from motherboard.vice.com
Internal Federal Aviation Administration documents show that the result of an agency investigation determined commercial drone pilot Raphael Pirker violated no regulations—then then the agency fined him $10,000 anyway.
Whether there’s actually a regulation making commercial drones illegal is the question that has been debated for months in a landmark, precedent-setting court case that has, at least temporarily, opened the skies for commercial drone operators. The question of whether the FAA actually believes it can fine someone simply for earning money while flying a drone (and not, for say, violating some other regulation in addition) is a question the FAA has refrained from answering during the the entire proceedings.
Now we know that, internally, the agency knows there is no regulation banning commercial drones.
The “Enforcement Investigative Report,” obtained by Motherboard through Pirker’s lawyer, Brendan Schulman, was unable to list a single regulatory violation related to Pirker’s October 17, 2011 flight at the University of Virginia. Regardless, the FAA fined Pirker $10,000 for the “reckless flight of an aircraft,” a charge that a federal judge has since thrown out. The FAA is appealing.
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Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com