I saw this coming but its still a very sad week for aerospace research in the US. Until Monday, it was possible to do engineering in technologies for tiny unmanned aircraft as long as you were willing to do it totally for free, as I have. Congress added a special rule in 2012 protecting this ability, and an NTSB judge even strengthened that exemption a couple of months ago. But the FAA decided to ignore all that and just announced new rules effective immediately that are extremely broad and restrictive and not only shut down research into tiny drones but even prohibit activities that have been common since I was a little space kid. Fir example, there are big model aircraft conventions where factory-sponsored expert pilots put on R/C aerobatic demonstrations. As of this week, those are now explicitly prohibited by federal law. My even-more-cynical friends who all moved their companies, employees and families to Mexico to do their research turned out to be right. faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/media/model_aircraft_spec_rule.pdf
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 17:23:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015