{"id":1972,"date":"2014-04-21T18:02:44","date_gmt":"2014-04-21T18:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/?p=1972"},"modified":"2014-04-22T13:22:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T13:22:27","slug":"texas-equusearch-requests-faa-to-reverse-its-ban-on-uas-search-rescue-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/2014\/04\/21\/texas-equusearch-requests-faa-to-reverse-its-ban-on-uas-search-rescue-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas EquuSearch petitions the court to reverse FAA’s ban on volunteer UAS Search & Rescue operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a letter<\/a> to FAA Acting Chief Council Marc L. Warren, Texas EquuSearch<\/a> (TES) of Dickinson, TX requested the agency to reverse its directive ordering the organization to cease its use of radio-controlled unmanned aircraft in their volunteer search & rescue operations.<\/p>\n

(See the update below… April 21, In the absence of action by the FAA, TES has now petitioned<\/a> the US Court of Appeals to reverse the FAA’s ban on volunteer UAS Search & Rescue operations<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

On February 21, 2014, Gene Robinson, a sUAS operator for TES, received a written directive to “stop immediately” as his volunteer use of a radio-controlled unmanned aircraft without specific authorization (COA) was deemed to be an “illegal operation”.<\/p>\n

\"Gene<\/a><\/p>\n

Texas EquuSearch has retained the Manhattan firm of Kramer, Levin, Naftalis, & Frankel, LLP and\u00a0has taken steps to begin a legal process<\/a> to secure its right to use model aircraft (sUAS) in its humanitarian search and rescue activities.<\/p>\n

Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery is a non-profit organization founded by Tim Miller, a resident of Texas whose daughter Laura was tragically abducted and murdered in 1984. Mr. Miller has since devoted his life to assisting families whose loved ones have gone missing, by organizing and directing volunteer searchers who, in coordination with local and federal officials, thoroughly search relevant land areas using a variety of volunteers, including horseback riders, boaters, divers, and field walkers, using any equipment and technology available that may effectively assist in the search (such as side-scan sonar and ATVs).<\/p>\n

Since its founding, Texas EquuSearch has been involved in over 1,350 searches in 42 states and eightforeign countries, and has found over 300 missing people alive. In other less fortunate cases, the search has recovered remains, helping families to end the agony of not knowing their loved one\u2019s fate, permitting closure, and enabling the human dignity of a funeral. When the disappearance is the result of a crime, early discovery of the victim\u2019s remains benefits the country\u2019s justice system by preventing deterioration of forensic evidence.<\/p>\n

Read the article in the Houston Chronicle<\/em><\/a>…<\/p>\n

Feds order EquuSearch to stop using drones in search of crime victims<\/a><\/h4>\n

Read the report by Jason Koebler on Motherboard<\/a>…<\/p>\n

‘They’re Playing God’: The Federal Drone Ban Is Thwarting Rescue Missions<\/a><\/h4>\n

Click the links below to read the case documents…
\nTES Letter to FAA Acting Chief Council Marc L. Warren<\/a>
\nTES-FAA Letter Exhibits<\/a>
\nTES Press Release<\/a><\/p>\n

Rich Hanson
\nAMA Government and Regulatory Affairs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a letter to FAA Acting Chief Council Marc L. Warren, Texas EquuSearch (TES) of Dickinson, TX requested the agency to reverse its directive ordering the organization to cease its use of radio-controlled unmanned aircraft in their volunteer search & rescue operations. (See the update below… April 21, In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1972"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1984,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972\/revisions\/1984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}