of Federal Regulations. 2 Proposed part 107 contains specific rules to allow the operation of nonhobby or non-recreational small UAS (less than 55 lbs.) in the NAS. The FAA informed the ARC
that any recommendations regarding small UAS operations over people will be bound by the
regulatory requirements in part 107 (commonly known as the “Small UAS NPRM” or “part 107”).
Although the ARC was not aware of the contents of the small UAS final rule, it made assumptions
about what these requirements will be based on the NPRM.
To provide a substantive baseline of the relevant science for the ARC’s recommendations, the first
3-day period of the ARC’s meetings included presentations from a selection of experts from
academia, research and testing facilities, U.S. and international governmental agencies, the U.S.
military, industry standard-setting bodies, and the UAS and insurance industries; including,
specifically, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST), RTCA, the Department of Defense (DOD), and the FAA UAS
Centers of Excellence. These presentations covered topics such as current and past research on
human injury thresholds, hazard and risk assessment methodologies, acceptable levels of risk to
persons not directly participating in the operation or under a covered structure, and other proposed
civil aviation authority UAS regulatory frameworks and their supporting rationale. A list of the
presentations is included as Appendix A to this report.
The second 3-day period focused on development of a recommendation of a regulatory framework
for small UAS operations over people, with the twin goals of ensuring the safety of the NAS and
people on the ground, and encouraging innovation in the UAS industry. After identification and
discussion of the unique risks associated with flight over people and potential mitigations for those
risks, the ARC developed recommendations for performance-based standards that would allow for a
UAS to be operated over people not directly participating in the operation of the UAS or under a
covered structure, 3 with a reasonable degree of safety.
3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The ARC membership represented diverse interests and viewpoints. Although some decisions were
not unanimous, the ARC reached consensus on all of its recommendations to the FAA, as reflected
in this report. The recommendations in this report reflect the final statements of the ARC.
The ARC was focused on flight over people, and in furtherance of that goal, identified four small
UAS categories, defined primarily by level of risk of injury posed, for operations over people. For
each category, the ARC recommends a risk threshold that correlates to either a weight or an impact
energy equivalent and, to the extent necessary to minimize the risks associated with that category,
additional performance standards and operational restrictions. A chart summarizing the ARC’s
recommendations is attached as Appendix B to this report.
See The Operation and Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 80 FR
9544, Feb. 23, 2015.
3 UAS operations over people who are participating directly in the operation of a small UAS or who are under a covered
structure are already permitted under the proposed part 107. The ARC’s recommendations therefore apply specifically to
operations over people who do not fall into those two categories. For ease of communication, however, this report will
simply refer to flight or operations over people, without repeatedly qualifying that this means people who are not
participating in the operation of the small UAS or under a covered structure.
2
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