FAA Part 108: The BVLOS Rule's Current Status and Timeline

Last updated 18 September 2026 Anyone planning drone work beyond visual line of sight is running on waivers, exemptions, and a rule that keeps not arriving. FAA Part 108 is the regulation built to end that, replacing case-by-case waiver approvals with a standing system of operating permits and certificates for BVLOS flight.

It is not law yet, and the deadline the White House set for it passed in January without a final rule.

What Is FAA Part 108?

Part 108 is a proposed federal rule that would make routine drone flight beyond visual line of sight a normal, permitted activity rather than something granted case by case. The FAA and TSA issued it jointly.

That last detail matters and is widely missed. Part 108 is not an FAA-only rulemaking. The proposed rule published in the Federal Register on 7 August 2025 under docket FAA-2025-1908 and RIN 2120-AL82 carries TSA security requirements alongside the FAA's operational ones. Any operator reading only the FAA half is reading half the rule.

The framing the agencies use is the clearest summary of what changes. Today, BVLOS flight happens through what the FAA calls enablement through exemption: you apply, you wait, and an individual waiver either arrives or does not. Part 108 proposes enablement by rule, described in the docket as a predictable, stable and transparent regulatory construct. The difference is not philosophical. A waiver is granted per operation and expires. A rule is a standing permission you build a business on.

The scope is broad. Part 108 would cover package delivery, agricultural operations, aerial surveying, civic interest work such as wildfire recovery, wildlife conservation and public safety, plus operations training, flight test, demonstration and recreational flight. For a commercial operator running technical drone inspections, the relevant category is aerial surveying and the infrastructure work that sits beside it.

The rule applies to unmanned aircraft weighing no more than 1,320 pounds including anything attached to or carried by the aircraft, and operations sit primarily below 400 feet AGL unless the Administrator authorizes higher.

What Is the Current Status of Part 108?

Part 108 is not law. As of 18 September 2026 the final rule has cleared internal review and sits at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which is the last administrative step before publication in the Federal Register.

Here is the sequence, with every date drawn from the public docket rather than from industry commentary.

The proposed rule published on 7 August 2025, opening a 60-day comment window that closed on 6 October 2025. The FAA denied a request to extend that window later in September 2025. Then, on 28 January 2026, the agency reopened the comment period specifically to take further input on electronic conspicuity devices and right-of-way provisions, two areas that had drawn substantial stakeholder interest. That reopened window closed on 11 February 2026, and a request to extend it was again denied.

Roughly 4,000 public comments were filed across both windows. The FAA has worked through them, and the rule has since moved to OIRA review.

One further signal is worth knowing because it is recent and public. On 4 September 2026, TSA published a notice soliciting representatives for technical roundtables on BVLOS security, with registration open until 19 October 2026. The roundtables are scheduled to occur after publication of the FAA and TSA final rules. An agency planning post-publication industry sessions and taking names for them is an agency that expects to publish, though it is not a publication date.

Regulatory uncertainty is not limited to Part 108 either. Operators weighing equipment decisions alongside this rule are also tracking questions about whether DJI aircraft remain available in the United States, which affects fleet planning on the same timeline.

When Will Part 108 Take Effect?

There is no effective date, because there is no final rule. The FAA has said it hopes to publish by the end of 2026, and an effective date would follow publication rather than coincide with it.

The honest answer to "when" has to include the record. An executive order signed in June 2025 directed the FAA to issue the proposed rule within 30 days and a final rule by 31 January 2026. The proposed rule arrived roughly on schedule. The final rule deadline passed with the comment period still reopened. That is not unusual for a rulemaking of this scale, but it is the reason to treat any published date as a target rather than a commitment.

Two things will govern the real timeline. The first is how long OIRA review takes, which varies from weeks to many months depending on the rule's economic significance and the volume of interagency comment. The second is the gap between publication and effect. Rules of this complexity commonly carry a compliance runway measured in months or years, and equipment-dependent provisions such as detect-and-avoid and electronic conspicuity are exactly the kind that get phased.

For planning purposes, the practical stance is that Part 108 is not something to build a 2026 operating model around, and is something to have a 2027 answer for. Operators who are new to the regulatory landscape can start with the basics of legal drone operation while the rule settles, since Part 107 remains the governing regulation in the meantime.

What Does Part 108 Change for BVLOS Operations?

The core change is structural: Part 108 moves BVLOS from individually granted exemptions to a standing rule, and attaches concrete airspace obligations to that permission rather than negotiating them per waiver.

Four provisions matter most operationally.

Right of way goes to ADS-B equipped traffic

Aircraft operating under Part 108 would be required to yield right of way to traffic broadcasting position using ADS-B Out equipment. This is a meaningful constraint in corridors shared with crewed aviation and one of the provisions the FAA reopened comments on.

Strategic deconfliction over populated areas

Operations over certain populated areas would require strategic deconfliction, meaning flight paths are coordinated before launch rather than resolved in the air. In controlled airspace, conformance monitoring is required as well.

Detect and avoid in controlled airspace

Operations in controlled airspace would need the ability to detect both cooperative aircraft, which broadcast their position, and non-cooperative aircraft, which do not. That second capability is the harder engineering problem and the one most likely to drive equipment cost.

