FAA bans outdoor drone use at University of Missouri
The FAA has grounded a University of Missouri journalism class for flying drones.
The journalism school’s one-credit course in flying the unmanned aircraft for news-gathering purposes was brought inside after the FAA told the school to stop last summer.
A federal judge ruled in early march the agency did not have the authority to ban commercial drone use, but the class continues to be held indoors while the FAA appeals the decision to the National Transportation Safety Board, reports the Columbia Daily Tribune.
The FAA said it hopes to revise its regulations for protocol on how to use commercial drones by next year as the small devices are only gaining in popularity. Congress has set a September 2015 deadline on new regulations.
The FAA has said as many as 7,500 small commercial drones could be flying within five years of getting widespread access to U.S. skies.
The agency recently granted North Dakota a two-year certificate to begin flying small drone test flights. The state will be one of six — including Alaska, Nevada, New York, Texas and Virginia — that will be permitted to research ways to integrate drones into the civilian airspace.
