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DJI BVLOS NPRM Feedback – DRONELIFE

setembro 22, 2025
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DJI Warns BVLOS NPRM Might Exclude Its Platforms — With Huge Implications for Customers

DJI’s Viewpoints: Help for BVLOS, however Exclusion Considerations

In a latest Viewpoints weblog submit, DJI welcomed the FAA’s proposed Half 108 regulation for Past Visible Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations, calling it an necessary step towards enabling scalable drone operations. However the firm warned that, as at present drafted, the rule would exclude lots of right now’s most generally used platforms, together with DJI plane.

DJI factors to 2 important points within the FAA’s draft:

  • Nation of manufacture limitations. Airworthiness acceptance would solely be obtainable to U.S. producers or to these lined by a bilateral airworthiness settlement—agreements that don’t at present exist for unmanned plane. That successfully disqualifies DJI drones.

  • Overemphasis on automation. The draft framework favors extremely automated plane and will limit pilot-in-the-loop operations, sidelining lots of the techniques in use right now.

The corporate additionally raised issues about limits on 2.4/5.8 GHz C2 hyperlinks, new reporting burdens, and the potential return of site-specific approvals that Half 108 was meant to exchange. DJI urged operators and companies to submit feedback to the FAA docket earlier than October 6, 2025.

What Half 108 Proposes

The FAA’s BVLOS NPRM, launched in August, outlines a brand new framework to exchange case-by-case waivers with a nationwide system of permits (for lower-risk operations) and working certificates (for higher-risk missions). The rule is designed to broaden drone use in inspections, agriculture, public security, and supply whereas sustaining security within the Nationwide Airspace System.

For the FAA, Half 108 sits between Half 107 and conventional plane certification: a stability between innovation and oversight. However the particulars of eligibility—notably airworthiness acceptance—are among the many points which have sparked debate.

Why DJI’s Exclusion Issues

Whereas most giant supply firms, comparable to Zipline, Wing, and Amazon, function their very own proprietary plane, DJI platforms dominate the fleets of first responders, small companies, and infrastructure operators.

  • Market share. DJI nonetheless controls an estimated two-thirds or extra of the U.S. industrial drone market.

  • Public security reliance. Hearth departments, police companies, and search-and-rescue groups throughout the nation depend upon DJI’s Matrice, Mavic, and different platforms for situational consciousness, catastrophe response, and emergency assist.

If DJI drones are excluded from Half 108 approvals, these customers could possibly be blocked from conducting routine BVLOS operations with the platforms they already personal and practice on. For resource-constrained public companies, changing total fleets with different techniques could possibly be prohibitively costly and disruptive.

Different Trade Views

DJI is just not alone in elevating issues.

  • AUVSI has argued that the NPRM doesn’t present a transparent transition path for operators already flying BVLOS underneath waivers.

  • The Industrial Drone Alliance praised the FAA for transferring ahead however emphasised that broad operator entry is essential if Half 108 is to scale the trade.

  • Stakeholders at latest summits flagged the danger that an excessive amount of emphasis on superior automation may sluggish adoption in sectors the place less complicated BVLOS operations—like linear inspection or shielded flights—are already secure and efficient.

What Comes Subsequent

The FAA will now collect feedback earlier than finalizing the rule. The central debate can be whether or not airworthiness acceptance ought to be based mostly on efficiency and requirements compliance—or on nation of origin.

For DJI, and for 1000’s of first responders and industrial operators within the U.S., the end result may decide whether or not their present plane stay viable for BVLOS.

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