The Congressional Research Service (CRS) recently released its report on the legal issues surrounding the “Integration of Drones into Domestic Airspace”.
The report discusses the legal aspects of airspace authority, property rights, trespass, nuisance and personal privacy. The CRS also addressed past and present case law as it relates to these areas and related legal issues. Though the report briefly mentions model aircraft and FAA’s guidance under AC 91/57, it fails to recognize the long non contentious history of MA’s presence in the national airspace and the excellent safety record achieved by the aeromodeling community.
In short the report concluded… “The legal issues discussed in this report will likely remain unresolved until the civilian use of drones becomes more widespread. To that end, the FAA has been tasked with developing a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of drones into the national airspace, which focuses on the safety of the drone technology and operator certification. While the deadline for development of the plan has already elapsed, the FAA has until the end of FY2015 to implement such a plan”.
Clink the link below to read the entire January 30, 2013 report…
Integration of Drones into Domestic Airspace
Rich Hanson
AMA Government and Regulatory Affairs