In December 2024, I wrote an article for xyHt entitled “Part 108, Where Are You?” (https://www.xyht.com/aerialuas/part-108-where-are-you/) in which I examined the potential benefits of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations for the mapping industry. At the time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had not yet published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), and the industry was speculating about what the new regulation would look like.
Almost two years later, we have a proposal, but still no final rule. And we have something else: mapping companies that have already found ways to conduct profitable BVLOS operations under Part 107 waivers.
In Part 1 of this series, we examined the potential economic consequences of the proposed Part 108, particularly for small surveying companies that have spent the past decade incorporating uncrewed aircraft into their operations.
Now I would like to approach the issue from a different angle.
What are mapping companies actually planning to do when Part 108 becomes available? Will those that are already operating under waivers transition to the new regulation? And what about companies that have deliberately chosen to remain within the visual line of sight (VLOS) limitations of Part 107?
To find out, Geo Week News contacted three companies with very different approaches to aerial data acquisition: Arch Aerial (https://www.archaerial.com/), Big Sky Aerial Solutions (https://www.bigskyaerialsolutions.com/), and Woolpert (https://woolpert.com/).
Their answers were revealing, and not necessarily what the proponents of Part 108 might have expected. Two of these companies already conduct BVLOS operations under Part 107 waivers. The third, one of the largest geospatial services companies in the United States, has chosen to rely on a specialized industry partner when BVLOS capabilities are needed. Interestingly, none of the three is currently committed to transitioning its existing operations to Part 108.
When You Already Have Permission, Why Change?
One of the assumptions surrounding Part 108 is that the new regulation will automatically represent an improvement over the existing waiver system. That might be true for companies that have never attempted BVLOS operations. But what about organizations that have already gone through the process and are successfully operating under their existing authorizations?
Arch Aerial is a good example. The company specializes in aerial data acquisition, including linear infrastructure mapping, and has developed considerable experience conducting BVLOS operations under Part 107 waivers. Its operating authorizations have evolved through successive amendments, allowing the company to expand its capabilities without abandoning the existing regulatory framework.
Ryan Baker, CEO and Founder of Arch Aerial, explained:
“We are currently operating under a Part 107 waiver and have already gone through multiple amendments to expand our operations. Most of our projects involve linear flights rather than large-area mapping, which is our area of expertise, and we are very comfortable with our current operational environment. From a purely business standpoint, these operations are already profitable. How the transition to Part 108 impacts the business will depend entirely on the final version of the regulation. At this point, it is simply too early to determine how that transition will affect the business (we all have the proposed language but are unsure how much will change).”
Baker’s comments highlight a fundamental distinction between companies hoping to begin BVLOS operations and those already conducting them profitably.
For Arch Aerial, the question is no longer whether BVLOS can improve the economics of aerial mapping. The company has already demonstrated that it can. The question is whether Part 108 will provide sufficient additional operational flexibility to justify the costs of transitioning.
But not every BVLOS operator is taking the same wait-and-see approach.
Austin Seback, CEO of Big Sky Aerial Solutions, is considerably more skeptical about the economic implications of the proposed regulation.
Big Sky specializes in LiDAR, photogrammetry, and geospatial data collection for utilities, engineering companies, and surveying firms. The company has obtained BVLOS waivers for operations that include linear infrastructure mapping without visual observers under specified conditions.
Seback believes the additional costs associated with Part 108 could fundamentally change the economic equation.
“We are currently operating under a Part 107 waiver, and frankly, we probably will not transition to Part 108 unless required, because we believe the costs will be prohibitive. For the money (hardware and 108 specific costs) required to become a Part 108 operator, we might as well buy a Cessna or rent a helicopter and conduct conventional crewed missions under Part 61. I think many companies are looking at Part 108 as an ace in the hole, but they may be sorely disappointed when the final regulation arrives, and they discover how expensive compliance will be. The safety certification requirements alone could be extremely costly and time-consuming.”
Seback’s comparison with conventional crewed aviation is particularly revealing.
