I already wrote about my sort of obsession with drones. I am still obsessed, and the constant trickle of news about new uses of these unmanned aircraft is only keeping me interested. The latest use of drones? To deliver beer, of course!
Check out this video from Lakemaid Beer showing its latest and greatest idea: beer delivery for people ice fishing. Now, I could do an entire post on why I do not understand ice fishing (so cold! so boring!), but that is not the point. The problem for Lakemaid is that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ruled that unmanned aircraft cannot be used for commercial purposes. Thus, Lakemaid’s plan to deliver beer using drones is illegal, according to the government. A lawyer in New York, Brendan Shulman, disagrees, and has challenged the FAA’s authority to make such a rule.
The case before the National Transportation Safety Board is regarding Raphael Pirker, who was fined $10,000 in 2011 for using a small unmanned craft to shoot video for the University of Virginia. Shulman argued that the FAA’s authority is to regulated manned aircraft high up in the air, not unmanned aircraft, which typically fly lower. He also argued that the FAA’s rule was made without proper notice and public comment. Shulman has made a motion to dismiss the fine against Pirker, and is awaiting a decision. If the NTSB rules against Pirker, he can appeal in court.
The case of commercial use of drones presents a smorgasbord of legal issues:
- administrative law – the authority of the FAA
- torts law – whether negligence law would protect anyone injured by a drone
- property law — Shulman argues that University of Virginia owns the airspace in which Pirker’s drone was flying
I personally want to thank Shulman, Pirker, and Lakemaid for making administrative law vaguely interesting. I am going to follow this story closely. Imagine being able to get beer delivered by drone!
3 Comments
Matt DeGennaro posted on February 12, 2014 at 9:52 pm
Drones seem like yet another excuse for us humans to be lazy. I think the FAA is more scared of the ambiguity of drones more than anything. It is on the safer side for the FAA to regulate the use of drones rather than making them legal for commercial use and later having hundreds of cases regarding them. In the, hopefully not near, future I think the FAA will change its current legislature. But for now, there is no real forseeability as to what drones will definitively be used for. I’m interested to see how this will all play out.
Stefania Semenova posted on February 28, 2014 at 6:53 pm
I do not see anything wrong with using Drones for commercial purposes. Especially, delivering goods to hardly reachable regions to some crazy fishermen in Alaska. I would issue the administrative law controlling the size of the drones and the purpose of their use and let the technology benefit our society. I guess it might be dangerous and disturbing for the people if drones fly over the city or in the city since they fly very low. Apart from that I think it is a great idea!
Lastly, I would be more concerned with the increase of drones being used for military or government purposes and their affect on our privacy. That is the real issue!
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