Fly Without FAA Authorization Voids Insurance - Long Delays

[Consultant]

So my broker who handles my UAV Liability Insurance confirmed that if I had an accident in controlled airspace without having FAA Authorization, it negates my insurance. Yikes! Yet I've been SO frustrated with the long wait times on the authorizations!! I can't imagine how many pilot out there are saying screw it. I'm not waiting 90 days to get authorization to fly 75 feet over someone's house. But broker also said, if something happens on a commercial job, they aren't only potentially going to sue you, but also sue your client! Double Yikes!

So I wrote this letter to the FAA today:

I am trying to grow a small business providing drone services and the FAA is hampering that growth due to delays in the authorization and waiver process. I have some questions / suggestions.

1. When I’ve submitted applications in the past that are not in the FAA Facilities locations for the expedited approval below certain elevations, I do not get any sort of confirmation that the application has been received, nor any indication as to the estimated wait time based on the current volume of applications? This is very basic information that is very easy to calculate, similar to wait times on a phone call. Why is this information not provided? I am essentially left in complete darkness as to the status of my applications and when I can expect them to be processed.
   
   
2. The announcement about the areas within controlled airspace that are eligible for expedited processing stated at one point the approval would take 24-48 hours. I’ve got applications in these areas that are over 60 days old and have not been processed. What’s going on with those? If the processing time is going to be approaching the length of the non-expedited areas, don’t you think you should be giving a notice out to all these businesses waiting on the applications so they can adjust their schedules and maintain client expectations? Sort of like when you call a business and the recording says “we are experiencing unusually high call volumes…. Your current wait time is…”
   
   
3. In areas where the expedited authorization process is supposedly available, many of those areas have 100 and 200 ft elevation ceilings. It is completely baffling to me that I can fly around a major hospital with a heliport with low altitude helicopter flights going in and out without any sort of FAA authorization. Yet I need authorization to fly in an industrial area or over someone home below 100 feet? Realistically it is obvious there is much higher chance of an accident near the heliport than my drone hitting a plane or jet flying dangerously low to the ground 1-5 miles from the airport. I would STRONGLY suggest that the necessity for authorizations in the future simply be WAIVED for areas under 100 or 200 feet that are in the FAA Facilities Map for expedited authorization processing, especially if realistically the process is going to take far far longer than the 24-48 hours initially stated. This would also be in line with the current President’s focus on removing unnecessary regulations that are hampering business growth, especially small businesses.

Can we have a little commone sense here?