FAA
Every UASFeed story on FAA — across defense, counter-UAS, industry, commercial, policy, and tech, newest first.
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Policy & Regulation
Dallas Drone Pilot Indicted on Four Counts Over Love Field and DFW Flights: What Each Statute Carries
A Dallas grand jury charged a 24-year-old with four federal counts over alleged drone flights near Love Field and DFW. The 8-year maximum is in the headlines, but the runway charge itself carries just one year.
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Policy & Regulation
FAA's New Drone Processing Order Lets Tower Inspectors Fly Above LAANC Grids Without Calling the Tower
FAA Order JO 7200.23E, effective Oct. 31, lets Part 107 tower and high-rise inspectors fly above facility-map ceilings without ATC coordination, puts Class E surface-area rules in writing, and adds a see-and-avoid waiver to every Part 91 UAS approval.
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Policy & Regulation
North Myrtle Beach: Amazon Says 68 Decibels, the FAA's Own Noise Report Tells a Different Story, and Nobody Will Own the Overflight Question
Amazon told North Myrtle Beach its MK30 never tops about 68 dB and sent overflight questions to the FAA. The FAA sent them back to Amazon and local leaders, and the agency's own Baton Rouge noise file puts takeoff near 82 dB at 20 feet.
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Policy & Regulation
Laredo Police Vow to Take Down Drones at a Hotel Fire, but the FAA Listed No Restriction and Federal Rules Require Mitigation Certification
Laredo's police chief said officers would "take down" drones over the DoubleTree hotel fire, but the FAA's TFR list showed no restriction for the city. Federal rules let local police mitigate drones only after certification, with ATC notice and a 48-hour report, and no one has said whether any Laredo officer is certified.
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Policy & Regulation
Bellingham's Skydio Drone-as-First-Responder Program: 23 Flights, One Real Response, and a State Law That Never Mentions Drones
Bellingham police's new Skydio-run DFR program logged 23 flights in its first seven weeks, but only one was an incident response, and the state law behind its $475,417 grant never mentions drones.
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Policy & Regulation
FAA Puts $12 Million Into 19 Drone Test-Site Projects While Part 108 Waits at OIRA
The FAA's new $12M round of drone research awards, with four going to ANRA and three to SPS Aerial, comes from money Congress already set aside, and it buys data for a BVLOS rule that has been at OIRA since July 10.
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Policy & Regulation
FBI Will More Than Double Its Counter-Drone School After 700 World Cup Seizures, but the Safer Skies Pipeline Still Runs Through One Campus
The FBI's Redstone counter-drone school will more than double capacity after 700 World Cup seizures, but with 250 more graduates expected next fiscal year and about 340 metro cities waiting, the only path to local takedown authority remains a bottleneck.
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Policy & Regulation
Federal Judge Finds Lodi's Town-Wide Drone Ban Preempted, but Pro Se Pilot Gets No Restraining Order
A New Jersey federal judge held Lodi's ban on drones below 400 feet is both field- and conflict-preempted by federal law, denying the borough's motion to dismiss while refusing the pro se pilot's TRO because enforcement isn't imminent.
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Policy & Regulation
Fifteen States and Harris County Ask the Second Circuit to Throw Out the FAA's Nationwide Drone-Delivery Environmental Clearance
New York AG Letitia James filed a Second Circuit petition for 15 states and Harris County, Texas, seeking to set aside the FAA's July 28 national environmental review for Part 135 drone package delivery, the first court challenge to the agency's NEPA shortcut.
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Policy & Regulation
Charlotte Drone Pilot's Guilty Plea Shows How Far a 2018 Runway Law Reaches
A Charlotte videographer's seven-minute drone flight from a public overlook between two live runways ended in a federal guilty plea, showing how a 2018 exclusion-zone statute criminalizes proximity alone — no near-miss required.
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Policy & Regulation
Civil Liberties Groups Urge D.C. Circuit to Vacate FAA's Rescinded Drone-Journalism Restriction
EFF, the ACLU and photojournalism groups tell the D.C. Circuit that the FAA's withdrawn drone flight ban near DHS operations still needs to be formally vacated, arguing the agency could reimpose the restriction that critics say criminalized filming ICE and CBP.
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Policy & Regulation
Part 108's Clock Is Ticking: FAA's BVLOS Rule Hits Its 90-Day OIRA Deadline October 8
The FAA's long-awaited Part 108 drone rule has sat at White House regulatory review since July 10, with the standard 90-day window closing October 8 — while DoorDash, Zipline, Amazon and Joby all build ahead of a final text nobody has seen.
