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Drones, Airspace Design, And Aerial Law In States And Cities, Brent Skorup

Akron Law Review

Federal and state governments have embraced drone technology in recent years to stimulate a domestic industry for new jobs and long-distance delivery services. However, the federal-state breakdown about who manages drone airspace and surface air rights has not been resolved, which, as the Government Accountability Office recently reported to Congress, threatens the progress of the U.S. drone industry. What is clear is that landowners, whether public or private, own low-altitude airspace and air rights. This article traces the legal treatment of surface airspace as real property back to Anglo-American legal treatises and court decisions in the mid-19th century. Therefore, absent …