For years, one of the principal arguments in favor of drones has been their ability to acquire aerial information at a fraction of the cost of conventional aircraft. Now, an experienced BVLOS mapping operator is suggesting that the additional regulatory burden could undermine that advantage.
Of course, the final Part 108 regulation has not been published, and the actual costs of compliance remain uncertain. Seback’s assessment is a prediction based on the proposed requirements, not a completed financial comparison between crewed and uncrewed aviation.
Nevertheless, his comments raise an uncomfortable question.
What happens when the cost of complying with regulations intended to enable uncrewed aviation begins to approach the cost of operating conventional aircraft?
The contrast between Baker and Seback is instructive. One is operating profitably under existing waivers and wants to understand the final regulation before making a decision. The other already suspects the costs of transitioning will outweigh the benefits.
Neither is expressing unconditional enthusiasm for Part 108. And both have something particularly valuable in common: they are already flying BVLOS rather than simply anticipating it.
Perhaps the Future Is Not About Transitioning at All
There is a third approach to BVLOS that might prove even more interesting for the mapping industry.
Woolpert, one of the largest geospatial services companies in the United States, has deliberately designed its own UAS operations around the VLOS requirements of Part 107.
Rather than investing in additional equipment and authorizations for every possible mission, the company relies on its industry partner, Censys Technologies (https://censystech.com/), where BVLOS operations are required.
Adam Ackermann, C.M., ACE, Aviation Research Analyst with Woolpert’s Aviation R&D team, explained the company’s position:
“Existing UAS missions with Woolpert’s UAS fleet have been intentionally designed around VLOS requirements, allowing us to meet client needs efficiently without spending additional resources to acquire DAA (detect and avoid) hardware and BVLOS waivers.”
This is a revealing distinction. Woolpert has the resources of a major geospatial organization, but that does not necessarily mean it makes economic sense to develop every aviation capability internally. And the company is not dismissing Part 108.
“We see BVLOS as an enabler for the continued evolution of commercial UAS operations, particularly where it can create meaningful operational efficiencies for our clients and geospatial products.”
For the time being, Woolpert expects to continue operating its existing UAS fleet under Part 107 while monitoring the final regulation and evaluating whether future client requirements justify additional BVLOS equipment.
That approach raises an interesting possibility. When Part 107 became effective in August 2016, it allowed thousands of surveying companies to incorporate aerial data acquisition into their businesses. A small surveying firm could purchase a drone, train a pilot, acquire processing software, and begin offering aerial photogrammetry without having to operate conventional aircraft.
But before the drone revolution, most land surveying companies did not own airplanes or helicopters. They contracted aerial photography and photogrammetric data acquisition to specialized aviation providers.
Could we be returning to a similar business model?
Under that scenario, specialized BVLOS operators would conduct long-distance aerial data acquisition, while traditional surveying companies would concentrate on ground control, geodetic reference systems, processing, accuracy assessment, and professional certification where applicable.
The aircraft operator would provide the data. The surveying company would turn those observations into reliable geospatial information.
Woolpert’s existing approach suggests that this division of labor is not merely theoretical. And perhaps that is one of the most important lessons emerging from these interviews. We tend to assume that every technological or regulatory advance creates an obligation to upgrade. But companies do not adopt new capabilities simply because they become available. They adopt them when they solve a problem, improve profitability, or allow access to markets that were previously out of reach.
For a company mapping hundreds of miles of transmission lines, Part 108 might eventually provide enormous operational advantages.
For a small surveying firm mapping subdivisions, construction sites, or individual properties, Part 107 may continue to be perfectly adequate.
And for a large geospatial company like Woolpert, the most efficient approach may be to use both capabilities through a combination of internal operations and specialized partners.
The proposed Part 108 framework could still become the most significant regulatory development for commercial uncrewed aviation since Part 107. But judging from the responses of companies already involved in aerial mapping, the transition may be neither automatic nor universal. The final regulation will determine the requirements. The companies themselves will determine whether those requirements make business sense.
And perhaps the real measure of Part 108’s success will be how many companies decide that ending their waivers and adopting the new regulation is worth the investment. At the end, as usual, it’s a matter of financials, not technology or regulation.
