Domestic Drone Delivery Inches Towards Realization: Administrative Law as the Crucible of Policy Innovation: Fall 2026

This article is from the fall 2026 issue of Hearsay, the semi-annual newsletter of the Wheat Law Library.

At the Wheat Law Library, we have been following the progress towards consumer product deliveries by unmanned aircraft system, more commonly referred to as “drones.” The Federal Aviation Administration’s  has proposed rule changes to allow drone delivery by vendors such as Amazon, Walmart and even DoorDash. This process provides a window into the mechanisms of regulatory change in response to technological advancements.

The impetus to update drone regulations began during the Biden administration with the passage of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, 138 Stat. 1025 (Pub. L. 118-63) (signed May 16, 2024), which amended Title 49 of the U.S. Code governing FAA operations.

One June 6, 2025, President Trump added to the impetus for the modernization of drone regulations with Executive Order 14307. The FAA is in the process of implementing these changes through FAA regulations in Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Part 107 of this title includes the prior regulatory framework for drones commanded by individual pilots who may obtain licenses from the FAA and must operate the drones with “line of sight.”

The FAA has proposed a new body of regulations that will be published as Part 108 of Title 14 of the CFR that will allow drones to operate “beyond visual line of sight” or BVLOS. On Aug. 8, 2026, the FAA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for these changes, Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations, Docket FAA-2025-1908.

On Sep. 1, 2026 the FAA invited industry partners to meet to discuss BVLOS operations under CFR, Title 14, Part 108. Notice Soliciting Representatives for Technical Roundtables on Security of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operating Beyond the Visual Line of Sight, 91 Fed. Reg. 56894 (Sep. 4, 2026).

The proposed Final Rule for Part 108 is undergoing review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, but a coalition of fifteen states filed a lawsuit on Sep. 29, 2026, to force the FAA to reconsider the National Environmental Policy Act review required for BVLOS drone delivery operations. New York v. U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Docket No. 26-2726 (2d Cir. Sep 29, 2026).  

Therefore, it’s difficult to predict when widespread drone delivery might become a reality, the topic is certain to create opportunities to explore how public laws, statutes, regulations and litigation all converge in a hotly-contested arena of drone delivery where public safety collides with convenience and consumerism.  
 

Neal Axton
Reference & Research Librarian