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Air and Space Law

Selected Works

Drones

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Law

One Centimeter Over My Back Yard: Where Does Federal Preemption Of State Drone Regulation Start? (With Albert J. Plawinski", Henry H. Perritt Jr. Nov 2015

One Centimeter Over My Back Yard: Where Does Federal Preemption Of State Drone Regulation Start? (With Albert J. Plawinski", Henry H. Perritt Jr.

Henry H. Perritt, Jr.

The proliferation of cheap civilian drones and their obvious utility for precision agriculture, motion picture and television production, aerial surveying, newsgathering, utility infrastructure inspection, and disaster relief has accelerated the FAA’s sluggish effort to develop a proposal for generally applicable rules and caused it to grant more than 600 “section 333 exemptions” permitting commercial drone flight before its rules are finalized.
Federal preemption in the field of aviation safety regulation is generally assumed, but political pressure on states and municipalities to regulate drones and the ability of this revolutionary aviation technology to open up space close to the ground for …

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Law Abiding Drones, Henry H. Perritt Jr., Eliot O. Sprague Dec 2014

Law Abiding Drones, Henry H. Perritt Jr., Eliot O. Sprague

Henry H. Perritt, Jr.

Law Abiding Drones

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Self-Defense Against Robots, A. Michael Froomkin, Zak Colangelo Aug 2014

Self-Defense Against Robots, A. Michael Froomkin, Zak Colangelo

A. Michael Froomkin

This paper examines when, under U.S. law, humans may use force against robots to protect themselves, their property, and their privacy. May a landowner legally shoot down a trespassing drone? May she hold a trespassing autonomous car as security against damage done or further torts? Is the fear that a drone may be operated by a paparazzo or a peeping Tom sufficient grounds to disable or interfere with it? How hard may you shove if the office robot rolls over your foot? This paper addresses all those issues and one more: what rules and standards we could put into place …

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Drones, Henry H. Perritt Jr., Eliot O. Sprague Apr 2014

Drones, Henry H. Perritt Jr., Eliot O. Sprague

Henry H. Perritt, Jr.

Abstract
Drone technology is evolving rapidly. Microdrones—what the FAA calls “sUAS”—already on the market at the $1,000 level, have the capability to supplement manned helicopters in support of public safety operations, news reporting, and powerline and pipeline patrol, when manned helicopter support is infeasible, untimely, or unsafe.
Larger drones–"machodrones”–are not yet available outside battlefield and counterterrorism spaces. Approximating the size of manned helicopters, but without pilots, or with human pilots being optional, their design is still in its infancy as designers await greater clarity in the regulatory requirements that will drive airworthiness certification.
This article evaluates drone technology and design …

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Grounding Drones: Big Brother’S Tool Box Needs Regulation Not Elimination, Melanie M. Reid Dec 2013

Grounding Drones: Big Brother’S Tool Box Needs Regulation Not Elimination, Melanie M. Reid

Melanie M. Reid

One of the most significant contemporary issues in privacy law relates to law enforcement’s new domestic surveillance tool: unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as, drones. Law enforcement’s use of aerial surveillance as an investigatory tool is currently under attack. In the past, if law enforcement chose to follow a suspect throughout the day, either on the ground or in the air, they need not worry about seeking a warrant or determining whether probable cause or reasonable suspicion exists to justify their surveillance. Aerial surveillance of criminal suspects has been considered outside the protections of Fourth Amendment law. In the 1980’s, …

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