The FAA’s departing deputy administrator said Friday that the agency is being “nudged” to embrace “more risk” when it comes to the integration of uncrewed drones.
Chris Rocheleau, who is expected to rejoin the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) this week after serving as FAA deputy administrator since July 2025, was speaking at the Commercial Drone Alliance’s (CDA) American Drone Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., before a crowd of drone industry stakeholders.
“You look at this new technology, and you’re getting kind of nudged in the direction of ‘let’s lean in, let’s take a little more risk here,’” Rocheleau responded to a question about the FAA’s challenges integrating commercial drones. “That risk word is not really well embraced by the folks at FAA…There’s a reason it takes years to make a rule.”
Rocheleau was named acting FAA administrator by President Donald Trump in late January 2025, only days after the midair collision between a Bombardier CRJ-700 passenger jet and U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA). The accident killed 67 people and brought scrutiny on aviation safety.
Rocheleau later described the FAA’s back-and-forth with the drone industry as a “healthy tension.” A major focus of the event and his remarks was the agency’s long-awaited Part 108 rule, which is under review at the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
Drone industry groups have pushed for greater leniency under the rule, which proposes a new framework for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, while pilots represented by groups such as the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) have expressed concern that it is too permissive.
The White House directed the FAA to finalize Part 108 by early 2026. But the agency—facing pressure from both industry and pilots—in January reopened its proposal to public comment.
“This is a good approach to making a performance based rule, but we need to write that standard, and we’re in work on that now,” said Jenn Player, vice president of global aviation regulatory for drone manufacturer Skydio, on Friday. “There’s a lot of scale happening already today that the FAA has helped unlock, and we can’t take a step backward from that.”
Rocheleau’s impending departure was first reported by Reuters. The NBAA last week announced his return to the association as its chief operating officer, a role he served between stints with the FAA.
Safety Versus Innovation
Before rejoining the FAA as acting administrator, Rocheleau held various roles—including chief of staff and deputy associate administrator for aviation safety—over 20 years across two previous stints with the agency. They were separated by his close to four years as a senior policy advisor for the Transportation Security Administration.
Safety was an immediate and prominent thrust of Rocheleau’s recent tenure.
“Clearly, something was missed,” Rocheleau said of the January 2025 midair collision.
During about six months as acting administrator, Rocheleau led the FAA’s early response to the tragedy and oversaw reforms, including the elimination of mixed military and commercial traffic over the Potomac River. The agency initiated a nationwide review of potential collision hot spots at other airports, using artificial intelligence as part of the effort.
Rocheleau also oversaw the Transportation Department’s push to “supercharge” air traffic control hiring with incentives such as cash bonuses.
After Congress confirmed Bryan Bedford, the former CEO of Republic Airways, as permanent FAA administrator in July 2025, Rocheleau assumed a deputy role. He was a key advocate for ATC modernization as well as the integration of advanced air mobility (AAM), supporting initiatives such as the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certifications (MOSAIC) rule and eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP).
Rocheleau has been part of the FAA’s balancing act in developing Part 108, which would greatly expand the operation of drones BVLOS of their operators and is believed to be near the finish line.
“The FAA clearly has a responsibility to build a regulatory framework that will allow commercial drone operations at scale,” he said Friday. “And yet, we cannot ignore the potential for threat, maybe we think about it as vulnerability, when we bring these systems online.”
The Part 108 saga has involved plenty of back-and-forth between the drone industry, pilots, and the FAA. The commercial drone industry, supported by groups such as the CDA, has urged the FAA to pass a final rule in order to eliminate uncertainty.
“Convincing investors relies on certainty of regulatory approach and framework,” said Keller Cliffton, CEO of drone delivery provider Zipline, during the D.C. summit.
At the same time, groups such as ALPA and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) worry about issues of right-of-way and the maturity of detect and avoid technology, which Part 108 drones will use to deconflict with other aircraft.
Rocheleau said Friday that FAA personnel have been “working very diligently” to finalize Part 108 and that the rule will “iterate over time.” He predicted its impacts will soon be felt.
“I am encouraged that a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, we will see a whole different scale, a whole different way of operating commercial drone activities in this nation,” Rocheleau said.
Despite delays in finalizing Part 108, industry stakeholders who spoke at Friday’s CDA event were encouraged that the FAA has listened to their concerns. On the other hand, AOPA in its comments on the proposal said that concerns raised by pilots as the rule was being developed “were routinely minimized or dismissed entirely.”
“[The FAA is] a little bit more constrained, but they are looking for ways to say yes,” said Charlton Evans, founder and CEO of aircraft certification specialist End State Solutions.
Modernizing the Airspace
Rocheleau added that the FAA’s ongoing ATC modernization effort will further unlock drones and other new airspace entrants, such as eVTOL air taxis. He said that a lack of funding has previously held the agency back, but a $12.5 billion allocation from Congress is supporting big changes.
“Last year, we initiated something major for The United States in terms of building out this brand new air traffic control system,” he said. “It was way overdue.”
Rocheleau said that digitizing and moving away from outdated copper wiring, floppy discs, and paper flight strips will accommodate more uncrewed aircraft. He said the FAA continues to seek additional funding for a new flow management data and services (FMDS) system as well as Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories (SMART)—an AI-powered system intended to predict airspace conditions months in advance.
Rocheleau said the FMDS and SMART will be “critical to safely and efficiently managing the airspace with all the different things that are coming in the sky.”
“I think that when we keep talking about the brand new air traffic control system, a lot of people are focused on traditional aircraft, commercial airlines, business jets, those types of things,” he said. “But what we’re really doing is setting the foundation for all the things that the people in this room want to do.”
Rocheleau’s remarks indicate the FAA’s desire to foster aviation innovation, but it will need to do so without sacrificing safety.
The agency earlier this year undertook a major restructuring that added three new offices and made certain leadership roles permanent. The overhaul, which Bedford described as the largest in the FAA’s history, will see the agency develop a safety management system (SMS). At the same time, Bedford said it will support ATC modernization and the integration of drones, air taxis, and other AAM aircraft.
Rocheleau was appointed to oversee the newly created Advanced Aviation Technologies office as well as the offices of Commercial Space Transportation, Security and Intelligence Organization, and Aviation Safety Oversight and Certification Organization.
Liam McKenna, the FAA’s chief counsel, will serve as acting deputy administrator in his stead, according to Bedford.
