Part 108 NPRM: Status, Timeline and What Happens Next

Part 108 NPRM status as of August 2026

The Part 108 NPRM ("Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations") was published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2025 at 90 FR 38212, under Docket FAA-2025-1908 and RIN 2120-AL82. Comments closed October 6, 2025 with roughly 3,100 submissions, and the FAA reopened a narrow 14-day window on right-of-way and electronic conspicuity that closed February 11, 2026. The draft final rule went to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on July 10, 2026 and is still under review. There is no final Part 108 rule yet. BVLOS still requires a Part 107 waiver, an exemption, or a Section 927 waiver.

If you searched for "Part 108 NPRM," you probably do not need another explainer of what Part 108 will eventually allow. You need to know where the rule actually is, why it is late, and what changes between the proposal you read and the rule you will have to comply with.

That is what this page is. A rulemaking tracker for the Part 108 NPRM, written for operators who have to make hiring, capex and client commitments against a regulation that does not exist yet.

We already cover the substance elsewhere. If you want the framework itself, read our Part 108 overview, the Part 108 vs Part 107 comparison, the eight permit categories, and the requirements and compliance checklist. This post stays on the process.

What the Part 108 NPRM actually is
Part 108 NPRM timeline: every date so far
Where the rule sits right now: OIRA review explained
What happens between an NPRM and a final rule
Why the Part 108 NPRM is late: the right-of-way fight
What the reopened comment period tells you about the final rule
What you can legally fly right now
Parallel rulemakings that will shape your Part 108 operations
How to track the Part 108 NPRM yourself
What to build now, whichever way the rule lands
Frequently asked questions

What the Part 108 NPRM actually is

The Part 108 NPRM is a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which is a formal proposal, not law. It was published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2025 as document 2025-14992, runs 180 Federal Register pages (90 FR 38212 to 38391), and carries Docket No. FAA-2025-1908 and Notice No. 25-07.

Three identifiers matter when you are tracking it, and people routinely mix them up:

Identifier	Value	What it is for
Docket number	FAA-2025-1908	Finding comments and supporting documents on regulations.gov
RIN	2120-AL82	Tracking the rule's progress through OMB and the Unified Agenda
FR document number	2025-14992	Citing the exact published NPRM text
FR citation	90 FR 38212	Legal citation in filings and comment letters

Note that the NPRM does not only create 14 CFR Part 108. It proposes amendments to Parts 36, 43, 45, 48, 89, 91, 107, 119, 133, 135, 137 and 146, plus 49 CFR Parts 1540 and 1544. That breadth is one reason review is taking so long, and it is why you cannot read proposed Part 108 in isolation. The changes to Part 107, Part 89 Remote ID and §91.113 right-of-way rules are where most of the friction lives.

One more thing worth being precise about. The FAA's own plain-language version, the BVLOS NPRM website PDF, is a pre-publication draft. The Federal Register version is the authoritative text, and page numbers in the two documents do not match. If you are citing sections in a comment letter or a client memo, cite the Federal Register.

Part 108 NPRM timeline: every date so far

Here is the complete record from statutory mandate to today. Two legally binding deadlines have already been missed.

Date	Event
May 16, 2024	FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 enacted. Section 930 directs a BVLOS NPRM within 4 months and a final rule within 16 months of that
September 16, 2024	Statutory NPRM deadline. Missed
June 6, 2025	Executive Order 14307 orders a proposed rule within 30 days and a final rule within 240 days
August 7, 2025	Part 108 NPRM published, 90 FR 38212, Docket FAA-2025-1908
October 6, 2025	60-day comment period closes. Approximately 3,100 comments received
January 2026	Statutory final-rule deadline under Section 930 passes. Missed
January 28, 2026	FAA reopens comments for 14 days, limited to right-of-way and electronic conspicuity
February 1, 2026	Executive Order 14307's 240-day final-rule deadline passes. Missed
February 10, 2026	FAA denies requests to extend the reopened window
February 11, 2026	Reopened comment period closes
April 1, 2026	FAA publishes its Section 927 waiver process, an interim BVLOS pathway
July 10, 2026	Draft final rule submitted to OIRA for Executive Order 12866 review
August 19, 2026	Still under OIRA review. No final rule published

The missed deadlines deserve a comment, because operators keep reading them as promises. Congressional deadlines in FAA reauthorization bills and deadlines in executive orders generally carry no self-executing penalty. Nothing happens automatically when the FAA blows through one. The practical remedy is a lawsuit to compel agency action or congressional pressure, and neither is fast. Treat published deadlines as intent, not as schedule.

