Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
Civilian Commercial Drones Are Coming; Are We Ready?
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Elzweig, Brian |
| Copyright Year | 2015 |
| Abstract | I. INTRODUCTIONIn early December of 2013, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com (Amazon), announced that the company was testing a new delivery system called Prime Air.* 1 Prime Air would consist of propeller driven drones2 that could deliver packages within thirty minutes of a person ordering an item online through the Amazon website.3 The drones could deliver packages weighing up to five pounds, which would allow for approximately 86 percent of Amazon's deliveries to be made this way.4 A segment aired on 60 Minutes in which Bezos talked about this technology and it showed a video of one of the drones delivering a package.5 However, it was later revealed that the delivery did not take place in the United States, nor legally could it have according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).6 Spokespeople both from the Amazon and the FAA acknowledged that FAA regulatory restrictions would have prohibited the filming of the delivery in the United States. This is because the FAA has not yet passed regulations allowing for the use of commercial drones in the national airspace.7 Although the FAA's position that there is a lack of regulation would be questioned, its stance became more apparent after a run-in with a company called Lakemaid Beer (Lakemaid). Lakemaid started delivering its beer by drones to ice fishermen who were in ice shacks on a remote lake.8 After an FAA official viewed a video of a test run of Lakemaid's delivery system, the FAA shut down Lakemaid's delivery operations.9These two anecdotal tales, and others like it, show that the regulation of civilian drone technology in the United States is lagging behind the technological advances themselves. Drones are currently being built that could be used for a myriad of different tasks.10 Venture capitalists have invested over $40 million in drone technology in the first ten months of 2013 (which is double the investment from the previous year, and expected to grow in the future), and sales of civilian drones are expected to be over $8.2 billion within the next decade.* 11 The 2014 Consumer Electronics Show will feature many commercial drones for "all budgets and uses." Since the technology for commercial drones is currently available, but the FAA takes the position that they currently cannot be flown, Congress passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FAA Modernization Act).13 This act requires the FAA to "provide for the safe integration of civil unmanned systems into the national airspace system as soon as practicable, but not later than September 30, 2015."14 While ensuring the safe operation of commercial drones is a good reason that the regulatory process may take all the time until the deadline set by Congress, this leaves the United States behind other countries in the use of these commercial drones. Australian television stations are currently using drones to film cricket matches.15 Australia also has a textbook rental company called Zookal that will be delivering book orders to residents of Sydney as early as 2014. This will cut Zookal's "delivery times from two to three days down to a matter of minutes, while shaving shipping costs down to a tenth of their normal prices."16 China's Shungfeng Express is currently testing drones in Chinese cities without being shut down by government authorities.17 Similarly, the government of the United Arab Emirates is testing a fleet of drones to deliver official documents such as driver's licenses and identification cards.18This paper addresses issues related to commercial drone technology. It addresses the difference between drones and other types of aircraft. It further addresses some of the proposed uses for these drones. Regulatory issues related to FAA approval of commercial drone use in the national airspace are examined. Further, other issues of potential tort and criminal liability related to the use of civilian drone usage are discussed.II. WHAT IS A COMMERCIAL DRONE?A question that must be answered when determining this regulatory scheme is what exactly is a civilian commercial drone. … |
| Starting Page | 161 |
| Ending Page | 161 |
| Page Count | 1 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.southernlawjournal.com/2015_1/SLJ_Spring%202015_Elzweig.pdf |
| Volume Number | 25 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
