FAA approval to test deliveries by unmanned drones is too little too late: Paul Misener

Last week, e-commerce company Amazon was awarded with an 'experimental airworthiness certificate' by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The certificate allows Amazon to test a delivery drone outdoors in the US as the company wants to deliver packages to customers by air. At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Amazon blasted the FAA for the delay in the approval of commercial drone testing.

Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president for global public policy, told lawmakers at the hearing that the approval is too little and too late. According to him, the six-month delay in approval made the test delivery drones obsolete and irrelevant as the company has already moved past the drone design that regulators approved last week.

In his testimony Misener said, "Nowhere outside of the United States have we been required to wait more than one or two months to begin testing We don't test it anymore. We've moved on to more advanced designs that we already are testing abroad".

Amazon started to test the unmanned drones in 2013 to deliver packages to customers as quick as 30 minutes at an indoor facility. The company then asked for permission from the FAA for broader testing of drones for the merchandise delivery service named Prime Air.

However, the FAA initially shot down the idea of testing the delivery drones in the US in mid-February. Finally, the FAA issued the certificate to an Amazon business unit and its prototype drone, which would allow test flights over private, rural land in Washington state.

The company said that it has again applied for another certificate for a newer advanced drone. However, it prefers to receive a commercial-drone exemption like the ones granted to nearly 50 operators in the US.

However, FAA has made amendments ahead of Tuesday's hearing. An interim policy will speed up approvals for certain commercial drones for flights at or below 200 feet to any operator for flying in daylight hours and within a drone operator's line of sight.