Where the rule sits right now: OIRA review explained

The draft Part 108 final rule is at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a unit inside the Office of Management and Budget, where it arrived on July 10, 2026. This is the last mandatory stop before publication, and almost nobody writing about Part 108 explains what it means.

Under Executive Order 12866, significant rules go to OIRA for a centralized review of costs, benefits, information-collection burdens and consistency with other federal policy. The review window is nominally 90 days and can be extended once by the agency head or at the OMB Director's request. Reviews can also be withdrawn by the agency, which resets the clock entirely.

Three outcomes are possible at this stage:

Consistent without change. OIRA signs off, the FAA schedules publication. Fastest path.
Consistent with change. OIRA negotiates edits with the FAA. This is the common outcome for large, contested rules and it can add weeks or months.
Returned for reconsideration. OIRA sends the rule back. For a rule this politically visible, unlikely but not impossible.

What OIRA review does not do is give you a publication date. The Unified Agenda entry for RIN 2120-AL82 has listed target dates that came and went. Ninety days from July 10, 2026 lands in early October 2026, so the earliest realistic publication window is Q4 2026, with early 2027 more plausible given the volume of substantive comments the FAA has to respond to in the preamble.

If you are budgeting, plan for the final rule to land no earlier than late 2026 and for compliance dates to sit six to twelve months beyond that.

What happens between an NPRM and a final rule

Between the NPRM and the day you can actually fly under Part 108, there are five distinct steps, and each one can move your operational date. Most Part 108 coverage collapses all of this into "the final rule is coming."

1. Comment adjudication. The FAA has to respond to every substantive comment in the final rule's preamble. With roughly 3,100 comments, this is the single biggest time sink and the reason the preamble will likely run longer than the NPRM itself.

2. Logical outgrowth analysis. The FAA can only finalize provisions that are a "logical outgrowth" of what it proposed. If the agency wants to make a change that commenters could not reasonably have anticipated from the NPRM, it must issue a supplemental NPRM and reopen comments. This is the underappreciated risk on Part 108. A large enough rewrite of the right-of-way regime could trigger an SNPRM and push the timeline out by a year or more.

3. OIRA review. Covered above. Where the rule sits today.

4. Publication and Congressional Review Act clock. Once published, the rule goes to Congress and the Government Accountability Office. A major rule cannot take effect for at least 60 days after publication, and Congress has a window to pass a resolution of disapproval. Disapproval is rare, but the 60-day delay is automatic.

5. Effective date versus compliance date. These are different, and confusing them is how operators end up scrambling. The effective date is when the regulation exists. Compliance dates are when specific obligations bite, and rules of this size typically phase them: personnel qualification requirements on one date, aircraft acceptance on another, safety management system documentation on another. Read the compliance table in the final rule carefully. It is usually near the end of the preamble, not in the regulatory text.

Add it up and the gap between "final rule published" and "you are flying commercially under Part 108" is realistically 6 to 18 months depending on which authorization pathway you pursue.

Why the Part 108 NPRM is late: the right-of-way fight

The Part 108 NPRM is late primarily because of one provision: proposed §108.195(a)(2), which would amend the §91.113 right-of-way hierarchy so that Part 108 BVLOS aircraft hold presumptive right of way over crewed aircraft below 400 feet AGL unless the crewed aircraft is electronically conspicuous.

Read that again, because it inverts a foundational principle of aviation. Under the proposal a crewed aircraft would have to yield to an uncrewed one unless it is broadcasting position via ADS-B Out or an approved alternate electronic conspicuity device, or is in Class B or Class C airspace, or is taking off or landing at an airport or heliport, or is over a Category 5 population area.

