Regulatory compliance and socio-demographic analyses of civil Unmanned Aircraft Systems users

Abstract

To safely integrate the emerging Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) technology into the national airspace system and a variety of application fields, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is in charge of publishing rules to regulate and oversee UAS activities in the U.S. However, incompliance with rules undermines the effectiveness of such regulations. This study focuses on investigating the status of UAS regulatory compliance in the U.S. from the perspectives of UAS ownership registration and maximum flight altitude limitation, analyzing the socio-demographic factors of UAS users and their relationship with regulatory compliance. A U.S. national representative survey was performed for data collection. Descriptive statistics illustrate the overall status of UAS regulatory compliance and the demographic characteristics of the adult UAS users. Canonical correlation analysis was adopted to explore the pattern between variables of regulatory compliance and socio-demographic factors. Logistic regression was used to identify influencing socio-demographic factors for compliance behavior of UAS users on two specific rules. Results present 1) the demographic features of the adult UAS users in the U.S., 2) the overall status of UAS regulatory compliance in terms of ownership registration and maximum flight altitude limitation, and 3) the relationship between UAS regulatory compliance and influencing socio-demographic factors. Findings of this study provide aviation regulation authorities and UAS law enforcement important insights into UAS regulatory compliance to further develop more effective policies and strategies to safely and sustainably regulate UAS activities.