dkatz42 said:No, aircraft cannot be operated at all (commercially or not) unless the aircraft and pilot meet all those requirements. Commercial use is an even higher hurdle, but certainly not the only one.pbleic said:I think we are saying the same thing. Drones are aircraft; aircraft can't be operated commercially unless they meet certain requirements such as licensing of the pilot, and all of the requirements of an aircraft certification. That would presumably include the transponder at <30 miles from a major airport.
The no-commercial-use thing for UAVs is mostly a canard--they're trying to find some way to hold back the tide while they get their regulatory act together, and RC aircraft have been around for decades, so they don't have much leverage beyond the 1981 A/C. Nobody's really cared about commercial use of RC aircraft until now, so I see it as a (quasi-) legal stopgap for the short term.
If the existing FARs are any indication, I would expect more regulation on commercial use than on private use, but I would expect private use to be regulated to some extent as well.
From what I have read and understand. The 1981 AC 91-57 http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/91-57.pdf is still in effect and should be followed until the FAA comes out with the new rules.