Science advisers to the US federal government say safety regulators are hindering the spread of commercial drones by being too cautious about the risks posed by the flying machines.
The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine said in a report that federal safety regulators need to balance the overall benefits of drones instead of treating them the same way that they oversee airliners.
Academy experts said, in a strongly-worded report, that the US Federal Aviation Administration tilts against proposals for commercial uses of unmanned aircraft without considering their potential to reduce other risks and save lives.
For example, they said, when drones are used to inspect cell-phone towers, it reduces the risk of making workers climb up the towers.
The study on the FAA's work on integrating drones into the nation's airspace was requested by Congress last year.
An FAA spokesman said the agency was working to safely speed the integration of drones into the airspace. The science board's recommendations match the FAA's efforts "and we see them as an endorsement of our efforts and encouragement to accelerate our efforts," he said.
The drone industry hailed the report.
But others, including airline pilots, have expressed concern about more drones sharing the airspace.
The FAA is investigating an incident reported in February in which a drone flew close to a Frontier Airlines jet approaching Las Vegas. A drone hit a small charter plane in Canada last October, and other operators have been charged with interfering with firefighting planes.
In Monday's report, the science academies leaned on a 14-member committee whose members come mostly from universities and research groups but also the aerospace industry, including a representative of Boeing's drone business.
The high-level science board said that the FAA was making "overly conservative risk assessments" about drones by applying the same near-zero tolerance for risk that it uses with other aircraft.
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