This morning the FAA announced yet another delay on some of the new UAS rules that were published on January 15, 2021. That new delay will be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, 3/10/21.
The latest delay from the DOT deals with Remote Identification (RID), and since they’re tied together, Operations Over People (OOP). And unfortunately, Recurrent Training and Initial Testing is affected too.
The delay puts the new RID and OOP implementation date at April 21, 2021. It also pushes back the other aspects of RID (production compliance, actual compliance, etc.). So anything tied to the original effective date will be pushed back the same amount of time as the effective date, which is 36 days.
So all things considered with RID, this is just a minor hiccup. For now. But, 107 Recurrent online training, and 107 in-person Initial testing will now be delayed until 4/6/21.
So what does this mean for 107 Pilots at the moment? The original date for OOP and RID was 3/16/21 (8 days from now, so close…), so that is now going to be 4/21/21. And the latest recurrent and initial dates were 3/16/21. Both of those are now pushed back to 4/6/21. Additionally, the 107.29 waiver termination date has been changed to 5/16/21.
If you need to become current this month, or before 4/6/21, you still have to go to a PSI Testing Center and take the in-person UGR, and (unfortunately) pay another $165. And let’s be honest here, that sucks. To save you the hassle of looking that up, here is the PSI page for the UGR: https://faa.psiexams.com/faa/login
And remember, the blame for this DOES NOT lay at the feet of the FAA. Let’s not kill the messenger. The delay is handed down the FAA by the DOT. And even that delay was handed down to the DOT by the new administration. And even that is normal with a new Political Party comes into power after a Presidential Election. It sucks, but it’s politics.
There is no blame to lay at anyone’s feet really. It’s just part of the process of transfer of power in D.C. Our industry just happened to get some of the new rules caught up in that wide-spread net of law review.
Don’t panic. Don’t freak out. And don’t get too mad at anyone. It’s just not worth the stress. There is nothing any of us (or any agency) can do.
Welcome to Federal Bureaucracy. May the odds ever be in our favor. Or at least not completely against us. Again…
Remote Identification of Unmanned Aircraft; Delay published rule: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/03/10/2021-04882/remote-identification-of-unmanned-aircraft-delay
Operation of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Over People; Delay; Withdrawal; Correction published rule: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/03/10/2021-04881/operation-of-small-unmanned-aircraft-systems-over-people-delay-withdrawal-correction
As always, fly safe, have fun!
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Good info. thanks for the article!
Don’t sweat it yet. I deal with both FAA and FMCSA. FMCSA has managed to push their training timelines back for truck drivers twice…..for a total of four years. This is nothin!!
Thanks for the reassurance. I’m sure many need it.
When your closest testing center is 200 miles away. I think I will just not fly commercially for 25 days and save the money
Although we at DSPA won’t advise anyone to ever fly illegally, we don’t blame you.
However, don’t forget that if you have “an incident” while flying non-current, your insurance will deny your claim based on it being an illegal flight. Something to keep in mind.