DRONE LAW
THE DIFFERENT STRAINS OF IDEAS Weapon Target Military decoys Data gathering Recreation
WEAPON
MARCH 1849
NIKOLA TESLA A remote controlled airplane that “could change its direction in flight, explode at will, and . . . never make a miss.”
ELMER SPERRY
LAWRENCE SPERRY (SON) Hello there.
PETER COOPER HEWITT
GLENN CURTIS
THE CURTISS-SPERRY AERIAL TORPEDO
THE AERIAL TORPEDO IN WWII
THE NAZI V3 SUPER CANNON
TARGET
INTERWAR PERIOD (1919-1939) • “Old school” battleship mentality vs. the new air war mentality. • The battleship guys said, “Add more guns!” • “We also need targets for practice.”
U.S.S. UTAH
U.S.S. UTAH AT PEARL HARBOR
REGINALD DENNY 1930’s Hollywood and RC airplanes
TARGETS FOR THE MILITARY
WHO IS THIS?
WHO IS THIS?
DECOYS
ADM-20 QUAIL
THE YOM KIPPUR WAR (OCT. 6-25, 1973) “[T]he Israeli Air Force employed pilotless aircraft as a first wave of an aerial attack against Arab forces. The UAVs fooled radar operators and defense systems. The ruse caused Arab defenses to expend their surface to air missiles (SAMs) . . . giving the second wave of manned aircraft a chance[.]”
DATA GATHERING
BALLOONS THADDEUS LOWE (JUNE 16TH, 1861)
GEORGE R. LAWRENCE (1869-1938) & KITE PHOTOGRAPHY SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE 1906
MQM-57 FALCONER (1955- 1970’S) • Flown by a pilot via a stick box and TV camera for about 30 minutes at around 185- 224 miles per hour • Turn around, kill the engine, and deploy the parachute once over friendly territory.
RECREATION
CONTROL-LINE THEN RADIO
THE FAA’S AUTHORITY TO REGULATE AIRSPACE
THE CONSTITUTION & THE FEDERAL AVIATION ACT OF 1958. • Article I, Section 8 gives Congress the power to “regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states .” • Congress delegated to the FAA the job to “develop plans and policy for the use of the navigable airspace and assign by regulation or order the use of the airspace necessary to ensure the safety of aircraft and the efficient use of airspace .
WHAT IS NAVIGABLE AIRSPACE? • “‘[N] avigable airspace’ means airspace above the minimum altitudes of flight prescribed by regulations.” 49 U.S.C. § 40102(32). 14 C.F.R 91.119 defines navigable airspace.
14 C.F.R 91.119
NAVIGABLE AIRSPACE FOR HELICOPTERS Helicopters can go down to “An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface .”
HOW HIGH DOES MY AIRSPACE GO?
UNITED STATES V. CAUSBY WW2 was going on. B-17 bombers will flying over (83ft.) the farmer’s chickens and they were being killed. The Court held that people’s property ends at the highest of the underlying land’s trees, buildings, fences, “immediate reaches of the enveloping atmosphere[,]” or how high the owner can “occupy or use [the airspace] in connection with the land[.]”
IMPLICATION FROM THE CAUSBY CASE • If the farmer owned the “immediate reaches of the enveloping atmosphere[,]” or how high the owner can “occupy or use [the airspace] in connection with the land [,]” the local governments also has the general police power to regulate this area.
HOW THE FAA REGULATES NAVIGABLE AIRSPACE
WAYS OF REGULATING • Advisory Circulars • Policy Statements • Federal Aviation Regulations
ADVISORY CIRCULARS • Advisory Circulars (“AC”) are just that, advisory. AC’s are not binding, unless the AC is incorporated specifically by reference into a regulation.
AC 91-57 • Issued in 1981 • Published to “encourage model aircraft flyers to voluntarily” comply. • Limitations are: Not in the presence of spectators unless the airplane has been flight tested, 400 feet max height, not within 3 miles of an airport, not near noise- sensitive areas, and not over populated areas. • The FAA accidentally canceled it back in August, 2014.
