FAA Order 8130.34D, ''Airworthiness Certification of Unmanned Aircraft Systems'', establishes procedures for issuing either special airworthiness certificates in the experimental category or special flight permits to

unmanned aircraft systems An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

(UAS), optionally piloted aircraft (OPA), and aircraft intended to be flown as either a UAS or an OPA. ''Airworthiness Certification of Unmanned Aircraft Systems'', establishes procedures for issuing this certification, and as such establishes guidance standards for certification aspects of development and operation, which may be addressed by adoption of such standards as ARP4754A, and

DO-178C DO-178C, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification is the primary document by which the certification authorities such as Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, European Aviation Safety Agency, EASA and Transport Can ...

. Obtaining an experimental airworthiness certificate for a particular UAS is currently the only way civil operators of unmanned aircraft are accessing the

National Airspace System The National Airspace System (NAS) is the airspace, navigation facilities and Airport, airports of the United States along with their associated information, services, rules, regulations, policies, procedures, personnel and equipment. It includes c ...

(NAS) of the United States. Moreover, the Order establishes that such aircraft may enter the NAS only with a safety pilot monitoring its controls. Adoption of

ARP4754 ARP4754(), Aerospace Recommended Practice (ARP) Guidelines for Development of Civil Aircraft and Systems, is a published standard from SAE International, dealing with the development processes which support certification of Aircraft systems, add ...

DO-254 RTCA DO-254 / EUROCAE ED-80, Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware is a document providing guidance for the development of airborne electronic hardware, published by RTCA, Incorporated and EUROCAE. Initially released in 20 ...

, DO-278, and other related guidance standards to UAS programs is rapidly growing because of the certification requirements established with this FAA Order.

References

External links

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Regulations & Policies
on the FAA website Civil aviation in the United States Federal Aviation Administration Regulation of unmanned aerial vehicles {{Aviation-stub