Cite FAA Modernization And Reform Act Of 2012

A legal challenge to the FAA's new UAV registration rule filed by a Maryland attorney who is also a recreational drone operator has a good chance to succeed, according to some analysts.

UAV-law experts interviewed by The Daily Dot say that the challenge, based on a provision of the FAA Modernization And Reform Act Of 2012 which specifically prohibits the FAA from creating new rules affecting recreational model aircraft, makes a strong case against registration.

The FAA, however, contends that the registration rule is simply an extension of an existing rule to include unmanned aircraft. Since it is not technically a new rule, Section 336(a) of the 2012 act does not apply.

However Peter Sachs, a Connecticut attorney who founded the Drone Law Journal, said that the registration rule is clearly a new rule. “It's kind of difficult for them to say they didn't create a new regulation when in fact they created a new regulation,” he told The Daily Dot. “It didn't exist; it wasn't on the books.”

The lawsuit was filed by John Taylor, a Maryland attorney who said he does not have a lot of experience with FAA or administrative law. But he told Ars Technica that he filed the suit "out of desperation." He said the FAA's UAV database "creates a burden on hobbyists that Congress did not want to create."

The FAA says that some 181,000 UAVs have been registered in the first two weeks of the program.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.drone-registration.net