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Hawaii Man Tased and Arrested Flying 3 Inch Drone. Is Tiny Flying Toy Really An Unmanned Aircraft?

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News reports that a 35-year-old Hawaii man, Travis Sanders, was tased and arrested for flying a drone Saturday night at Volcanoes National Park caught my attention.  The man had reportedly come to the Park with his family to view the rising lava lake at Halema'uma'u Crater and decided to fly his 3 inch drone.  He was quoted by Hawaii News Now as saying "My toy has some lights on it so I thought it would be fun to fly it up and down--no big deal, right?  Well apparently they're not allowed there I found out."

Unfortunately for Mr. Sanders, the National Park Service considers 3 inch flying toys to be unmanned aircraft.  According to a spokesperson for the Park, "It's illegal to fly unmanned aircraft in all 407 national park units across the United States."  The Park Service is probably taking a cue from the Federal Aviation Administration that has taken a very hard line position interpreting the definition of aircraft in the Federal Aviation Regulations ("a device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air") to cover unmanned aircraft of any size or weight.  The NTSB supported the FAA's interpretation in its November 2014 decision in the Pirker case finding that model aircraft came within the definition of aircraft.

It's hard to know from news reports whether Mr. Sanders in fact resisted arrest and whether the Park ranger was justified in tasing and arresting him.  But it's clear to me that the encounter would never have been precipitated in the first place if 3 inch flying toys were not considered "unmanned aircraft" subject to manned aircraft rules.  It seems high time to me for Congress to step in and enact reasonable rules for the operation of unmanned aircraft, including not considering toys below a certain size to fall within the definition of aircraft.  It might look to what other aviation safety agencies are proposing.  For example, the European Aviation Safety Agency is proposing to exclude flying toys under 500 grams from its regulatory scheme.