAS safety and allow UASs to have routine  access to the national airspace system. FAA Is Mitigating Anticipated Workload Increase by Automating Some COA Processing Steps, and GSA Is Working to Develop an Inventory of Federal UASs

FAA has taken some actions to mitigate the workload challenge stemming  from an anticipated increase in requests for COAs to operate UASs in the  national airspace system. Experts and Stakeholders Believe an Overarching Entity Could Facilitate Efforts to Achieve Routine UAS Access to the National Airspace System

In addition to FAA, DOD, TSA, and GSA, other federal agencies, academia,  and the private sector also have UAS expertise or a stake in obtaining  routine UAS access to the national airspace system. Congress addressed a similar coordination challenge in 2003 when it  passed legislation to create JPDO to plan for and coordinate a  transformation of the nation’s current air traffic control system to the next  generation air transportation system (NextGen) by 2025. The experts predicted that UASs  could assume some missions currently performed by manned aircraft, but  could perform these missions using engines that burn less fuel or produce  less air pollution. Matter for Congressional Consideration

To coordinate and focus the efforts of federal agencies and harness the  capabilities of the private sector so that the nation may obtain further  benefits from UASs as soon as possible, Congress should consider creating  an overarching body within FAA, as it did when it established JPDO, to  coordinate federal, academic, and private-sector efforts in meeting the  safety challenges of allowing routine UAS access to the national airspace  system. To meet this objective, we developed the following  research questions: (1) What are the current and potential uses and  benefits of UASs? (2) What challenges exist in operating UASs safely and  routinely in the national airspace system? (3) What is the federal  government’s response to these challenges? To address these questions, we surveyed the literature and also obtained  and reviewed documents and interviewed officials of government,  academic, and private-sector entities involved with UAS issues.
Why GAO Did This Study

Government and private-sector interest is growing in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for use in a variety of missions such as U.S. border protection, hurricane research, law enforcement, and real estate photography. However, UASs can fly only after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducts a case-by-case safety analysis. GAO's research questions included (1) What are the current and potential uses and benefits of UASs? (2) What challenges exist in operating UASs safely and routinely in the national airspace system? and (3) What is the federal government's response to these challenges? To address these questions, GAO reviewed the literature, interviewed agency officials and aviation stakeholders, and surveyed 23 UAS experts.

What GAO Found

UASs are currently being used by federal agencies for border security, science research, and other purposes. Local governments see potential uses in law enforcement or firefighting and the private sector sees potential uses, such as real estate photography. An industry survey states that UAS production could increase in the future to meet such government and private-sector uses. Experts predict that UASs could perform some manned aircraft missions with less noise and fewer emissions. UASs pose technological, regulatory, workload, and coordination challenges that affect their ability to operate safely and routinely in the national airspace system. UASs cannot meet aviation safety requirements, such as seeing and avoiding other aircraft. UASs lack security protection--a potential challenge if UASs proliferate as expected after obtaining routine airspace access. The lack of FAA regulations for UASs limits their operation to case-by-case approvals by FAA. Anticipated increases in requests to operate UASs could pose a workload challenge for FAA. Coordinating multiple efforts to address these challenges is yet another challenge. FAA and the Department of Defense (DOD) are addressing technological challenges. DHS has not addressed the national security implications of routine UAS access to the airspace. FAA estimates that completing UAS safety regulations will take 10 or more years, but has not yet issued its program plan to communicate the steps and time frames required for providing routine UAS access. FAA is working to allow small UASs to have airspace access and has designated specific airspace for UAS testing. It plans to use data from this testing and from DOD to develop regulations, but has not yet analyzed data that it has already collected. To address its workload challenge, FAA is using more automation. Aviation stakeholders and experts suggested that an overarching entity could help coordinate and expedite federal, academic, and private-sector efforts. In 2003, Congress created a similar entity in FAA to coordinate planning for the next generation air transportation system among multiple federal agencies and the private sector.