Grounded: FAA Says That Hobby Planes, Copters and Drones are Verboten in D.C. Skies
By Martin Austermuhle in News
Adam Eidinger still hasn’t found the drone—well, it’s technically a quadcopter—he lost last Sunday over Adams Morgan, but that’s somewhat beyond the point now: the Federal Aviation Administration called him today to let him know that flying any type of model airplane or helicopter over D.C.’s restricted airspace is strictly forbidden.
Eidinger’s small camera-mounted quadcopter had made a number of runs over the city in recent months, but it wasn’t until Sunday’s downing that his use of the Chinese-made hobby copter became evident to federal authorities. In a friendly phone call, Eidinger recounted, an FAA official told him that according to a 2009 NOTAM—a “Notice to Airmen”—everything from model airplanes to hobby rockets and crop-dusters are forbidden in the tightly regulated skies over D.C.:
THE FOLLOWING OPERATIONS ARE NOT AUTHORIZED WITHIN THE DC FRZ: FLIGHT TRAINING, AEROBATIC FLIGHT, PRACTICE INSTRUMENT APPROACHES, GLIDER OPERATIONS, PARACHUTE OPERATIONS, ULTRA LIGHT, HANG GLIDING, BALLOON OPERATIONS, TETHERED BALLOONS, AGRICULTURE/CROP DUSTING, ANIMAL POPULATION CONTROL FLIGHT OPERATIONS, BANNER TOWING OPERATIONS, MAINTENANCE TEST FLIGHTS, MODEL AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS, MODEL ROCKETRY, FLOAT PLANE OPERATIONS, UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (UAS) AND AIRCRAFT/HELICOPTERS OPERATING FROM A SHIP OR PRIVATE/CORPORATE YACHT.
Eidinger promised not to fly any quadcopters again—at least until the FAA says it’s OK. That may eventually happen, he was told, even over D.C. In February, Congress passed a spending bill that authorized the FAA toallow the use of drones for commercial purposes by 2015.
(sUAS News note, check the FAA miss-o-matic for how far behind the start of that process actually is on the right hand bar of sUAS News)
Even when that comes pass, though, Chris Brooks of the Academy of Model Aeronautics told us that the rules are very clear for the 143,000 hobbyists in 2,300 clubs across the country that his organization oversees: “We follow an incredibly strict safety code that does not allow our members to fly for commercial purposes, out of line of sight, over people or property, etc.,” he said. In that, he added, Eidinger’s flights were problematic on a number of fronts.
“Lest we forget that an airline was brought down over the Hudson by a 10-pound Canada goose. It’s not a question of being small,” he said, referring to the bird that brought down U.S. Airways Flight 1549. “Things can be very dangerous if not handled properly.”
