Patrick C. Miller The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s guidelines for law enforcement to assist in identifying those flying unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in an unsafe manner or in violation of its regulations might create more problems than they solve. James Mackler, a criminal defense attorney with expertise in UAS law, said he believes law enforcement […]
The Enforcer
Have we plateaued at a new level of absurdity (maybe 10-3), with the police now acting as the enforcement arm for the FAA? Some suggest that this amounts to a huge an unfunded mandate and is apparently another misstep in a folly conga line. The authorization of deadly force in Attachment A. What has this […]
Drone downer: Will new FAA rules ground recreational fliers?
By Alwyn Scott (Reuters) – Americans shopping for toy remote-controlled airplanes or helicopters may find, sometime in the near future, that they come with unexpected accessories: A raft of new regulations. The Federal Aviation Administration, by the end of the month, is expected to propose new rules governing small unmanned aircraft systems, the first major […]
The FAA Won’t Release Drone Regulations Until 2017, Which Is Absurd and a Problem
By Lily Hay Newman Photo by Alexander Koerner/Getty Images It feels like just yesterday that I was writing about Amazon’s impatience with the Federal Aviation Administration’s drone regulatory process. Oh right, that’s becuase it was yesterday. Today there’s bad news for Amazon and all the other companies and individuals that are waiting for the agency’s […]
Yamaha Demos Agricultural RoboCopter, But Humans Can’t Unleash It Yet
By Evan Ackerman Agriculture is (arguably) where drones are going to be the most useful in the near future. Drones have already proven their usefulness to hobbyists and the military, and agriculture is the next huge commercial frontier. And although commercial drone operation is still waiting for official approval, at least in the United States, […]
McKenna Pursues Federal Regulatory Preemption in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“UAS”) Arena
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (McKenna), on behalf of members of its UAS Advisory Group, has petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requesting that any Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by the FAA addressing small unmanned aircraft systems (“sUAS”) include a regulation that expressly preempts state and local regulation of sUAS including design, sale, distribution, use, or operation. […]
America can’t lead the world in innovation if the FAA keeps dragging its feet on drone rules
By Larry Downes October 8 at 7:00 AM As the latest revolutionary digital technology takes off, entrepreneurs are finding themselves battling federal regulators for permission just to experiment with new applications. This time, it’s not the FCC (smartphone apps), the FTC (the Internet of Things), the FDA (genetic testing), the Department of Transportation (driverless cars), […]
Was The Drone Flight Over A University Of Texas Football Game Illegal?
The University of Texas Police are investigating an unauthorized drone flight by a UT student who flew his drone over Darrell K. Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium. The flight took place during the home opener for the Texas Longhorns football team. The flight is the type of seemingly harmless, yet actually irresponsible behavior that irks […]
What UAVs can learn from manned aircraft
By Chris Anderson – 3D Robotics Here’s a very interesting article on Medium from a Marc Ausman, a pilot, on what the lessons in FAA regulation of manned aircraft suggest about the right path for unmanned ones. Excerpt: There are regulations governing how a plane can be operated depending on the weather conditions. Good weather flyers […]
Scholars Say No to FAA’s Model Aircraft Regulati
By David Schneider Last week, a group of researchers, teachers, and administrators from 16 institutions of higher learning including Harvard, Duke, and Stanford, registered their objections to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s recent “Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft.” They did that by submitting, with the assistance of counsel, a 13-page letter in […]