FOUR PROPOSED AC’S IN 1996 • ARAC sub-committee tasked with developing “operating and certification standards for unmanned aerospace vehicles [including] minimum qualifications or standards for the operators of these vehicles.” • In 1996, the FAA was given advisory circulars for unmanned aircraft maintenance, pilot training and qualification, aircraft design, and operations.
POLICY STATEMENTS/ INTERPRETIVE RULES • By issuing a policy statement, an agency simply lets the public know its current enforcement or adjudicatory approach. • The agency can change its position • Simply put, the policy statements will be “explanatory rather than mandatory.”
THE PROBLEM WITH POLICY STATEMENTS • Congress passes a broadly worded statute. • Broad language has open-ended phrases and/or ambiguous standards. • Then as years pass, the agency issues circulars or guidance or memoranda, explaining, interpreting, defining and often expanding the commands in the regulations.
HOW DID WE GET HERE? • “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations in the U.S. National Airspace System – Interim Operational Approval Guidance.” Published in September 2005. • The FAA wouldn’t accept civil aircraft COA applications. They have to get a SAC-EC. • “ UA that comply with the guidance in AC 91-57 are considered model aircraft and are not evaluated by the UA criteria in this policy .” • It is easier to operate under AC 91-57 than get a SAC-EC or COA.
2007 POLICY STATEMENT- THE INDUSTRY KILLER • Published in February 2007 to fix the model aircraft loophole. • “AC 91-57 only applies to modelers, and thus specifically excludes its use by persons or companies for business purposes .” • The policy statement declares that “no person may operate a UAS in the National Airspace System without specific authority[.]” The authority for civil aircraft would be a SAC-EC. • Public aircraft must have a COA, civil aircraft a SAC- EC, and modelers operate under AC 91-57
THE OL’ SWITCHEROO “Farmers may operate an unmanned aircraft over their own property for personal use and should operate safely so as to minimize risk to other aircraft or people or property on the ground. Guidelines for the operation of model aircraft, such as those published by the Academy of Model Aeronautics, may be used by farmers as reference for safe model UAS operations .” - Les Dorr from the FAA (Nov. 25, 2013)
2014 MODEL AIRCRAFT INTERPRETATIVE RULE • The FAA fixed the loophole. • A farmer CANNOT determine “whether crops need to be watered that are grown as part of commercial farming operation.” • “A realtor [CANNOT USE] a model aircraft to photograph a property that he is trying to sell and using the photos in the property’s real estate listing .” • Recreational flying means no incidental benefits.
CURRENT ENFORCEMENT
RAFAEL PIRKER • FPV at the UV campus. • Violating 91.13 for flying in a “careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another .” • $10,000 fine! • Not because it was commercial. • The FAA really picked the low hanging fruit and didn’t address all the other issues.
ZABLIDOWSKI CASE • David Zablidowski , Bassist of the band Z02, flew his Phantom in midtown Manhattan recreationally. I’m here to • The Phantom crashed rock you like a repeatedly into buildings hurricane. until a propeller broke. • The FAA cited him for violating 91.13 and also for flying in Class B airspace without a clearance.
HOW DOES A DRONE GET PERMISSION TO FLY?
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF AIRCRAFT • Public Aircraft – Government • Civil Aircraft – Model or Non-Model
PUBLIC AIRCRAFT • Public aircraft must be carrying out a government function. (national defense, firefighting, search and rescue, law enforcement, etc.) • The FAA does not regulate the certification of the public aircraft or the certification of the pilots. • FAA only regulates the operation of the public aircraft. • A public aircraft cannot comply with all of the regulations so it needs a Certificate of Authorization or Waiver (COA) from certain regulation such as Section 91.113’s “see and avoid” requirement.
CIVIL AIRCRAFT • The FAA regulates the certification of civil aircraft, the certification of the pilots, and their aircraft’s operation. • Non-model civil aircraft need a special airworthiness certificate (Experiment and Restricted) Experimental – training and research purposes only Restricted – can be used commercially for agricultural spraying, dusting, seeding, forest and wildlife conservation, aerial surveying, patrolling, or other areas.
SECTION 333 • Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. • It allows the FAA to determine “whether a certificate of waiver, certificate of authorization, or airworthiness certification will be required.” • Uses also Part 11 exemption process. • 48 granted. • Still need a COA
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