As drones multiply in number and category, cities and states want to set boundaries. But push back to statewide regulations is coming from the lobbying efforts of a budding industry that hopes to influence policy at the state Capitol and nationwide. Drone manufacturers and associations this legislative session boosted their politicking, successfully beating back several bills they said [...]

The FAA thinks it might. The agency has predicted there could be as many as 600,000 drones used for commercial operations during the next year. As of Friday, it said, there were only 18,940 registered for commercial purposes. But it’s hard to tell because the industry is so new, Holland Michel of the Center for the Study of the [...]

Businesses can apply for a waiver of most of the operational restrictions as long as they can prove their proposal will be safe. The FAA has already approved 76 such waivers, most of which involve commercial operations at night, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told reporters Monday. The new set of rules “just standardizes the exemption [...]

What do the rules say? Under the new commercial-drone rules, operators must keep their drones within visual line of sight — that is, the person flying the drone must be able to see it with the naked eye — and can fly only during the day, though twilight flying is permitted if the drone has [...]