More than half of the roughly 3,100 comments touched this provision. The opposition was not from hobbyists:

Vertical Aviation International documented that its utility helicopter operator members fly more than 40,000 hours a year within 400 feet of structures, with more than 25,000 of those hours within 50 feet, precisely the "shielded" environment the NPRM would hand to BVLOS drones.
The Experimental Aircraft Association argued that requiring general aviation to equip is asking that community to underwrite the cost of commercially lucrative BVLOS integration, or accept elevated risk if they do not.
Airline and agricultural pilot groups raised the asymmetry directly: crewed aircraft cannot see the drone, and the drone may only partially see the crewed aircraft.

Separately, commenters pushed back on the waiver transition (operators with years of safe Part 107 BVLOS waiver history did not want to be grounded), on population density as the sole risk metric rather than a performance-based approach that credits parachutes and geofencing, on the country-of-origin restrictions in proposed §108.700, and on the SMS and certificated-personnel burden falling hardest on small operators and public safety agencies.

That last point matters if you run a public safety or emergency response program. The organizational overhead proposed in the NPRM was designed around delivery networks operating hundreds of aircraft, not a sheriff's office with four.

What the reopened comment period tells you about the final rule

The scope of the reopened comment period is the clearest signal available about which parts of Part 108 will change and which are locked. This is the analysis nobody else is publishing, and it is free intelligence.

On January 28, 2026 the FAA reopened comments for exactly 14 days and explicitly limited the scope to electronic conspicuity, ADS-B Out equipage and right-of-way. It then denied requests for an extension on February 10, 2026 and stated that out-of-scope comments would not be considered.

The specific questions the FAA asked are revealing:

Which alternate EC devices exist today, and who manufactures them?
Do alternate EC devices match ADS-B Out functionality or add safety benefits?
When will EC devices actually be available at scale in the US market?
Does the RTCA DO-282C standard apply to alternate EC devices?
Should EC devices be required to alert the pilot on failure?
What detection technologies exist beyond ADS-B Out and EC devices?

Read the pattern. Every question is about making non-ADS-B electronic conspicuity workable and cheap. The FAA is not asking whether to keep the presumptive right-of-way construct. It is asking how to lower the equipage burden that made the construct politically untenable.

Three practical inferences follow:

The right-of-way framework will likely survive in some form, but softened, probably with a longer transition period, a broader set of acceptable EC devices, or carve-outs for known low-altitude crewed operations like utility and agricultural work.
Everything the FAA did not reopen is comparatively stable. The permit and certificate structure, the population density categories, the Operations Supervisor and Flight Coordinator roles, the detect-and-avoid performance framing. Those got 3,100 comments too, and the FAA did not go back for more. Plan against those.
Detect and avoid is the schedule risk. If the FAA has to rewrite the EC and right-of-way sections substantially, the logical outgrowth test comes into play. That is the scenario that turns a Q4 2026 rule into a 2028 rule.

If you are making a capital decision this year, the safest read is: build to the permit and certificate structure, and do not buy detect-and-avoid hardware on the assumption that the NPRM's version is final.

What you can legally fly right now

BVLOS is legal today through three pathways, none of which is Part 108. This is the section that actually answers "what do I do while the rule sits at OIRA," and most Part 108 coverage skips it entirely.

Part 107 waiver under §107.205. The traditional route. You apply through the FAA DroneZone portal for relief from §107.31 visual line of sight and build a safety case around your specific concept of operations. Slow, granular, and the FAA has approved hundreds of them. Our BVLOS waiver guide walks through the application, and the broader FAA drone waiver process covers the other regulations you can get relief from.

Part 11 exemption. For relief from regulations that are not waivable under Part 107, typically used by larger delivery and infrastructure operators. Slower still, and it requires a public interest finding.

Section 927 waiver. This is the one almost nobody covers, and it is new. Section 927 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 gave the FAA authority to approve UAS operations by waiver instead of through rulemaking or a Part 11 exemption, and the FAA published its implementation process on April 1, 2026 in Docket FAA-2026-1100. The FAA's Section 927 waiver page explains the mechanics.

