Pilot, FAA settle test case about legality of commercial use of drones

Flight regulators and a drone pilot have settled litigation that was at the center of an ongoing battle over whether the Federal Aviation Administration may bar the commercial use of drones in the US.

Raphael Pirker was fined $10,000 in 2011 in the government's first legal action against an on-the-ground pilot. Piker was operating a 4.5-pound drone and was cited for illegally operating the plane for commercial purposes and operating it in a "wreckless manner" while filming a commercial over the University of Virginia. He fought the citation, claiming that the government was enforcing a law against the commercial application of drones when there was no such law, among other things.

In March, he prevailed before an administrative law judge, a decision that was reversed in November. Along the way, the government began opening the door, albeit slightly, to the commercial use of drones, allowing them on a case-by-case basis. Hollywood, for example, was granted the right to make movies with drones last year.

Pirker, according to court documents [PDF] unveiled Thursday, is agreeing to pay $1,100 and to drop his lawsuit challenging the citation. He is admitting no wrongdoing.

The FAA has maintained since at least 2007 that the commercial operation of drones is illegal.

Siding with Pirker's lawsuit, a judge had ruled that the FAA enacted the regulations illegally because it did not take public input before adopting the rules, which is a violation of federal law. Many drone pilots took the decision to mean they could now lawfully fly their drones for commercial purposes. Flight regulators appealed the decision, maintaining that commercial applications are still barred, and prevailed.

The agency has promised that it would revisit the commercial application of small drones, with potential new rules in place perhaps by the end of this year or next.

Pirker's attorney, Brendan Schulman, said the case was dropped because it would be "years" before it would be concluded in various courts and that the government is now claiming that a 2012 statute bars the commercial application of drones.

"The importance of the case to Mr. Pirker is reduced because the decision is what somebody could do in 2011," Schulman said in a telephone interview.

Flight regulators' attacks on the commercial use of drones have included everything from drone journalism to a nonprofit search-and-rescue outfit using drones. Most recently, the FAA blocked plans for a small drone to deliver the game football for the University of Michigan kickoff against the University of Utah before a crowd of about 110,000 fans in September.

Listing image by Official Leweb Photos