US moves one step closer to delivery drones as companies and experts give recommendations to FAA for commercial flights over populated areas

Getting your groceries delivered by drone might happen sooner rather than later, after a government-sponsored committee recommended new standards on commercial drone flights to The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Friday.

The FAA currently prohibits most commercial drone flights over populated areas, frustrating a host of industries that want to take advantage of the technology.

Amazon, for example, has long awaited regulatory approval for its mooted Amazon Prime Air delivery system. But the recommendations are part of a potential opening up of regulations.

Scroll down for video 

Sky high: A government-sponsored committee is recommending standards that could clear the way for commercial drone flights over populated areas and help speed the introduction of package delivery drones

Cell phone network providers also want the restrictions loosened so drones can be used to inspect cell towers in urban areas.

And of course, news channels are interested too. 'Every TV station in the country wants one, but they can't be limited to flying in the middle of nowhere because there's no news in the middle of nowhere,' said Jim Williams, a former head of the FAA's drone office.  

Associated Press obtained a copy of the recommendations that were sent to the FAA late Friday. The agency is not bound by the recommendations and can make changes when it writes the final rules.

The recommendations call for creating four categories of small drones - also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAVs - that commercial operators can fly over people, including crowds in some cases.

The first category would weigh no more than about a half-pound and could fly unrestricted over people, including crowds. 

Drone makers would have to certify that that if the drone hit someone, there would be no more than a one percent chance that the maximum force of the impact would cause a serious injury.

For the three other categories, the drones would have to fly at least 20 feet over the heads of people and keep a distance of at least 10 feet laterally from someone.

Form and function: The guidelines suggest that there be four categories of drones, each with different restrictions for flying over people depending on how likely they are to inflict serious injury 

According to the recommendations, drones in the second category are expected to be mostly small quadcopters - drones with multiple arms and propellers, and weighing four-to-five pounds - but there is no weight limit. 

Flights over people, including crowds, would depend on the design and operating instructions, and manufacturers would have to prove through testing that the chance of serious injury was one percent or less.

Drones in the third category will not be allowed to fly over crowds or densely populated areas, but instead work in closed or restricted sites in which the only people present are there with the permission of the drone operator.

Those people would be incidental to the drone operations and flights over them would be brief, rather than sustained. 

Manufacturers would have to show there was a 30 percent chance or less that a person would be seriously injured if struck by the drone at the maximum strength impact possible.

Drones in the fourth category could have sustained flights over crowds. Working with the FAA and engaging the local community, the operator would have to develop a 'congested area plan' showing how flight risks would be mitigated.

As before, the risk of serious injury would have to be 30 percent or less. Safety tests would be more exacting and the FAA would set a limit on how strong the drone's maximum impact could be.

'The risks are nominal,' said Michael Drobac, executive director of the Small UAV Coalition. 'The reality is the technology would likely save lives rather than threaten them.'

Flying visit: The FAA does not have to follow the recommendations, but will take them on board as it works on regulations that may see Amazon's long-planned 'Prime Air' delivery service (pictured) finally in action

The FAA announced the formation of the committee in February as a way to circumvent traditional federal rule-making procedures, which can take years. 

It was made up of 27 companies or trade associations, including drone manufacturers and companies that want to fly drones, as well as airline and private pilots, airports, crop dusting companies and helicopter operators.

A last-minute disagreement nearly kept the committee from meeting the Friday deadline for the recommendations.

The Air Line Pilots Association and trade associations for the helicopter and crop dusting industries wanted to require that all commercial drone operators pass an aviation knowledge test administered in person by the FAA.

They also wanted the operators to receive a background check from the Transportation Security Administration, according to an industry official familiar with the discussions.

Most committee members opposed requiring anything more than an online knowledge test. The matter was resolved by the inclusion of a dissent by those in favor of the FAA test and TSA clearance. 

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions.

The FAA initially described the panel as a 'micro' drone committee. The agency defines such drones as those weighing less than 4.4 pounds. But the committee decided not to set a weight limit for most of the categories. 

That means it's possible that any 'small' drone, which the FAA defines as weighing less than 55 pounds, could win approval to fly over people if the drone met the safety criteria laid out in the recommendations. 

For example, a smaller drone that flies at higher speeds with fast-moving propellers may be deemed more of a risk than a heavier drone that flies more slowly and whose propellers don't rotate as quickly.

Air mail: In the not-too-distant future, home delivery drones may zip above cities just as planes and helicopters do now (pictured: an alternative design for an Amazon drone)