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The U.S. government just grounded delivery drones.

The good news is commercial drone flight in the U.S. has its first set of operational rules, which were released on Tuesday from the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration.

However, much of what's outlined in those new rules pretty much dashes the hopes of Amazon, Walmart and others who want to start air-dropping products to our homes. So while these new rules do lay the much-needed groundwork for commercial drone operation in U.S. airspace, they leave little (but not no) wiggle room for any use cases besides search and rescue operations and research.

“We are part of a new era in aviation, and the potential for unmanned aircraft will make it safer and easier to do certain jobs, gather information and deploy disaster relief,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a press release.

Officially known as The Small Unmanned Aircraft Regulations (Part 107), the rules, which go into effect in August, apply to all commercial (or non-hobbyists) drones under 55 pounds. That might include Amazon's delivery drone, which weighs roughly the limit.

Weight, though, may not be the biggest hurdle for potential drone delivery services. The FAA and DoT are also requiring that all drones remain within visual line of sight with their pilots and that the pilots can view the fliers unaided by anything more powerful than prescription glasses. 

The drones cannot fly over "unprotected people."

It's unclear how Amazon Prime Air or anyone else could use drones to deliver packages from a warehouse to someone's home and still be able to keep eyes on the drone for the whole flight.

The new rules also set maximum speed to 100 mph (far faster than most amateur drones can fly) and a max altitude of 400 feet.

The drones cannot fly over "unprotected people" unless "they are directly participating in the UAS operation," notes the release. That rule would likely prohibit the commercial drones from flying over private homes.

Pilots have to be at least 16 years old and have a remote flying certificate and have passed an aeronautical test. In a possible nod to the threat of drone-borne terrorism, there will also be TSA background tests for all of these drone pilots.

Mashable has contacted Amazon for comment on the new rules and will update this report with its reply.

Some in the aeronautics space, though, are already applauding the new rules.

"We want to congratulate the FAA on publishing the final small UAS [unmanned aircraft system] rule today. The final rule will be highly beneficial to the industry overall, as it resolves many uncertainties in the law and creates an improved regulatory environment." said Dave Mathewson, executive director of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA).

It's worth noting that the FAA's new rules do not apply to model aircraft.

While these rules appear to make commercial drone delivery systems virtually impossible, the FAA and DoT are also including an online waiver portal (still to be built), where pilots and companies can apply for waivers to some of these restrictions (the FAA does not say which ones), as long as they can prove that they will still be able to conduct the drone flights safely.

You can read a summary of the new commercial drone rules here. 

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