Palm Beach Post
LOS ANGELES — New rules for operating small drones in U.S. airspace have been delayed by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been weighing for years how to regulate these unmanned aircraft over populated areas.
Currently, drones are not allowed to fly in the U.S. except with special permission from the FAA.
But as demand increases for using drones in law enforcement and the commercial world, the agency plans to propose new regulations on small remotely piloted aircraft, a move seen as the first step toward opening the nation’s skyways to drone aircraft.
The FAA had said it planned to issue its proposal by the end of January. Now, the agency says the earliest that the proposed rules will be published is “this spring.” The FAA did not say why it was being postponed.
Copyright 2012 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.