Part 108, explained: what BVLOS means for your operation

What the rules allow today

Commercial drone work in the U.S. runs under FAA Part 107, in place since 2016. Part 107 keeps the aircraft within the pilot's visual line of sight. Anything beyond that — a long pipeline, a rail corridor, a large solar farm in one continuous flight — requires a case-by-case waiver. Waivers are slow to get and have cost some operators tens of thousands of dollars in time and engineering.

What Part 108 changes

Part 108 is a proposed FAA framework to make routine Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flight legal by rule instead of by waiver. The big shifts:

• Responsibility moves from the individual pilot to the operating organization. The operator has to demonstrate a real program: trained personnel, documented risk controls, and proven technology. This is where a Safety Management System stops being optional.
• Two approval levels. A permit path for lower-risk operations and a certificate path for larger-scale work, sorted by the population density of where you fly.
• Performance-based aircraft standards. Detect-and-avoid, Remote ID, and reliable command-and-control links, rather than one fixed equipment list.

Where the rule actually stands

The FAA published the Part 108 proposed rule (the NPRM) on August 7, 2025. The first public comment window closed October 6, 2025, and the FAA reopened comments on a few specific topics into early 2026. A final rule is expected sometime in 2026, with a transition period likely after that before requirements take effect. It is not final yet, so anyone claiming a hard start date is guessing.

What it unlocks

When it lands, Part 108 makes long linear inspections, corridor mapping, large-area surveys in a single flight, and operations near structures far more practical. For inspection, agriculture, and infrastructure work, it removes the ceiling that visual-line-of-sight imposes today.

How UUAS is getting ready

The operator-facing requirement in Part 108 is, at its core, an SMS requirement — you have to show that you can manage the risk, not just fly the aircraft. We already operate under a documented Safety Management System, and we are building a scenario-based version of it: a library of mission modules (emergency response, inspection, surveillance, corridor work) that compose into the right safety case for a given job. That is exactly the kind of demonstrated program Part 108 will ask operators to bring.

If your organization is thinking about BVLOS, the time to build the safety program is before the rule is final, not after.