Air and Space Law Commons^™

A Primer On Opposing Construction Of Wind Farms Near Public-Use Airports, Alan Armstrong

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

We are witnessing an explosion in the construction of wind turbine generators, cell phone towers, and television/radio broadcast towers around the United States. The statutes, rules, regulations, and police guidance addressing when and where such structures can be erected near public-use airports are complex and intricate. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) focuses more on subjective than objective criteria in assessing whether an obstruction to air navigation is a hazard to air navigation.

To the extent the FAA conducts studies to determine whether an obstruction is a hazard, the courts are not uniform in assessing the effects of FAA studies. In …

Rethinking Cyberspace Operations: Widespread Electromagnetic Jamming By States Indicates Cyber Interference Is Not A Use Of Force, Vincent L. Defabo

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Determining if a cyberspace operation by a State actor is an act of war (i.e., use of force under the U.N. Charter) has led to a misguided approach. In 2012, twenty legal experts that published the Tallinn Manual got it wrong. By utilizing the “effects-based approach” they attempted to equate the effects a cyber operation causes to that of a missile to determine if a use of force has occurred. While their underlying premise, that existing international law should be applied to cyber operations, was sound, the analytical approach is flawed.

This paper explores how the analytical model used by …

International Aviation Law And Pandemic, Timothy Ravich

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Commercial airplanes are vectors of infectious disease, advancing, if not sparking, global epidemics and potentially pandemics by exporting pathogens from endemic areas of the world to non-endemic places. For example, according to the global scientific community, the Zika virus was introduced to the Americas by air travel. Researchers also believe that infected mosquitos on international flights contributed to the worldwide spread of malaria, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and the West Nile virus. Most recently, governmental authorities worldwide, in addition to issuing national or local shelter-in-place orders, closed their borders and grounded nearly all international air travel on account of the …

Satellite Communications Law: The Nexus Of Space And Telecom Law, Frans Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

Given the complexity of satellite communications as a global business sector involving many private as well as public operators, many national and international regulators and a constantly evolving suite of services offered to an ever-increasing number of users and consumers, it should not come as a surprise that the legal environment—the sets of rules, rights, and obligations applicable to anyone operating in the field—is highly complex as well. This is already true even if merely focusing at the international level, where the myriad domestic regimes play varying roles—largely neglected in this particular article—in implementing, interpreting, refining, enforcing, or even changing …

Turbulence Ahead: Why The First Domestic Aircraft Carbon Emissions Regulations Are A Danger To Climate Protection, Taylor Williams

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Reducing emission levels from transportation is one of the most vital steps in combating climate change, but domestic aircraft were not subject to this kind of regulation until recently. In July 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the first carbon emission standards for airplanes. While this regulatory move appears to be progress for protecting the environment, it locked in current emissions levels for years to come. The overwhelming majority of aircraft models are already 6% more efficient than the new standard requires them to be. The rule highlights the tension between industry considerations and environmental justice.

This Comment seeks …

“A Defendant’S Paradise”: Failings Of The Brooke Group Test In The Airline And E-Commerce Industries, Kaitlyn Thorson

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

Keeping Watch From Liftoff To Landing: A Call For Increased Public Education On The Intersection Of Human Trafficking And Commercial Air Travel, Gretchen Mahoney

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Over the past two decades, multilateral organizations and the U.S. government have fought tirelessly to eradicate human trafficking. Drafting and passing protocols, resolutions, and statutes, these entities attempted to gain the upper hand by collecting and sharing data, bolstering victim services, and training agency officials, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges on the hallmarks of trafficking circumstances. While these efforts delivered results and are cause for celebration, data shows that human trafficking remains deeply established and operative across the world even with these thorough steps.

A crucial venue for exposing and disrupting trafficking operations is the transportation industry. Traffickers exploit …

Using The Artemis Accords To Build Customary International Law: A Vision For A U.S.-Centric Good Governance Regime In Outer Space, Walker A. Smith

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

International space law is a relatively undeveloped field primarily occupied by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (Treaty). This Treaty, while long on general principles, is short on details. With the United States’ recent push to return to the Moon by 2024 and send humans to Mars as soon as practicable after that, the time has come to fill in the gaps of the Outer Space Treaty out of necessity. The U.S. seeks to do this through the Artemis Accords (the Accords).