Population density becomes a defined input

Rather than leaving "populated area" to interpretation, the proposed rule uses LandScan, a federally sponsored and freely accessible population dataset maintained by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to set operational categories. More capable operations are permitted over areas of increased population density.

Taken together, these are the reason Part 108 is being written at all. Work like power line and transmission corridor inspection is economically obvious and procedurally painful under the current waiver regime, because a waiver per corridor does not scale to a utility's full network.

Will Part 108 Require a New Certificate or License?

No. Part 108 does not create a new pilot certificate. The authorizations attach to the operation rather than to an individual, which is a genuine departure from how Part 107 works.

This is the single most misunderstood part of the proposal, and searches for a "Part 108 license" reflect that. Under Part 107, an individual holds a Remote Pilot Certificate earned by passing a knowledge test. Under Part 108 as proposed, the operation holds either an operating permit or an operating certificate, and the rule names organizational roles instead of certifying pilots.

Two roles are defined. An operations supervisor is responsible for the overall safety of the operation. Flight coordinators provide tactical oversight of individual aircraft where the aircraft's design requires it. Neither is an airman certificate in the Part 107 sense.

The two authorization tiers differ by risk and complexity. Operating permits cover lower-risk work and carry limitations on aircraft size, the number of aircraft in an operation, and other operating parameters. Operating certificates cover more complex package delivery, agricultural work, aerial surveying and civic interest operations, and allow greater flexibility for operations over people.

For a commercial operator, the practical reading is that Part 108 readiness is an organizational question, not a training question. Documented procedures, defined safety roles and demonstrable operational control are what convert into a permit or certificate. Operators who already maintain current certifications and insurance and written operating procedures are closer to the starting line than operators who do not, regardless of how many certificated pilots either one employs.

How Should a Drone Operation Prepare for Part 108?

Keep operating under Part 107, write down what you already do, and track the docket. Part 108 readiness is mostly documentation, and documentation is the part you can finish before the rule exists.

Three things are worth doing now:

1. Write your procedures down. If an operating certificate is going to require a named operations supervisor and demonstrable operational control, the operations that already have written pre-flight checks, maintenance logs, incident procedures and a defined chain of responsibility will convert quickly. The ones running on institutional memory will be starting from zero under time pressure.

2. Audit your fleet against the published thresholds. The 1,320 pound limit will not constrain most commercial inspection work, but the detect-and-avoid and electronic conspicuity provisions may. Knowing which of your aircraft could be equipped and which could not is a useful answer to have before you need it.

3. Watch the docket, not the commentary. Docket FAA-2025-1908 on the Federal Register is the authoritative source. A great deal of published material currently describes Part 108 as finalized. It is not, and building a plan on secondhand summaries of a rule that has not published is how operators end up compliant with something that was never issued.

None of this changes what is legal today. BVLOS flight still requires a Part 107 waiver, Part 107 still governs commercial operation, and controlled airspace still requires authorization, which is why work like drone inspections at airports continues to run through existing approval processes. The FAA's UAS getting started guidance remains the correct starting point for anyone entering commercial operation now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Part 108 replacing Part 107?

No. Part 108 would sit alongside Part 107, not replace it. Part 107 governs commercial drone operation within visual line of sight and would remain the rule most operators fly under. Part 108 adds a framework for the flights Part 107 does not permit without a waiver.

Can I fly BVLOS right now without Part 108?

Yes, with a waiver or exemption. BVLOS flight is legal today when the FAA has granted specific relief for that operation. What does not exist yet is a standing authorization you can hold and operate under routinely, which is precisely what Part 108 proposes to create.

Does Part 108 cover recreational flying?

Recreational operations appear among the categories eligible for an operating permit in the proposed rule. Whether that survives into the final rule is not knowable until it publishes, and recreational flyers remain governed by existing rules until then.

What happens to my current BVLOS waiver when Part 108 publishes?

The proposed rule is designed to move BVLOS off the waiver system, but transition provisions are exactly the kind of detail that gets settled between proposal and final rule. Existing waivers remain valid under their own terms until the FAA says otherwise. Do not let one lapse in anticipation of the new rule.

Why does TSA appear in a drone rule?

Because Part 108 is a joint FAA and TSA rulemaking. The FAA half covers operational safety and airspace integration. The TSA half covers security requirements for BVLOS operations, which is why TSA is separately convening industry roundtables on the subject.

Where This Leaves Operators

Part 108 is the most significant change to commercial drone regulation since Part 107, and as of September 2026 it is one administrative step from publication with no effective date attached. The rule is real, the direction is settled, and the timing is not.

The work worth doing now is organizational rather than regulatory: documented procedures, defined safety roles, and a clear read of which aircraft in your fleet could meet the proposed equipment requirements.

If you are planning inspection or survey work that will depend on beyond visual line of sight flight, talk to VSI Aerial about what is achievable under current rules while Part 108 finishes its path through review.

Geoff Green is the founder and CEO of VSI Aerial, a drone services company specializing in technical drone inspections and drone construction services.

Before founding VSI Aerial, he served twenty years as a Naval Aviator, including service with Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1). He holds an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate and operates nationwide from the company's Virginia headquarters.