--- title: Proposed FAA Drone Rules: Commercial UAVs a Common Sight description: An economic analysis of the impact of commercial drones imagines a world in which the remote-controlled devices become a common—and money saving—sight canonical: https://time.com/3710391/faa-small-drone-rules/ author: Matt Vella article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-15T14:00:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:04:26.318Z article:section: Business og:title: Proposed FAA Drone Rules: Commercial UAVs a Common Sight og:description: An economic analysis of the impact of commercial drones imagines a world in which the remote-controlled devices become a common—and money saving—sight og:url: https://time.com/3710391/faa-small-drone-rules/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6e8dd517c94e0eb/69877f630b72e3b5506ddb36/drone.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Flying drone with camera og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Proposed FAA Drone Rules: Commercial UAVs a Common Sight twitter:description: An economic analysis of the impact of commercial drones imagines a world in which the remote-controlled devices become a common—and money saving—sight twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6e8dd517c94e0eb/69877f630b72e3b5506ddb36/drone.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Rules Would Let Drones Rule the Sky ## Video: Exclusive Look at the Navy's X-47B Drone [Watch (HLS stream): Exclusive Look at the Navy's X-47B Drone](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jQ163Hl2.m3u8) (8:53)  _Published 2014-08-27. An Exclusive Look at the Navy's X-47b Drone_ by [Matt Vella](/author/matt-vella/) ## Matt Vella Feb 15, 2015 2:00 PM CUT  Flying drone with camera Flying drone with cameraGetty Images by [Matt Vella](/author/matt-vella/) ## Matt Vella Feb 15, 2015 2:00 PM CUT Small drones could take to the skies in droves, if the government adopts proposals widely favorable to commercial use of remote-controlled aircraft. An Federal Aviation Administration analysis envisions small drones—flying machines which weigh 55 pounds or less— performing tasks ranging from mapping to monitoring crops and aerial photography. The FAA plans to release draft rules, which have been in the works for years and were submitted to the White House budget office in October for review, on Sunday. The rules partially revealed Saturday when the economic analysis describing them was posted online by mistake, the [Associated Press reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3def917076354dab8bee203b19c6c5c2/proposed-rules-drones-envision-routine-commercial-use "undefined"). The report does not offer a total estimate on the annual economic benefit of new drone-friendly rules, though it claims they would exceed $100 million. Industry trade group the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International believes small, commercial drones will create some 70,000 jobs and have an economic impact of over $13.6 billion in the first three years. \[[AP](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3def917076354dab8bee203b19c6c5c2/proposed-rules-drones-envision-routine-commercial-use "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3710391/faa-small-drone-rules/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3710391/faa-small-drone-rules/"},"headline":"New Rules Would Let Drones Rule the Sky","datePublished":"2015-02-15T14:00:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:04:26.318Z","description":"A Federal Aviation Administration analysis of the impact of commercial drones proposes a world in which the remote-controlled devices become a common sight","url":"https://time.com/3710391/faa-small-drone-rules/","keywords":["Tech","Drones","FAA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6e8dd517c94e0eb/69877f630b72e3b5506ddb36/drone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Vella","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matt-vella/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6e8dd517c94e0eb/69877f630b72e3b5506ddb36/drone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Flying drone with camera","caption":"Flying drone with camera","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3710391/faa-small-drone-rules/","name":"New Rules Would Let Drones Rule the Sky"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Exclusive Look at the Navy's X-47B Drone","description":"An Exclusive Look at the Navy's X-47b Drone","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jQ163Hl2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-27T13:45:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jQ163Hl2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3710391/faa-small-drone-rules/","duration":"PT8M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3710391/faa-small-drone-rules/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```