FAA Guidance on Drones for Pandemic Response

ADI is partnering with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to share information from the agency in the advancement of drone use for the response effort to COVID-19. The FAA has told ADI that they are supportive of drone use during our national crisis, particularly for public safety operations. If you are using drones as part of the pandemic response, please let us know so we can highlight your story online and share with the FAA. We are also interested in learning about operations you would like to conduct, as well as any specific regulations that prohibit you from doing so. This information will help inform the FAA on operations that the drone community could conduct should the agency expand options for approved response operations.

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• If you are thinking about flying your drone to support the pandemic response effort, you have several options:
  • Fly under part 107, with or without a waiver – the most broadly applicable option
  • Obtain a Special Government Interest (SGI) approval for operations in controlled airspace or beyond line of site – in immediate emergency circumstances only
  • Fly as a public aircraft operation (PAO) – for law enforcement, first responders, or other public safety/government officials
• When considering your options, be sure to remember that:
  • Delivering goods by drone is allowed under part 107 (sUAS rule) as long as you maintain visual line-of-sight with the drone and comply with all aspects of the rule (For more information, click here to the part 107 final rule and see pages 43-52)
  • Never carry hazardous materials unless you’ve received authorization from the FAA
  • Drone operators needing to fly in controlled airspace that is not currently included in LAANC, or a disaster temporary flight restriction, must contact the FAA’s System Operations Support Center (SOSC) by emailing 9-ATOR-HQ-SOSC@faa.gov.

Whatever operational path you take, the FAA strongly recommends you coordinate with local government and/or public health officials, and/or the community you are intending to serve, before flying in support of COVID-19 response efforts. This is a pre-requisite for the FAA to expedite approvals outside of normal processes.

​The FAA will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as needed. The FAA’s UAS Support Center is also available to help if you have questions at 844-FLY-MY-UA or uashelp@faa.gov.