Rules exist to keep dumb drones from crashing into people, property, and other aircraft in the skies. You need to be able to see it with your naked eye at all times – or have a dedicated observer who can can can.

Skydio built a naked-eye, visual line of sight (vlos) rule. It appears to be successfully successfully convincing the FAA to create exception to that naked-eye, visible line of view.

The FAA granted a blanket waiver to fly Skydio drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) to inspect any bridge, anywhere across the state, for four whole years. They need to fly within 50 feet of the bridge and 1,500 FT of the drone’s pilot you can see the full waiver here.

The FAA has granted limited waivers since the first drone rules rolled out. Early waivers were often for a single flight or series of flights by a licensed pilot who’d applied months in advance.

Last October, the ups won FAA approval to operate a’- drone airline’ with a part 135 standard certification. Amazon’s Prime Air got the same certification this August.

In July, the Chula Vista police department in California got approval to fly its Skydio drones beyond visual line of sight. So long as they did n’t fly higher than 50 feet higher than the nearest obstacle, stay within 1,500 feet of the pilot, and return to vlos’as soon as practical’.

‘tactical beyond visual line of sight’ program required first responders to be flying as a public safety operator under part 91. The program does n’t actually require a Skydio drone.

The FAA is likely going to trust a specific government agency like the ncdot, but it’s still a step towards a future where individual, trustworthy pilots could legally fly a drone. The waiver applies across an entire state for multiple years at a time.

Last January’s nationwide waiver for State Farm’s insurance inspectors. Xcel Energy inspects power lines in eight states it serves.

North Carolina’s waiver is a good thing for bridge inspectors, Skydio says. The waiver can be used to get underneath a big, long platform.

You can easily browse all the other companies that have gotten BVLOS waivers for their part 107 drone operations. Just type 107.31 into the search field.