Balough Explores Legal Status of Drones in SciTech Magazine

The general commercial use of drones still is illegal in the United States, but there are exceptions and proposed rules by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will approve some commercial use. Because there are no clear answers, what should an attorney say?

The legal issues surrounding unmanned aircraft systems is the subject of an article by Richard C. Balough in the American Bar Association’s Summer 2015 SciTech Lawyer magazine.

The article notes that drones can be useful for inspecting pipelines, transmission lines, bridges, managing crops, delivering packages, finding lost persons, and aiding journalists, all of which are unlawful if used for a commercial purpose.

A lawyer’s advice to a client should start with the assumption that commercial drone use is currently unlawful unless the client obtains an exemption from the FAA, Balough writes. However, some clarity may be coming if the proposed FAA rules are adopted. The rules would limit commercial use for drones under 55 pounds, restrict the use to daylight hours, and limit the altitude to under 500 feet.