On Oct. 5, 2018, President Trump signed into law the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-254), which reauthorizes funding of the FAA through Sept. 30, 2023. This is the first long-term FAA reauthorization since...more
At test sites in ten states –Alaska, California, Florida, Nevada, North Dakota, North Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, Virginia and Tennessee – the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) granted local-backed drone projects...more
The U.S. Department of Transportation ("DOT") has taken significant strides regarding the future of unmanned aircraft systems ("UAS") integration in the United States. First, on May 9, 2018, the DOT announced its initial...more
In a major development for the commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS or drone) industry, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, announced the first round of participants in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s...more
On October 25, President Trump issued a memorandum directing Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao to launch an initiative to safely test and validate advanced operations for drones in partnership with state and local...more
The Department of Transportation (DOT), in consultation with the Federal Aviation Administration, has announced details of the UAS Integration Pilot Program, a new program focused on developing and advancing new technologies,...more
To promote the integration of drone technology, the White House’s three-year Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program partners the federal government with state, local, and tribal governments in the development,...more
In direct response to a Presidential Memorandum issued on October 25, 2017, the Department of Transportation (DOT), in consultation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), announced details of a new pilot program...more
• The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have already launched a three-year Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program announced in the Presidential Memorandum released...more
The White House issued a Presidential Memorandum last week directing the Secretary of Transportation to establish an Unmanned Aerial Systems Integration Pilot Program to promote the safe operation of UAS, or drones, in...more
This week, the White House issued an anticipated Memorandum directing the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program (the “Pilot”). The Memorandum suggests a...more
• The White House has issued a Presidential Memorandum directing the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch a three-year Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot...more
The White House has announced a new Department of Transportation (DOT) pilot program for state, local, and tribal governments "to test the further integration of" drones into the national airspace....more
This week, the White House announced a new pilot program to further integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS or drones) into the National Airspace System (NAS) and to enable development of new UAS technologies for use in a...more
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on May 25, 2017, introduced the Drone Federalism Act of 2017 to allow any state, local or tribal government to protect...more
When Congress first authorized the domestic use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FMRA), it created special, streamlined provisions for the...more
Domestic use of drones by Native American Indian tribal governments for resource management and public safety may be grounded before takeoff, at least for a while, by fiscal dogfights and privacy concerns that will play out...more