Aerial photographers, surveyors and filmmakers who want to fly small drones in U.S. airspace are able to rejoice after a judge dealt a setback to efforts by federal regulators to rein in use of the unmanned aircraft.
Raphael Pirker (left in photo), had been fined $10,000 by the Federal Aviation Administration filming a promotional video with a drone and yesterday won an appeal for reckless flying. The judge noted that the FAA has no authority over small unmanned aircraft.
That leaves much to be resolved regarding drones and filming, but it’s good news for rotor drone pilots everywhere!
It was great to hear this news. I always wondered why the FAA thought that they should be in control of model aircraft? After all, we are not flying Predators through congested airspace!