As many of you may have heard, the drone community in Newton, Massachusetts celebrated a great success this week with the clarification of existing law, in a case that struck down a very burdensome and overreaching local ordinance. Here is a news report on this development:
The judge in this case upheld the federal government's exclusive right to regulate airspace. With this ruling comes further recognition of a tenet our community has held for a long time: patchwork state and city regulations will only make flying drones less safe and more difficult to regulate. We also commend the efforts of drone pilot Michael Singer to advocate for this outcome on his own, in this instance by initiating legal action and presenting his case to the court. There are many ways to advocate for reasonable and fair regulation, and litigation is usually a last resort, but this outcome underscores the power that individual community members have to make a difference.
The judge in this case upheld the federal government's exclusive right to regulate airspace. With this ruling comes further recognition of a tenet our community has held for a long time: patchwork state and city regulations will only make flying drones less safe and more difficult to regulate. We also commend the efforts of drone pilot Michael Singer to advocate for this outcome on his own, in this instance by initiating legal action and presenting his case to the court. There are many ways to advocate for reasonable and fair regulation, and litigation is usually a last resort, but this outcome underscores the power that individual community members have to make a difference.
