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In 1946, a poultry farm outside Greensboro, North Carolina, Thomas Lee Causeby sued the United Statess. At that time, Corsby’s farm was near a military airport. He was terrified by frequent flights over his property, killing more than 150 chickens and forcing Mr. Korsby to abandon his business. Mr. Korsby argued that by using airspace over his property, the government violated the expropriation clause of the Fifth Amendment and confiscated his property without consideration.
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Considering the damage to property, Corsby was awarded compensation, initiating a discussion of property rights that continues to this day.and AUVSI Exponential At a conference in Denver this week, a group of drone advocacy experts discussed why the case is so often misrepresented and how drone industry players can better communicate with state and local legislators. and described how to create reasonable state and local regulations for drone use over private land. .
Who is the owner of my house in the sky?
Moderator Vic Moss and panelist Kenji Sugawara represent the Drone Service Provider Alliance. Scott Stoffman, AUVSI. David Heath, Pennsylvania Drone Association, Rob Olson, Illinois Drone Association. All have extensive experience working with local actors who may be unaware of airspace regulations and have great concerns about privacy, noise and nuisance.
“I’ve heard Cosby say hundreds of times,” Vic Moss said. “But I’ve never heard it mentioned correctly.” Kenji Sugawara explained the FAA preemptive concept, in which the FAA regulates all airspace from the ground up. Mr. Causeby won compensation not because the government didn’t allow planes to fly over his farm. “What’s interesting about the Causeby case is that it wasn’t about aviation, it was about nuisance,” he said. “At what altitude does the noise approach and prevent you from enjoying your property?”
In the Causeby case, that limit was named 83 feet. “The safe glide path to one of the airport’s runways passed directly over the respondent’s property at 83 feet. This was 67 feet above the house and 63 feet above the barn.” Highest 18 feet above the tree. But that doesn’t mean there is a legal priority to ban flights below 83 feet, Sugawara said. “There are no arbitrary restrictions. We can’t regulate all airspace up to 200 feet…the FAA regulates airspace. It’s a safety issue.”
Note: For those interested in the details of this incident, please see the full document. here.
“Sidewalk theory”
David Heath says he sometimes compares access to the sky above a private house to access to the sidewalk in front of the same house. “Drones make aviation more intimate,” he says. “You have to think in terms of the sidewalk in front of your house. You can’t block the sidewalk, you have to allow public access for people,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean you can hang out on someone’s sidewalk and do something you shouldn’t,” Moss commented. “And it’s the same in the airspace.”
“The common reaction is, ‘But the sidewalk doesn’t run directly over the pool,'” said Rob Olson. “But the reality is that the planes are always flying over the pool, just higher altitudes.” As stakeholders voiced privacy concerns, Olson said he was not aware of the Peeping Toms and harassment lawsuits. Laws already exist and there is no need to create new drone-specific regulations, he said.
Clarify FAA preemption
With FAA reauthorization just around the corner, panelists all agreed that preemptive FAA action defined in its legislation would make it much easier to prevent restrictive state and local regulation doing. “It’s time to find a senator,” Moss said.
Scott Stofmann says AUVSI’s Hilday is one way to bring a drone operator’s perspective to lawmakers. “Members of Parliament are interested in talking to us,” he said. “We have an interesting technology. Be proactive, be polite, be polite, and be smart enough to offer solutions rather than just complain.”
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Miriam McNabb, editor-in-chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of professional drone services marketplace JobForDrones, is a keen observer of the emerging drone industry and drone regulatory environment. Miriam is an international speaker and industry recognized figure, with over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and he has over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, email Miriam.
twitter:@spaldingbarker
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