President Barack Obama has used the crash-landing of a drone at the White House Monday as an opportunity to emphasise the importance of regulating unmanned aircraft.
In an interview with CNN, Obama said the remote-controlled quadcopter that caused a brief security scare on Monday was the kind “you buy in Radio Shack,” calling for a regulatory framework for drones that will “get the good and minimize the bad.”
“There are incredibly useful functions that these drones can play in terms of farmers who are managing crops and conservationists who want to take stock of wildlife,” Obama said. “But we don’t really have any kind of regulatory structure at all for it.”
Drones are currently restricted from most airspace, except at low heights and at designated testing sites. The capital has stricter regulations than most on flying unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Federal Aviation Administration is currently drafting regulations that will allow for wider use of the devices. However, the process has been fraught with delays.
Source: Time
It is most important to note that “model aircraft” do not fall under the regulations that the FAA in currently drafting. Congress explicitly forbade the FAA in the 2011 Reauthorization of the FAA, to promulgate any regulation for “model aircraft.” Note that there is no difference between model aircraft and other unmanned aircraft systems used for commercial purposes, other than INTENT of the use. Unmanned aircraft systems that are used for “sport and recreation” are considered models and will continue to fall outside of any regulatory contraints unless and until Congress allows FAA to appropriately regulate all unmanned aircraft systems.