Blogs

FAA Can Make All Drone Flights Illegal, Federal Court Rules.

Posted by Todd Harper on November 18, 2014 at 8:00am

3689626270?profile=original

Link:

Drone Flights Illegal.

Excerpt from above article:

Some very bad news for drone pilots this morning: An appeals board has ruled that the Federal Aviation Administration has wide latitude to make all drone flights illegal in the United States.

​The decision, by the National Transportation Safety Board, determined that the FAA's existing "aircraft" regulations can apply to model aircraft, drones, and remote controlled aircraft, which is perhaps the most restrictive possible outcome for drone pilots in a legal saga that has dragged on for more than a year.

Tags: ban, drone, faa, illegal, ntsb, ruling
E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • Benjamin Pelletier November 18, 2014 at 12:09pm

    Guys (Joe and jg), no, that's not how it works.  The Constitution gives Congress the authority to make laws.  Two of these laws are the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2012.  These laws give the FAA the authority to create regulations which are listed in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), a subset of which is called the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR).  The creation, publishing, and other FAA conduct regarding these regulations has some limitations (they can't just declare something to be a regulation).  Among the duly-created regulations is 14 CFR 91.13 which says that no person may operate an aircraft in a careless or reckless manner.  The FAA says Pirker was violating this regulation.  Previously, the court ruled that he couldn't have been because model aircraft are not the "aircraft" that this regulation was referring to (otherwise, things like Frisbees would be subject to much of the FAR as well).  This ruling says that model aircraft are "aircraft" that this regulation was referring to.  So no new laws or regulations have been made; the only thing that has changed is that now we "understand" that Congress meant for the regulations regarding "aircraft" that the FAA created to apply to paper airplanes.

  • Martin November 18, 2014 at 12:03pm

    I think a bunch of you guys should go get a wack of printer paper. Fold it into planes and write drone on the sides. Load into a large plastic bag and dump off the highest spots in the city's you can get to. Since a paper plane is now an aircraft and have some fun.

  • Nikola Rabchevsky November 18, 2014 at 11:51am

    When it comes to federal agency rule-making, Franz Kafka would likely say, "Jeez, I was only writing a fictional story."

  • Joe LaMantia November 18, 2014 at 11:26am
    When I was a kid and I used to watch Schoolhouse Rock on TV it taught me how laws were made. And laws Are not made by some government agency saying this is going to be a law. It requires a bill to go through Congress before becomes a law until then it's just a rule that is only applicable to people currently hold FAa certifications. so keep this up FAA go ahead make me a criminal and see how you like me then.

    Joe LaMantia
  • Moderator
    Gary Mortimer November 18, 2014 at 9:49am

    The FAA responds http://www.suasnews.com/2014/11/32771/faa-statement-on-ntsb-decisio... I don't think people realise how far down the line the process is.

  • hotelzululima November 18, 2014 at 9:44am

    time to find a new country to live and work in... if you are in the UAS industry..

       hzl

  • Jonathan Hair November 18, 2014 at 9:42am
    Yikes. This is getting out of control.
This reply was deleted.