The key difference is the legal test. A Part 11 exemption requires you to show the relief is in the public interest. A Section 927 waiver does not. You only have to show that the operation would not adversely affect safety, or would provide a level of safety equal to the rule you want relieved from. For a commercial operator with a clean flight record and a well-documented concept of operations, that is a meaningfully lower bar.

Practically, a Section 927 application looks like this:

Define the exact operation you want to conduct, in operational terms rather than aspirational ones.
Identify every regulation that operation would violate. Be exhaustive. Missing one gets your application bounced.
Build the safety case with facts, data and examples. Prior flight history under existing authorizations is the strongest evidence you can offer.
Describe your mitigations, your crew qualification standards, and how you will monitor compliance.
Submit and be ready to answer follow-up questions from the FAA's General Aviation and Commercial Branch.

Step three is where most applications fail, and it is where an operator with clean, exportable flight data has an enormous advantage over one reconstructing history from memory and a spreadsheet. If you have been running structured flight logs and a documented risk assessment process, you can produce a safety case in days. If you have not, you are starting from zero.

Do not wait for Part 108 to start building that record. Every authorization pathway, present and future, asks for the same evidence.

Parallel rulemakings that will shape your Part 108 operations

Part 108 is not the only drone rulemaking in motion, and at least one of the others will directly constrain where your BVLOS routes can go.

Section 2209 fixed-site flight restrictions. On May 6, 2026 the FAA published an NPRM, Docket FAA-2026-4558, implementing Section 2209 of the 2016 FAA Extension Act. It creates a process for operators of critical infrastructure and other fixed sites to petition for a UAS Flight Restriction over their facility. Comments closed July 6, 2026.

This matters more than it sounds. If a meaningful number of refineries, power plants, stadiums and data centers obtain UAFRs, the low-altitude map you are planning BVLOS corridors across gets substantially more fragmented. Anyone doing utility and energy inspection work should be reading this docket alongside Part 108, because the two rules interact. A Part 108 permit does not automatically give you access through a UAFR.

Remote ID enforcement. Part 89 has been enforced since March 2024 and the Part 108 NPRM proposes amendments to it. Remote ID compliance is a practical precondition for BVLOS, not an optional extra. Our Remote ID guide covers the current obligations.

UTM and third-party services. The reauthorization act also accelerated third-party UAS traffic management services, which is the connective tissue Part 108 operations will depend on for strategic deconfliction. See our unmanned traffic management explainer.

Worth noting for anyone operating on both sides of the Atlantic: the EU is well ahead here. The specific category framework with SORA has authorized BVLOS operations for years, and EASA's operational categories offer a working preview of the record-keeping and organizational structure Part 108 is heading toward. If you want a head start on the documentation burden, look at what EU specific category operators already maintain.

How to track the Part 108 NPRM yourself

You do not need to rely on drone blogs for Part 108 status, including this one. Four primary sources will tell you where the rule is, and three of them update faster than any news coverage.

regulations.gov, Docket FAA-2025-1908. Every comment, every supporting document, every extension request. Search the docket ID directly. Reading the comments filed by companies that do work like yours is the fastest way to understand what the rule will do to your operation.

reginfo.gov, RIN 2120-AL82. This is the OMB side. The Unified Agenda entry shows the rule's stage, the FAA's own target dates, and whether it is currently under OIRA review. When the review concludes, the status changes here before anything appears in the Federal Register.

Federal Register. Search "Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations" and set an email alert on the docket. The public inspection desk posts documents a day or two before formal publication, so that page is where the final rule will surface first.

The Unified Agenda itself. Published twice a year, it lists every FAA rulemaking with projected dates. Useful for seeing what else is queued behind Part 108.

A habit worth adopting: check reginfo.gov monthly rather than reading news. Secondary coverage of Part 108 has been unreliable, and several SEO-driven sites have published articles claiming the rule was finalized when it was not. If a source says Part 108 is final, check the Federal Register before you act on it. We also maintain a running drone regulations news roundup for the wider regulatory picture.

What to build now, whichever way the rule lands

The parts of Part 108 that are least likely to change are the organizational requirements, and those take the longest to build. Start there.

Whether you end up flying under a permit, an operating certificate, a Part 107 waiver or a Section 927 waiver, every pathway demands the same four things.

