Will This Fly?: A Primer on Drone Laws

What's This?

A search-and-rescue drone flying in a demonstration in Brigham City, Utah.

Image: Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

By Todd Wasserman2014-05-02 20:20:50 UTC

There is often a lag between new innovations and laws' ability to restrain them.

LSD didn't become illegal until October 1966, when use was widespread enough to capture Time's attention. Cyberbullying went on for years before laws to combat it were enacted.

A similar situation is now unfolding in the United States with regards to unmanned aircrafts — a.k.a. drones. Drones can film weddings, examine pipelines and carry advertising banners, but such commercial use is illegal, strictly speaking. But it's not that clear-cut.

See also: 6 Crazy Drones You Won't Believe Exist

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently examined the use of drones for journalism, but does that mean the agency is limiting the First Amendment? If you own a farm in the middle of nowhere, should the FAA bar you from using an unmanned aircraft to monitor your crops?

To help navigate this murky ground, we've assembled a primer on the current law and drone use.

Who monitors drone use?

The FAA. Formed in 1958, the agency is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation and oversees all aspects of commercial aviation, including airports, the airlines and air traffic control.

How can an agency with roughly 48,000 employees keep track of a country with 314 million people, who are spread across 3.79 million square miles?

It can't. "The FAA doesn’t have the manpower or ability to be on a street corner to observe every drone," says Jonathan Hill, an attorney with Cooley, a law firm in Washington, D.C. "They're there to regulate civil aircraft — airlines, charter jets and drones. They spend most of their time regulating airlines because that’s where most people travel."

So really anything goes?

Sort of. Some people are definitely making money using their drones, but the FAA does occasionally crack down on those uses. For instance, the video below details a $10,000 fine levied against Raphael "Trappy" Pirker for using his 4.5-pound Ritewing Zephyr-powered glider to film the University of Virginia's campus. Since Pirker made money from the film (an ad agency paid him for it), the FAA argues that his use of a drone violates the law. In March, a judge dismissed the FAA's case, leading some to conclude that commercial use of drones is now legal. The FAA is appealing the case and insists that commercial use is illegal.

FAA Spokesman Les Dorr says several other incidents are under investigation.

So the FAA says no commercial use, period.

Not quite. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2012 allows the FAA to consider some commercial uses of small unmanned aircraft under controlled conditions. Les Dorr, an FAA spokesman, says that no one has applied for that exception so far. The FAA also issues a Restricted Category Type Certificates for commercial use, but has done so very rarely. One recent example is energy company ConocoPhillips' use of four Insitu Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicles to perform mammal and ice surveys off the coast of Alaska last year. That use was overseen by a licensed pilot.

What about flying drones for fun?

That's fine, as long as the aircraft you're using flies lower than 400 feet and is a "sufficient distance" from populated areas and "full-scale aircraft." David Zablidowsky, a New York resident, may have violated those guidelines. Last September, Zablidowsky's drone hit a building in Midtown Manhattan. The FAA is proposing a civil penalty of $2,200.

When will the laws change?

Next year at the earliest. The FAA plans to put its proposed rules on commercial drone use up for public comment later this year; the public comment period usually lasts at least 60 days. Congress has dictated that the FAA has to come up with a plan for safety integration of drones by September 2015. That doesn't necessarily mean that there will be new laws at that point. "You're talking about integrating unmanned vehicles into the most complex, busiest airspace in the world," says Dorr.

Why is it taking the FAA so long to catch up?

It's how government works. That said, drones have just become cheap and reliable enough for commercial use in the past few years. The first high-profile use of drones for journalism, for instance, apparently began in 2011.

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Topics: Business, Drones, laws, U.S., World