President Trump and Secretary E.Chao announce Drone Integration Pilot program

Drones are getting a massive thumbs up from the POTUS Donald Trump. President Trump and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program- an initiative aimed at exploring expanded use of drones.

Secretary Chao said in a statement, "This program supports the President's commitment to foster technological innovation that will be a catalyst for ideas that have the potential to change our day-to-day lives. Drones are proving to be especially valuable in emergency situations, including assessing damage from natural disasters such as the recent hurricanes and the wildfires in California."

The program is designed to provide regulatory certainty and stability to local governments and communities, drones owners and operators who are accepted into the program.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) said in a statement, "The pilot program will evaluate a variety of operational concepts, including night operations, flights over people, flights beyond the pilot's line of sight, package delivery, detect-and-avoid technologies, counter-UAS security operations, and the reliability and security of data links between pilot and aircraft."

This new program, however, will allow companies and local governments to use drones in ways that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently doesn't allow. That includes "beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights, nighttime operations, and flights over people," as White House advisor Michael Kratsios said.

In order to participate in the program, the USDOT will publish a Federal Register Notice with additional details on applications and how the program will work in the coming days. After evaluating all applications, USDOT will invite a minimum of five partnerships to take part in the program.