FAA Order 7200.23E lets drone pilots inspect towers above LAANC grid ceilings without ATC coordination

TLDR

• FAA Order JO 7200.23E, effective October 31, lets Part 107 pilots inspecting cell towers, communications towers, and high-rises fly above UAS Facility Map grid ceilings without coordinating with the air traffic control facility.¹²
• Qualifying inspections must stay within a 100-foot radius of the structure, no more than 100 feet above its top, 2 nautical miles from runways unless otherwise authorized, and meet standard cloud-clearance and visibility minimums.¹²
• The order writes down for the first time how the FAA handles drone requests inside Class E surface areas around smaller airports, and adds a see-and-avoid waiver to every Part 91 UAS approval.¹²
• Tower-inspection authorizations under the new rule can run up to 24 months, versus a single day for an ordinary request at a LAANC-enabled airport, and a Service Center can write one nationwide for a company that requests it.¹

The FAA has rewritten the internal order that governs what drone pilots get back from FAADroneZone. Order JO 7200.23E, "Processing of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Requests," cancels the April 2023 version and takes effect October 31, with 36 listed policy changes.¹² The change pilots will feel first: a drone inspecting a cell tower, communications tower, or high-rise inside controlled airspace can now be authorized above the LAANC grid ceiling without any coordination with the control tower, as long as the Part 107 visual-line-of-sight flight stays within a 100-foot radius of the structure, no more than 100 feet above its top, at least 2 nautical miles from any runway or heliport unless separately authorized, 500 feet below and 2,000 feet horizontally from clouds, and with at least 3 statute miles of visibility.¹² Bridges and power lines don't qualify; the order excludes "vertical structures with horizontal spans." Requests under this provision still go through FAADroneZone rather than LAANC's instant process, even at LAANC-enabled facilities, but the terms are generous: authorizations can run up to 24 months, and a Service Center can write a nationwide authorization for a company that requests one.¹²

The order also writes down, for the first time, how the FAA handles requests inside the Class E surface area around smaller airports, which already carry UAS Facility Map grids on the FAA's public map; the change list says this type of request "was not addressed in previous versions of the order."² Separately, every Part 91 drone approval now carries a built-in see-and-avoid waiver, and the order takes multi-day approvals at grid altitude away from everyone except first responders.²

Why it matters: this is internal FAA processing guidance rather than a new regulation, but it quietly cuts the paperwork and wait time for one of the most common commercial drone jobs, tower and high-rise inspection, showing the FAA is willing to speed up high-volume routine use cases through administrative changes even while the broader Part 108 BVLOS rule remains stuck in review.