State Farm Granted First-of-its-Kind National Drone Waiver

State Farm will continue to use drones in its insurance operations. The insurer was granted a first-of-its-kind national waiver by the Federal Aviation Administration that will allow drone operations over people and flights beyond a pilot’s visual line of sight through November 2022. Current FAA regulations restrict drone pilots from flying beyond their visual line of sight and over groups of people. Previous waivers granted by the FAA were limited in duration and to specific geographic areas impacted by hurricanes. State Farm was previously allowed to test the technology in its damage assessments and the agency found that having the drones made a difference.