Drones and the FAA Rules for Flying for Work or Play

It’s still a bit of the wild west with drones, or, as the FAA calls them, “Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems” (sUAS)

- Cameron Martindell

These are drones that weigh more than 0.55 pounds and less than 55 pounds. And, by wild west, I mean that people have literally shot drones out of the sky because of annoyance or privacy concerns. So far, there have been shooting instances in Kentucky, New Jersey, and California. While this is indeed rare, the government is seeking to cement regulations regarding our ever-increasing drone interactions. The FAA’s responsibility is to safely integrate drone activity into the National Airspace System with manned aircraft. By definition, drones are aircraft and have to be managed that way. In the instance of shooting drones from the sky, the FAA cites the Criminal Resource Manual (18 U.S.C. 32), stating that it’s illegal to sabotage (shoot) aircraft from the sky.

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