No Password Required: Threat Researcher at Cisco Talos and a Veteran of the Highest-Profile Cyber Incidents Who Roasts His Own Coffee Beans
High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The FAA and Pilot DUIs
High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Busted by the Feds: The Anatomy of a Federal Criminal Prosecution of a Drone Pilot
High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Unruly Passengers on Flights
High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Federal Criminal Aviation Cases From 2021
WEBINAR: The ABCs of Pilot Deviations
Compliance into the Weeds: Episode 115-Regulatory Capture and Regulatory Approval at the FAA
K&L Gates Triage: Using Drones in Medicine
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
On June 6, 2025, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at significantly reshaping the future of drone policy in the United States. One focuses on protecting national airspace from malicious drone threats,...more
Our newsletter reflects the focus of Akin’s cross-practice autonomous systems and advanced mobility team on developments in the regulatory, policy, trade, intellectual property, and cybersecurity and privacy spaces....more
A picture is worth a thousand words, but what about a drone video? To construction firms and the lawyers who represent them, drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (“UAVs”), enable firms to capture large amounts of...more
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) jointly released a progress report on Phase 2 of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM)...more
In a shot from beyond his presidency via Executive Order 13981 (signed on January 18, 2021, but published in the Federal Register after President Biden’s inauguration), Former President Trump wants government agencies and...more
On October 16, 2019 Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced the Drone Integration and Zoning Act, a bill designed to establish a regulatory framework for drones based on the principles of local governance and cooperative...more
• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has delayed the anticipated release of two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which are vital to the safe and expeditious integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). •...more
More than 1,000,000 drones have been registered. The increasing use of drones by hobbyists means more and more concerned citizens and NGOs have the ability to obtain evidence of environmental violations. But what can be done...more
State Farm just announced that it has received “the first national waiver to any company in the U.S. by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)” for the operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones beyond visual...more
Week in Review - The White House and Congress spent the early part of the week negotiating the parameters of an end of year spending package that would avert a partial government shutdown at midnight on Friday. The...more
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
Drone pilots who interfere with those fighting wildfires, conducting law enforcement tasks, or other first responders (such as medical flights) are now more likely to face serious civil penalties. Last week, the Federal...more
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced new partners in its Low Altitude and Notification Capability (LAANC) initiative. ...more
For the first time in the U.S., a commercial drone equipped with a parachute safety system was permitted to fly over people during a football game in North Dakota last week....more
As of last week, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) is nationwide. We wrote about the FAA’s initiation of LAANC in April, with incremental deployment at...more
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator, Dan Elwell, said last week, “Drones are going to do for aviation what the internet did for information,” and called on the industry to work with the FAA to fully integrate...more
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began investigating a YouTube video that displays a helicopter almost colliding with a drone right off the coast of Hollywood Beach....more
Last week, in Blacksburg, Virginia, a 2-year old, Jack Smith, made history. Only six minutes after a technician from Alphabet Inc.’s Wing clicked the “Confirm Order” button on a smartphone app, a drone operated by the...more
Under the FAA’s rules governing the operation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS, commonly known as “drones”) for non-recreational purposes, operations within a few miles of an airport (referred to as “controlled airspace”)...more
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released its Fiscal Years 2018-2038 Aerospace Forecast last week, indicating, among other things, that the FAA expects small model hobbyist unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones) to...more
On March 6, 2018, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the nationwide expansion of its Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) to 500 more airports, and include 300 air traffic control...more
At the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) co-hosted Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS or drones) Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland last week, all speakers agreed...more
Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) received recommendations regarding remote identification of drones in a report from the unmanned aircraft Identification and Tracking (UAS ID) Aviation Rulemaking...more
This weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the New York City Drone Film Festival in Tribeca and appear on a panel with some of my Fox colleagues about legal issues in the drone world. I also watched the panel on drone...more