While it has always been legal to fly model planes, the Federal Aviation Administration and other government agencies recently picked a fight with the newest generation of model planes: drones.
Distinct from the plane-sized drones the military has notoriously used in recent years, drones used for photography are small in size, more akin to a toy plane, and have several uses beyond aerial photography.
Raphael Pirker, a drone pilot and photographer, took the FAA to court and won last March, after the FAA tried to fine him $10,000 for flying a foam drone plane weighing two pounds around the University of Virginia campus. Federal judge Patrick Geraghty dismissed the FAA’s case against Raphael Pirker on March 6, stating that the FAA had not issued an enforceable rule governing model aircraft operation.
“[The FAA] has not issued an enforceable Federal Acquisition Regulation regulatory rule governing model aircraft operation; [the FAA] has historically exempted model aircraft from the statutory FAR definitions of ‘aircraft.’”
Judge Geraghty’s ruling would make model aircraft sized drones legal not just for photography, but for everyone – a big deal, as the commercial drone industry is expected create more than 70,000 jobs in the United States with “an economic impact of more than $13.6 billion” in just the first three years of integrated use, according to one economic report. Amazon.com is reportedly already hiring software engineers and communications professionals to help realize their goal of making drone deliveries and, as Vice.com’s Jason Koebler reports, crop dusting is another industry that may be completely taken over by drones.
more- http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/ ... ht-ruling/
Distinct from the plane-sized drones the military has notoriously used in recent years, drones used for photography are small in size, more akin to a toy plane, and have several uses beyond aerial photography.
Raphael Pirker, a drone pilot and photographer, took the FAA to court and won last March, after the FAA tried to fine him $10,000 for flying a foam drone plane weighing two pounds around the University of Virginia campus. Federal judge Patrick Geraghty dismissed the FAA’s case against Raphael Pirker on March 6, stating that the FAA had not issued an enforceable rule governing model aircraft operation.
“[The FAA] has not issued an enforceable Federal Acquisition Regulation regulatory rule governing model aircraft operation; [the FAA] has historically exempted model aircraft from the statutory FAR definitions of ‘aircraft.’”
Judge Geraghty’s ruling would make model aircraft sized drones legal not just for photography, but for everyone – a big deal, as the commercial drone industry is expected create more than 70,000 jobs in the United States with “an economic impact of more than $13.6 billion” in just the first three years of integrated use, according to one economic report. Amazon.com is reportedly already hiring software engineers and communications professionals to help realize their goal of making drone deliveries and, as Vice.com’s Jason Koebler reports, crop dusting is another industry that may be completely taken over by drones.
more- http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/ ... ht-ruling/
