Last Friday, Oct 10th, it was announced that FAA Advisory Circular 91-57, “Model Aircraft Operating Standards”, published in 1981 was cancelled. This obviously caught the aeromodeling and sUAS community by surprise and left a lot of unanswered questions.
In a communication earlier today with Jim Williams, Executive Manager of the FAA UAS Integration Office, it was learned that the announcement was premature and the cancellation notice on the FAA webpage was posted in error.
FAA does plan to cancel AC 91-57 in order to reconcile the outdated AC with current sUAS policy and the “Special Rule for Model Aircraft” provided by Congress as part of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. However, this will occur at a later date and will be accompanied by additional information and an explanation as to the reason for the cancellation.
AMA members are encouraged to become familiar with the provisions of the Special Rule and continue to operate their model aircraft safely and responsibly in accordance with the National Model Aircraft Safety Code and the AMA Safety Program.
Special Rule for Model Aircraft
AC 91-57 – Model Aircraft Operating Standards
Rich Hanson
AMA Government and Regulatory Affairs
Your rules need to more specifically address the difference between large UAV/UAS aircraft and hobby UAV/UAS.
I live in the Washington, DC area with it’s own special flight restrictions. As things stand I have to drive over 20 miles so that I can fly my DJI Phantom 2 UAV or wait for a sanctioned event. I would like to improve my skills by flying so that I can maybe be considered a volunteer resource by my local police department for lost person (child, elderly) searches.
Please clarify your rules so that police departments, fire departments, as well as non-profit Search and Rescue(SAR)groups will be able to use their units legally.