Drone Operations

In Washington, D.C., the government is still shut down, and is digging out from a weekend storm that dropped a foot of snow.  Neither of these things, however, stopped Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao from unveiling two long-awaited rulemaking efforts that will have a major impact on the future of the unmanned aircraft industry.
Continue Reading FAA/UAS – Drone Regulation Marches Forward!

Anyone who operates a regional or nationwide business knows that coping with a patchwork of state and local laws can be challenging. Fortunately, the states also realize that this can be a problem, and will sometimes cooperate to voluntarily establish a “uniform” law.  For example, in 1952, a group of top legal scholars from the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) got together and drafted the Uniform Commercial Code.  This code has been adopted (with some variations) in every state, and has greatly improved predictability for business owners.

Over the past five years, most states have enacted laws regarding the use of unmanned aircraft. These laws vary wildly in what they permit and prohibit.  Right now, however, the NCCUSL is working on solving this problem by creating the uniform Tort Law Relating To Drones Act.  As with the Uniform Commercial Code, the NCCUSL hopes that every state will quickly adopt the Act as the basis for its state drone laws.Continue Reading Drones: A Uniformly Bad Law