NYPD gains critical FAA approval to expand drone operations

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) just received a major approval from the Federal Aviation Administration that should make their drone use easier, cheaper and, well, more widespread. The new FAA approval allows NYPD staff to fly drones beyond-line-of-sight (BVLOS) across much of NYC without needing either a visual observer or even other type of specialized equipment to detect other aircraft.

That’s a big win for New York City Police Department Commissioner Edward A. Caban, who marked one year in office during summer 2024.

The approval makes it so NYPD won’t have to spend as much money on specialized equipment as they might have had to otherwise. Likewise, the FAA approval makes it so the NYPD won’t have to spend as much money on human observers stationed around the city. That’s neither scalable nor cheap.

And it’s especially compelling to see the first approval of its kind go to a police department so notable. After all, New York City features some of the world’s most complex airspace. That’s largely because it lies over such a dense urban area.

How NYPD landed the FAA approval

The historic FAA approval came about in part through NYPD’s relationship with California-based drone maker Skydio. Skydio handled a good chunk of the regulatory work associated with such an approval.

The new FAA approval hinges open a concept called “shielded DFR operations.” That idea hinges around the concept of how there’s a space between objects on the ground and crewed aircraft high up in the sky. There’s a space where there’s not much of anything — but there could be drones.

With this FAA approval, NYPD is approved to conduct Shielded DFR Operations. With that, NYPD can fly drones up to 200 feet above ground level, or within about 50 feet of structures. This specific distance creates a buffer of sorts between the drone and other sorts of more standard, crewed aviation activities.

This specific approval also requires that NYPD use ADS-B In technology. Short for Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast, ADS-B is a surveillance technology used in aviation. It enables aircraft to determine their position via satellite navigation. From there, drones periodically broadcast their location along with other relevant information such as altitude, speed, and identity, to air traffic controllers and other nearby aircraft.

Here’s how it works: should a low flying aircraft (say, a medivac helicopter) approach the drone, the operator receives an alert with the relative altitude, location, and distance between the drone and the aircraft. With precise information about low flying traffic, the pilot can decide whether or not an avoidance maneuver is needed.

Interestingly, the NYPD is not required to use other types of DAA technology such as radars or electro-optical systems.

The approval applies to the spaces marked in green:

What drones does NYPD use?

Perhaps unsurprisingly given that American drone company Skydio helped NYPD land the waivers, NYPD uses drones and other technology from Skydio. Skydio most famously produces the X10 drone.

For example, one critical piece of tech is what’s called the Skydio Dock and Remote Ops platform. Skydio Dock is the company’s own drone dock that allows the drone to take off, land, recharge and safely sit when not in use.

In 2023, Skydio integrated ADS-B into that product set. That allowed customers with Part 107 waivers to conduct remote operations without a visual observer. And in September 2024, Skydio launched a new version of its dock made specifically for the X10 drone. It’s fittingly named the Skydio X10 Dock.

The NYPD also uses a program called Skydio Autonomy. This program makes it so drones can actually fly under a Shielded DFR system with reduced risk of flying into other obstacles. It even works at night using a program that can see at night called Skydio NightSense.

Skydio’s history in DFR operations

Skydio leaned on its years of expertise in working with first responders to earn other sorts of FAA approvals. For example, Skydio has worked with Chula Vista Police Department, which is located in San Diego County and is one of the country’s leading Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs. In 2020, the duo worked together to earn a Tactical BVLOS waiver. That waiver allows public safety personnel to fly drone BVLOS at low altitudes in emergency scenarios with neither visual observers nor detect and avoid (DAA) systems. Today, nearly 600 public safety agencies hold the same approval.

The next year, Skydio teamed up with BNSF Railway to apply for and receive what is the nation’s first national remote operations approval for dock-based drones. And in 2023, multiple Skydio clients received Part 107 waivers to conduct those aforementioned shielded remote operations. With that approval, flights could be conducted up to 200 feet above ground level. And that’s all using ADS-B — yet without other types of expensive (and cumbersome) drone airspace awareness technology.

What’s next for police drones?

Though the approval clearly benefits NYPD’s drone operations, it should pave the way for other DFR operations around the country. Industry experts calling the FAA approval “a blueprint for other law enforcement agencies across the US to follow.” They also refer to it as something “that removes barriers that have previously limited DFR operations across the US.”

The most notable barrier of those is cost. After all, some DFR agencies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on radar systems. That’s despite the fact that radar systems tend to have a poor record of performance in dense urban environments.

Increasingly more first responders (whether that’s police, or other first response agencies such as fire departments) are leaning toward drones. Because drones don’t have to deal with ground traffic, they often can be the first on the scene in the wake of a service call. Once hovering over the scene, drones can provide live-streamed video to first responders. That can allow them to make more informed decisions, and also serve as evidence if necessary.

“By enabling the country’s most advanced drone operations in some of the most complex airspace, the FAA is developing a blueprint that can extend to other agencies across the US, most of which operate in areas with lower levels of complexity,” according to a statement from Skydio.