Zipline is doing good work. I think we will get there, it’s just going to take t...

Zipline is doing good work. I think we will get there, it’s just going to take time. Acting FAA administrator Dan Elwell gave a great speech at InterDrone last year about the safety aspect.[1] Personally, I think in some ways parts of industry are slowing down progress. State and local will be key players, the FAA knows this, but industry seems to believe they shouldn’t be involved and below 400’ should be like class e & g airspace with no rights for property owners. If the Uniform Law Commission settles on 200’ that could be a good thing. [2] Then assuming the FAA authorizes a system as safe, private property owners could conduct BVLOS flights over their property (i.e. ranches, mines). Or assuming state and local are involved, they could authorize flights over public routes. The airspace below 400’ will more likely resemble class A airspace than anything else and will have to involve state and local for planning. No magical UTM solution will solve it alone. [3] It will be a combination of technology and operations.