drone laws

To prepare the United Kingdom for increased adoption of drone technology, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has suggested several major changes to the current laws and regulations. Among the reforms proposed are the implementation of the Remote ID rule and making registration and remote pilot competency tests compulsory for sub-250-gram aircraft as well.

The slowly expanding use of drones by police forces in France for surveillance purposes continued its modest advance this week with the deployment of UAVs over the southwest city of Toulouse, where a neighborhood notorious for open-air drug dealing is now being monitored from on high.

Authorities in the UK are seeking to battle what they decry as increasing drone deliveries of contraband to prisons in a manner that hasn’t been terribly effective in other countries before: passing new legislation to broaden bans on what’s already illegal activity, rather than investing in the specialized detection and mitigation tech required to detect and neutralize invasive UAVs en route to jails.

AgEagle Aerial Systems says its eBee line of fixed-wing mapping drones has been designated with the C6 class identification label in accordance with Europe’s new drone regulations.

UK-based Unified Traffic Management (UTM) technology provider Altitude Angel is expanding the scope of its recently launched drone flight Approval Services platform to include property and large land estates.

A 36-year-old drone pilot has been fined nearly £1,500 ($1,900) by a UK court. The man was found to have been flying his DJI Mavic 2 drone recklessly near an airport while trying to film a rock music festival.

Officials in Washington State battling a series of wildfires are making a clear, unmistakable, and what should be – after this many years of repeated blazes ravishing the globe – an unnecessary appeal to drone operators: Keep your craft the eff away from burn zones and the firefighters seeking to control them.

In the wake of recent moves to facilitate drone operations in the formerly closed skies of New York City, officials are now reportedly examining the further expansion of already increasing police use of UAVs to include emergency responder activities – provoking immediate, albeit suspiciously motivated alarm.

Police in France have conducted the nation’s first known drone surveillance of a pro soccer match, with flights of UAVs above Paris’s Parc des Princes stadium Saturday in what may be the first step toward regular deployment of publicly opposed aerial tech.

As a reflection of just how strong public sentiment in France remains against police use of drones to monitor people, officials waited well into the nation’s six-straight nights of rioting before giving law enforcement agencies the green light to fly UAVs for security purposes in response to the unrest.

Cranston Police in Rhode Island say they have arrested a convicted sex offender on a fresh felony charge of video voyeurism. The accused was reportedly using a small drone to peer inside the bathroom window of a woman in his neighborhood.

A new law in Illinois gives police the authority to deploy drones in expanded scenarios – for notably monitoring crowds during large public events – but prevents law enforcement from using any facial recognition tech during aerial operations, apart from critical situations like potential terror plotting.

The US House of Representatives has added to Washington’s flurry of legislative initiatives in recent months surrounding future airline, drone, next-generation aircraft, and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) activity, with a new committee proposal that – among many, many other things – sets deadlines for creating new rules on beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations by UAVs.

As virtually inevitable after a long series of protracted legal battles, the seemingly eternal case of a Michigan couple suing local authorities for having allegedly violated their privacy and constitutional rights by using a drone to inspect their cluttered yard is now heading to the state’s Supreme Court for final adjudication.

Montana has adopted a new law adding state penalties for drone pilots whose flights interfere with firefighting efforts on top of federal fines – a legal combination that could feasibly cost convicted violators $40,000.

In a development that will please pilots sick of being harassed by drone-hating antagonists, a man in the UK now awaits sentencing for having brandished a gun while accosting a real estate agent doing aerial work near his home.

Mississippi governor Tate Reeves has signed the Uncrewed Aircraft Systems’ Rights and Authorities Act into law, which codifies that the ultimate authority over the state airspace lies with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This law is crucial because it prevents additional burdensome regulations for drone operators. At the same time, it clarifies that violations of property-based legal regimes, such as trespass, do not occur when a drone simply flies overhead.

Buzz it, and they will come – the cops, that is. State lawmakers in Iowa have introduced legislation that calls for creating fines and potential prison sentences for pilots who fly their drones within 400 feet of farms raising livestock.

Drone pilots visiting the Atlantic coast vacation spot of Wildwood, New Jersey, may have to consult the calendar – and check in with the local police – before sending their craft aloft if a proposed municipal ordinance limiting use of UAV is passed today.

A new bipartisan bill has been introduced in the US Senate with the principal objective of streamlining, speeding, and broadening the process under which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorizes beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flights by businesses and public agencies.

A new drone flight advisory service is now available for pilots in Australia, and it’s free for all users.