# The FAA Says Now is the Best Time in History for the Drone Industry. Here’s Why.

Published 2021-09-13 · Updated 2026-07-23 · Professional AV on MarketScale
Canonical: https://www.marketscale.com/industries/pro-av/the-faa-says-now-is-the-best-time-in-history-for-the-drone-industry-heres-why

> 2021’s Commercial UAV Expo just wrapped up, and professionals may agree there’s never been so much positive buzz in the drone world. New beyond visual line of sight laws are coming down the pipeline, innovative companies are addressing the payload delivery problem, and the the number of legal drone deliveries has hit six figures….

2021’s Commercial UAV Expo just wrapped up, and professionals may agree there’s never been so much positive buzz in the drone world. New beyond visual line of sight laws are coming down the pipeline, innovative companies are addressing the payload delivery problem, and the the number of legal drone deliveries has hit six figures.

As a part of his keynote speech at the Expo, [Steve Dickson](https://www.faa.gov/about/key_officials/dickson/), Administrator of the[ FA](https://www.faa.gov/)A, said, quote: “In many respects, you know, I truly think this is the most exciting period in aviation aerospace history.” And he may be right.

On an upcoming episode of [Drones in America](https://marketscale.com/shows/drones-in-america/), Grant Guillot sits down with the head of UAV Integration at the FAA, [Jay Merkle](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-merkle-0b1224b), about the sky high public perception of drones and how the industry can fully capitalize on this latent excitement.

Here’s an excerpt from that interview.

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