A personnel qualification record you can produce on demand. Part 108 introduces Operations Supervisor and Flight Coordinator roles with defined qualification and currency requirements. Even under Part 107 today, §107.7 requires you to produce records to the FAA on request. Tracking who is current on what, across a team, is exactly the problem pilot certification management solves, and it is the first thing an inspector asks for.

A safety management system with real artifacts. Not a binder. A functioning hazard identification process, a live risk register, and incident reporting that captures near-misses rather than only accidents. Certificated Part 108 operations will require SMS. Building one after the rule publishes puts you a year behind operators who started in 2025.

Complete, exportable flight records. Every safety case you will ever file rests on flight history. Automated flight logging, aircraft and battery cycles, maintenance actions tied to airframes. If your fleet records live across three spreadsheets and a shared drive, fix that before the rule lands, not after. Our drone fleet management guide covers the operational discipline; the compliance guide covers what has to be retained.

Documented operational areas and procedures. Part 108's area-approval model replaces per-flight waivers with pre-approved operating areas. That only works if you can describe your operating areas precisely, with the airspace classifications, hazards and mitigations documented. Operators who already run structured flight planning with saved operational areas will convert quickly. Operators planning flights ad hoc will not.

None of this is speculative investment. All four are useful today under Part 107 and all four are required by every proposed Part 108 pathway. The operators who will be flying under Part 108 in the first quarter after the compliance date are the ones who treated the NPRM as a specification rather than a news story.

Frequently asked questions

When will the FAA Part 108 final rule be released?

There is no confirmed release date. The draft final rule entered OIRA review on July 10, 2026, and OIRA review of a significant rule runs up to 90 days with the possibility of extension. That puts the earliest realistic publication in Q4 2026, with early 2027 more likely given the volume of comments the FAA must address in the preamble. Any specific date you see quoted is an estimate, including the FAA's own Unified Agenda targets, which have already slipped repeatedly.

Is Part 108 law yet? Can I fly BVLOS under it?

No. Part 108 exists only as a proposal. 14 CFR Part 108 is not in the Code of Federal Regulations and you cannot operate under it. BVLOS today requires a Part 107 §107.205 waiver, a Part 11 exemption, or a Section 927 waiver under the process the FAA published on April 1, 2026. Any article claiming Part 108 has been finalized is wrong; verify against the Federal Register.

What is the Part 108 NPRM docket number?

Docket No. FAA-2025-1908 on regulations.gov, with Notice No. 25-07. The Federal Register document number is 2025-14992, the citation is 90 FR 38212, and the Regulatory Identification Number is 2120-AL82. Use the docket number to read comments, and the RIN to track the rule's status on reginfo.gov.

Will my existing Part 107 BVLOS waiver still be valid after Part 108?

The NPRM proposed sunsetting Part 107 BVLOS waivers, and that provision drew heavy opposition from operators with years of safe waiver history. Industry groups asked for explicit grandfathering, and the FAA has not signaled its decision. Assume you will need to transition to a Part 108 permit or certificate, and assume there will be a transition window measured in months rather than years. Keep your waiver current in the meantime.

Stop waiting, start documenting

The single worst position to be in when Part 108 publishes is having a fleet, a client list, and no operational record you can hand to the FAA.

Every Part 108 pathway, and every interim pathway available today, is evaluated on evidence: who was qualified to fly, what the aircraft had done, what risks you identified, what you did about them. That evidence is either being captured now or it is being lost now.

DroneBundle keeps that record for you. Pilot certification and currency tracking so qualification gaps surface before a flight rather than after an audit. Automated flight logging with DJI log processing, so your flight history is complete and exportable. A live risk register and incident reporting that give an SMS something real to sit on. Airspace and flight planning with saved operational areas that map cleanly onto Part 108's area-approval model. Weather integration and live tracking for the operational side, plus a client portal and invoicing for the commercial side.

We support operators across public safety, utilities and energy, construction and surveying, from four-aircraft teams to enterprise fleets. Plans start at €149 per month; see pricing for the full breakdown.

Start your free trial and have your compliance record in order before the rule lands.

Or book a live demo and we will show you exactly what a Part 108-ready operational record looks like.