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FAA sued over drone restrictions, UAV arrests and confiscations, privacy legislation in California, UCLASS delay, NASA developing ATC for drones, Disney seeks UAS patents.

News

Lawsuits Assert Broad Economic and Scientific Impact of FAA’s Drone Restrictions

Three lawsuits have been filed by attorney Brenden Schulman (@dronelaws) over the FAA’s Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft. These were filed on behalf of:

1. The Academy of Model Aeronautics and its 170,000 members

The “no commercial operation” prohibition means no model aircraft public demonstrations or model aircraft training when some payment is involved, as well as competition prizes, and product reviews conducted by employees.

2. Several commercial drone interests, including: Peter Sachs and the Drone Pilots Association, the UAS America Fund (founded to finance the commercial drone industry), Skypan International, an aerial photography firm, and FPV Manuals (sells equipment for model aircraft).

No services can be offered with model aircraft that have even an incidental business purpose, and Peter Sachs cannot assist the volunteer fire department.

3. The Council on Governmental Relations, an association of US research universities.

Model aircraft for scientific research have long been used without any FAA restrictions. The FAA’s interpretation “poses a grave threat to science, research, education, and technological innovation across the United States.”

Customs seizes $80k worth of unauthorised drones

Australian UAV manufacturer Cyber Technology is being prosecuted for failure to obtain a permit to export drones. The list of “Defence and Strategic Goods” controlled by Australian law includes UAVs that can be controlled outside line of sight.

College student arrested for flying drone over football game

A University of Texas student allegedly flew a drone over a school football game. University police identified the student and seized the drone. In a statement to a local TV station, University Police said, “Our top priority is the safety our students, employees, fans and visitors.”

FAA allows recreational drone demonstrations for first time ever at an air show & it’s in Cleveland

This year’s Cleveland Air Show included demonstrations of fixed-wing and multicopter drones for the attendees. It represented a great opportunity to provide the general public with more awareness of what “drones” are all about.