MassDOT Issued BVLOS Waiver to Fly Drones Over Rail Network
Written by Jennifer McLawhorn, Managing Editor
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the MassDOT Aeronautics Division a wide-ranging drone waiver.
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BOSTON – The Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the MassDOT Aeronautics Division a wide-ranging drone waiver.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the MassDOT Aeronautics Division a wide-ranging drone waiver. This waiver allows the MassDOT permission to fly drones over Massachusett’s entire rail network or “Beyond Visual Line of Sight” (BVLOS). This allows MassDOT’s Drone Operations Program to collect data on more than 1,000 miles of track “when monitoring for impediments such as vegetation encroachment, flooding, or storm damage, further increasing rail safety.” It will also fly over the MBTA rail corridors to assist the agency with vegetation and storm management.
Before the waiver was issued, the FAA had to review a “rigorous safety evaluation” from MassDOT Aeronautics that “builds upon a previous narrower dispensation from the FAA allowing to MassDOT to fly drones, “Beyond Visual Line of Sight” over the MBTA’s Fitchburg Commuter Rail Line, including through ‘controlled airspace’ managed by air traffic control.”
In partnering with the MBTA and MITRE Corporation, MassDOT devised a blended performance-based approach that allows flexibility in operations regarding geography, urban density, and/or airspace. To fly drones over 50 feet above rail lines (or 50 feet above obstructions), MassDOT Aeronautics received a “special ‘obstruction shielding’ waiver, with which drones can fly BVLOS without the need for visual observers.” With this, MassDOT can fly drones across different landscapes with rail lines.
MassDOT says in order to Identify and utilize these drone technologies, its Commonwealth UAS Integration Program (CUIP) “is developing the state-wide BVLOS rail initiative with the support of Massachusetts-based organizations including MITRE, the U.S. Department of Transportation Volpe Center, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.”
Transportation Secretary and CEO Monita Tibbits-Nutt said: “We are grateful for the collaboration with our federal partners that has allowed MassDOT Aeronautics to adopt this drone waiver to fly BVLOS over our state rail lines. . . Safety is a priority of MassDOT and the MBTA and this waiver will help us inspect our state rails more often while also doing so more safely.”
MassDOT Aeronautics Administrator Jeff DeCarlo said: “Our latest BVLOS waiver not only marks a quantum leap for infrastructure inspection services in Massachusetts but provides a model for all states to inspect a variety of infrastructure more rapidly, accurately, and comprehensively. . . This waiver also allows us to explore critical new ways to improve the state’s operations, from airspace monitoring to medical emergency response.”
“We’ve flown more than 500 miles over the MBTA’s Commuter Rail track and also collected data over freight track across the state to support MassDOT’s Rail and Transit Division,” said Robin Grace, Chief of UAS/Drone Operations for MassDOT Aeronautics. “By reducing the number of circumstances requiring visual observers, the waiver could substantially reduce the time the team needs to map the rail network, providing valuable insight that complements the routine physical inspection conducted by rail personnel multiple times per week.”
