If you want to fly a drone commercially in Arizona, get in line. Arizona is one of the states with the most approved waivers from the FAA.
At this point, businesses need the waiver to fly a drone commercially. The number of businesses granted a waiver in the United States has jumped from under a 100 a year ago to more than a 1,000 today.
“That tells me that we’ve only scratched the surface,” says James Arrowood with Frutkin Law in Scottsdale.
Arrowood helps businesses weave through the process of filing for a waiver with the FAA.
Some businesses in the Valley are expecting to wait for that waiver while the rules to fly a drone are expected to keep changing.
“It’s going to be very complicated and it’s going to separate hobbyists from professionals,” says Alan Trabilcy with Drone View Imaging. “Remember, it’s their airspace and we just get to use it.” Trabilcy says one reason drones are so big in Arizona is they’re used to survey crops.
The wait time to get an FAA waiver is 60 to 90 days.