Drones: Coming (maybe) soon to skies near you

Yet while this is an industry waiting to take off, until the Federal Aviation Administration sorts out the rules of the air for unmanned vehicles it will remain idling on the runway, because for now commercial flights are banned. Congress has asked the FAA to write regulations governing civil operation of small unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace by 2015. It’s not clear whether the agency will meet that deadline or not. “There’s just too much uncertainty,” said Phil Finnegan, director of corporate analysis at the Teal Group, which monitors the aerospace industry. “There will be applications when the FAA opens up the airspace. The first one will be law enforcement, then civilian. But for now, they cannot fly freely in airspace.”