# The FAA says its automated system had granted one million drone airspace authorisations, work that used to be handled by hand, while showing air traffic staff where drones fly

Page: https://flyvolo.ai/en/changes/ev-20220204-air-traffic-controller-7
Date: 2022-02-04 · Stage: Deployment
Can this record move a task judgement? yes
Occupation: https://flyvolo.ai/en/careers/air-traffic-controller

## Scope

United States. The regulator's own release says its Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability automates the process for drone pilots to gain authorisation and provides air traffic professionals with awareness of where drones may be operating; that before it, authorisations were done manually and could take weeks; and that since becoming an official programme in 2018 it covers 542 air traffic facilities serving about 735 airports. Requests outside the automatic limits are still coordinated by people. It gives no change in controllers' hours.

## Source

- Federal Aviation Administration — 'FAA Reaches One Million Airspace Authorization for Drone Pilots' (press release, 4 February 2022) — https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-reaches-one-million-airspace-authorization-drone-pilots (primary source)

## What this means

In US airspace, letting a drone into controlled airspace near an airport is routinely decided by a machine; people handle the requests outside its limits.

## What it does not show yet

Drones under set altitude limits only; nothing on controller workload or on larger uncrewed aircraft.

## How to verify it yourself

Open the FAA release 'FAA Reaches One Million Airspace Authorization for Drone Pilots' and find "Prior to LAANC, airspace authorizations were done manually".


More: https://flyvolo.ai/llms.txt