Inside the Air Force reports this morning that the Federal Aviation Administration likely will move forward later this month with an effort to establish six test sites across the country where unmanned aircraft would be integrated into the national airspace.
The FAA is expected to advance its plan following President Obama's Feb. 12 State of the Union Address, according to a congressional aide. ITAF further reported:
Sean Snyder, a military legislative assistant to Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY), told Inside the Air Force on Jan. 29 that he expects the next step in the process of integrating Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) into the national airspace to begin as soon as late February. That step requires the FAA to accept information from states with potential test site locations, enabling the agency to select six sites. Hanna, a member of the Unmanned Systems Caucus along with Rep. Rick Berg (R-ND) and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), crafted legislation that allowed for the establishment of the sites.
"I think we're looking at mid-to-late February at the earliest and I think the big things that are going to help move that forward are if Congress can put together some legislation that would help to ease the privacy concerns," Snyder said.
FAA spokesman Les Dorr did not return a request for an update on the integration process by press time (Jan. 31) but has told ITAF on multiple occasions that the agency continues to work on a screening information request for the six test sites.
Privacy concerns related to integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace sprung up in late 2012 and have rapidly moved to the forefront of the UAS integration discussion. ITAF previously reported that those issues cropped up for the FAA after it was hit with several lawsuits and received Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Now, in an effort to further smooth the path for UAS integration, some members of Congress are considering putting together legislation that would address the public's privacy concerns, Snyder said.
Read the full story.
Related coverage from Inside the Air Force:
FAA: Congress May Have To Wait Until 2013 For UAS Test-Site Solicitation
Inside the Air Force - 12/14/2012
House, Senate Pressure FAA To Speed Up UAS Test Site Selection
Inside the Air Force - 11/30/2012
The Congressional Research Service released a report this week delving into the legal issues surrounding the use of unmanned aircraft in the national airspace:
Under the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, P.L. 112-95, Congress has tasked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), sometimes referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, into the national airspace system by September 2015. Although the text of this act places safety as a predominant concern, it fails to establish how the FAA should resolve significant, and up to this point, largely unanswered legal questions.
For instance, several legal interests are implicated by drone flight over or near private property. Might such a flight constitute a trespass? A nuisance? If conducted by the government, a constitutional taking? In the past, the Latin maxim cujus est solum ejus est usque ad coelum (for whoever owns the soil owns to the heavens) was sufficient to resolve many of these types of questions, but the proliferation of air flight in the 20th century has made this proposition untenable. Instead, modern jurisprudence concerning air travel is significantly more nuanced, and often more confusing. Some courts have relied on the federal definition of "navigable airspace" to determine which flights could constitute a trespass. Others employ a nuisance theory to ask whether an overhead flight causes a substantial impairment of the use and enjoyment of one's property. Additionally, courts have struggled to determine when an overhead flight constitutes a government taking under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
View the full CRS report, originally obtained by Secrecy News.
And access InsideDefense.com's comprehensive coverage of remotely piloted vehicle issues.