This Comment argues that the U.S. should use the Accords to develop a U.S.-centric legal and good governance regime …

Immunity Doesn’T Fly: The Case For Federal Responsibility For Torts Committed By Transportation Security Officers, Courtney Rimann

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) are the Transportation Security Administration’s first line of defense against terrorism in U.S. airways. The American flying public puts their safety, and their luggage, in the hands of these officers, who execute searches that range from metal detectors to physical pat-downs. Since the federal government has mandated searches and screening for airport security, passengers should be able to seek recovery from the federal government where a TSO commits certain intentional torts in the course of duty. Currently, only the Courts of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Eighth Circuit have cleared the runway for such recovery …

Delivery Drones: Inapt For Application Of Current Negligence Theory, Hyewon Hannah Choi

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

Regaining Control Over The Climate Change Narrative: How To Stop Right-Wing Populism From Eroding Rule Of Law In The Climate Struggle In India, Binit Agrawal

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Innovative Regulatory And Financial Parameters For Advancing Carbon Capture And Storage Technologies, Zen Makuch, Slavina Georgieva & Behdeen Oraee-Mirzamani

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Textiles As A Source Of Microfiber Pollution And Potential Solutions, Lea M. Elston

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lessons From Renewable Energy Diffusion For Carbon Dioxide Removal Development, Anthony E. Chavez

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Alternative Data And Insider Trading: Are Investment Managers Assleep At The Wheel On Big Data Use?, William Montemarano

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The rapid rise of “big data” has transformed the way that professional investors make investment decisions. In addition, the intersection of the United States federal securities laws and the use of “big data” to inform securities trading lies in uncharted waters. The nuanced and factually-dependent securities laws are far behind industry practices, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have remained largely silent on the issue to date. This Note argues that this combination of murky laws and rapidly evolving business practices gives rise to legal and regulatory risk, and that investment managers leveraging …

A Litigator’S Guide To The Galaxy: A Look At The Pragmatic Questions For Adjudicating Future Outer Space Disputes, Michael J. Listner, Joshua T. Smith

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Since the beginnings of the space age, outer space activities have been the realm of government with ancillary involvement by non-governmental actors. The international legal framework for outer space contemplated the involvement of non-governmental actors, but in creating dispute resolution mechanisms the role of non-governmental entities was not considered ripe. The surge of direct non-governmental involvement in outer space activities in recent years again raises the issue of dispute resolution and exemplifies the lack of dispute resolution mechanisms designed to address differences between sovereign states. As the pace of non-governmental activity increases, so does the likelihood of disputes arising between …

Air Traffic Safety Management: The Significance Of Voluntary Reporting And Data Distribution, Xavier M. Ashley

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

This study primarily investigated inadequacies identified through the utilization of the Air Traffic Safety Action Program (ATSAP), a Voluntary Safety Reporting Program (VSRP) overseen by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The primary objective of this research was to ascertain whether the FAA was properly managing the ATSAP and if the program was capable of effectively identifying safety hazards present in the national airspace. To assist in this determination, this study communicated the basic characteristics and significance of safety management and voluntary reporting in aviation. This served to clarify the intended function of the ATSAP and to articulate contributions that …

U.S. Government Military And Space Force Literature, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Established in 2018, the U.S. Space Force is the newest branch of the U.S. military. The reality of space as an arena for international geopolitical and military competition has been around for decades in scholarly literature. This presentation will examine recently published and publicly accessible U.S. Government and military literature on Space Force. These works examine various economic, military, and political aspects of this entity and how it may affect U.S. national security policy in years to come.

Maximizing The Value Of America’S Newest Resource, Low- Altitude Airspace: An Economic Analysis Of Aerial Trespass And Drones, Tyler Watson

Indiana Law Journal

Recognizing that tort law is a unique area of law that was judicially created by rational human beings with an innate sense of economic justice, this Note seeks to apply positive economic theory—derived from ex post analyses of tort cases—to an ex ante analysis to predict how and to what extent the existing and proposed aerial trespass rules will further economic efficiency in the context of drones and airspace rights. Part I will provide (1) an overview of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) current regulatory framework and the development of the common law aerial trespass doctrine and (2) an overview …

Updating The Liability Regime In Outer Space: Why Spacefaring Companies Should Be Internationally Liable For Their Space Objects, Alexander P. Reinert

William & Mary Law Review

Nothing inspires the human imagination quite like outer space. How many people have laid on their backs on a dark, clear night and gazed up at the stars above? The vast expanse of outer space seems endless. But satellite operators are increasingly realizing that space is not endless. Indeed, space is becoming more crowded with space objects, and the threat of these objects causing damage is rapidly growing. The space industry has changed dramatically in recent years, and the threats facing the industry have concurrently evolved.

The world is experiencing the dawn of a new space race—only this time, private …