Busting Myths about the FAA and Unmanned Aircraft” can be found on the FAA’s website. Seven myths in all are touted, then rebutted by “Fact”. For example: Myth #2: Commercial UAS flights are OK if I’m over private property and stay below 400 feet. In this fast moving segment, it is worth the read. Thank you Droneport.com for the link.
About Ben Sclair
Ben Sclair is the Publisher of General Aviation News, a pilot, husband to Deb and dad to Zenith, Brenna, and Jack. Oh, and a staunch supporter of general aviation.
Reader Interactions
Share this story
Become better informed pilot.
Join 110,000 readers each month and get the latest news and entertainment from the world of general aviation direct to your inbox, daily.
The FAA’s fact sheet is replete with untested assertions and potentially ambiguous if not even misleading information, rather than “Facts”. It may even be presenting arguably incorrect or unjustified information. There is no regulatory basis yet for some of the assertions being made in that “Fact Sheet”. Without FAA following due process, and issuing public notice, such as by issuance of a suitable ANPRM or NPRM, and then issuance of a final rule, much of that policy material is simply still policy, not the FAR. Even if it has been coordinated with AGC-1, it remains policy unless it has been specified in the FAR, clarified in an AC based on a specific FAR, or has been tested as a legal interpretation. Some of that material is hence still ambiguous, if not even arguable, because it likely goes beyond its regulatory basis, as stated in the original preambles to the respective airspace and operating rules. So while some of this material may even make sense, and be politically correct, and may someday even be enacted into the FAR, it isn’t yet. For example FAA does not presently have authority for specifying the use of the airspace within someone’s house, commercial or not, whether or not it is above 0 ft. MSL. Let’s hope they never do. Further, the last time I checked US legal principles relative to application of the CFR (and with the ICAO Annexes too, and SARPS), operations are not precluded unless there is a specific provision cited in the FAR precluding a specific operation, other perhaps than might be applied using the FAA’s Catch 22 “fishing license” rules, such as 91.13 and 61.53.
Notwithstanding the merits of the case, even the U.S. Legal System now realizes that FAA is likely exceeding its current regulatory authority (see below). Only with additional valid NPRMs, Public Comment, and a Final rule, addressing both airspace use and air-vehicle operation, can FAA make these regulatory claims.
Judge: FAA does not have authority to ban commercial UAVs
On Thursday, an administrative law judge ruled that the Federal Aviation Administration does not hold clear-cut authority to ban commercial unmanned aerial vehicles in U.S. airspace. The judge overturned a $10,000 fine the FAA had levied against a UAV pilot in 2012. Ben Gielow, general counsel of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, said the issue “is finally starting to get the attention it deserves at the highest levels of the FAA.”