Last week we reported that an Arizona realtor has become the first in the US to receive Federal Aviation Administration approval for using a drone for real estate images. Yesterday, CNN announced that it has also received a nod of approval from the FAA.
The news company says it will partner with the FAA to “advance efforts” in using camera drones for “news gathering and reporting.”
CNN says it’s aiming to go beyond “hobby-grade equipment” and explore what options are available for creating “high quality video journalism” using various unmanned aerial vehicles and camera setups.
The results from the experiments will be passed onto the FAA, which will use it to create a framework that will allow camera drones to be “safely integrated into news gathering operations” and perhaps open the door to other news organizations using camera drones as well.
“We hope this agreement with CNN and the work we are doing with other news organizations and associations will help safely integrate unmanned news gathering technology and operating procedures into the National Airspace System,” says FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.
As we reported last week, the FAA has so far been extremely strict with camera drone “permits.” Of over 200 exemptions requested so far, only between 10 and 20 have been granted.
Image credits: Header graphic based on photo by Vicki Burton
Started out doing photography at the age of 6 using an uncle's old 1940 kodak brownie box camera. At 15 years of age, I decided to buy my very own 1975 Praktica SLR camera. I now shoot with a Nikon D850. I do unpaid TFP and commercial paid work.