FAA to Finalize Drone Rule Soon

The Federal Aviation Administration announced last week it will finalize rules on commercial drone use within 12 months. This is ahead of a previous target date of early 2017.

"The rule will be in place within a year," FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker said in recent testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "Hopefully before June 17, 2016."

The accelerated timeline comes after criticism from lawmakers and industry lobbyists who say U.S. companies are losing billions of dollars in potential savings and revenues while waiting for regulators to open the way for drones.

The FAA has been granting case-by-case exemptions allowing commercial drone use in industries such as agriculture, real estate, search-and-rescue, and movie-making. Data from May 1 indicated that one in every six requests for an exemption came from an agricultural interest. To date, the FAA has reviewed more than 600 requests for exemptions.

Drone advocates expect unmanned aerial systems to transform a number of industries. At the congressional hearing, a senior Amazon.com executive told lawmakers that the e-commerce retailer would be ready to begin delivering packages to customers via drones as soon as federal rules allow. Amazon's plan calls for delivering packages to customers within 30 minutes. S