This past week, a two-foot long "quadcopter" UAV
("drone") crashed onto the White House grounds around 3
a.m., triggering an immediate security lockdown and a Secret
Service investigation. The owner of the drone, allegedly a
government employee, called the Secret Service to
"self-report" the incident, insisting that he had no
intention of flying the drone over the White House. According to
the Secret Service, the incident likely occurred as a result of
"recreational use" of the drone. The incident reveals the
incongruity of the current state of FAA regulations regarding the
use of drones. Under current FAA regulations, recreational use of
drones is permissible and requires no license, but commercial drone
use is prohibited. For any commercial operation of drones the FAA
must grant a regulatory exemption and to date, the FAA has granted
only a dozen (and has over 150 exemption requests pending).
Pursuant to the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, the FAA
set
