Barely 12 Hour Notice of Conference May Be Reaction To Accidental Release of Affiliated Docs

We're not quite sure to make of all this, but it turns that there is going to be a Media Phone Conference at 1000 ET SUNDAY with BOTH FAA Admin Huerta and SecTrans Foxx.... with the topic announced as "DOT and FAA Announce New Rules for Unmanned Aircraft Systems."

Following what appears to be the accidental release of related documents just before the weekend, it appears that the FAA and DoT may be in damage control mode. Searches for the document now show the applicable information to have been "Withdrawn by FAA."

Following the momentary release and withdrawal of an FAA NPRM Regulatory Evaluation document, authored by George Thurston, on the regulations.gov site, the UAV biz was abuzz with rumor and counter-rumor... especially since examination of the Thurston document gave rise to some hopes that the coming FAA regs would not be as Draconian as feared. ANN has been monitoring inside skirmishing within the FAA where two primary camps... one for overt and extensive regulation of UAVs (in all their personal and professional forms... including model aviation) was fighting it out with those who believed that 'more reasonable' regs were necessary to allow the industry to develop these promising technologies for the good of all.

ANN will be on the call at 1000ET, Sunday and will report back ASAP, as we get details. Partials details will be webcast via twitter at #aeronews. More info to follow...

FMI: www.faa.gov