Drone Wars (Of The Legal Variety)

“Drones, 1; FAA, O” is how my Forbes colleague Ryan Calo succinctly put it. Earlier this month, a transportation administrative judge stuck down a $10,000 fine against Raphael Pirker, the operator of a small remote-controlled airplane, who had been fined for both unsafe maneuvering (Pirker makes the parkour videos of drone footage) and for operating an unmanned craft for commercial purposes (an FAA no-no) as Pirker was filming a promotion for UVA. Pirker, who now runs a daredevil aerial video company out of Hong Kong, was obviously thrilled. Pirker’s lawyer, Brendan Schulman (interviewed above), had challenged the fine saying the FAA doesn’t actually have the legal authority to put the ixnay on commercial drone use and that even if it does, Pirker’s craft shouldn’t be included in that authority, and the judge agreed with him. The legal opinion never actually uses the word “drone” — instead talking about “model aircraft” and “unmanned aircraft” — and while the judge says there is “no enforceable FAA rule” applicable to Pirker’s activity, he also raises an eyebrow as to whether Pirker’s model aircraft should be classified as an “unmanned air system.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/03/17/drone-wars-of-the-legal-kind/