A Texas organization that uses unmanned aerial vehicles to search for missing persons is poised to resume flying this week after a federal appeals court dismissed a warning issued by the Federal Aviation Administration that instructed the group to halt the flights.
Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team had filed a lawsuit in April attempted to stop FAA enforcement. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, however, dismissed the case on Friday.
But in doing so, the court said it would not hear the case because the rule cited by the FAA in an email to EquuSearch was not valid and did not represent the FAA’s final regulations on the use of commercial UAVs, according to the
Associated Press.
The FAA is currently drafting regulations to allow for the commercial integration of UAVs in national airspace, a task expected to be completed by the end of 2015 under a congressional mandate.
“The challenged email communication from a Federal Aviation Administration employee did not represent the consummation of the agency’s decision-making process, nor did it give rise to any legal consequences,” the court said, according to the AP.
Tim Miller, the founder and director of EquuSearch, said in a phone interview with Defense Daily that his volunteer group has already been contacted by legal authorities in Texas on a new case and expects to fly for the first time on Wednesday.
“It’s a relief to be able to fly again,” he said, adding that he’s had to turn down six cases since the FAA’s order in February. He said the organization has found more than 170 deceased individuals since 2000, including 11 with drones.
“It ends up there is not really a law that is written about drones,” Miller said.
The FAA said in a statement Monday that the decision has “no bearing” on its authority to regulate unmanned systems.
“The FAA remains legally responsible for the safety of the national airspace system,” the agency said. “This authority is designed to protect users of the airspace as well as people and property on the ground.”
The FAA noted that it has a process for authorizing flights in emergencies and that it can be accomplished within hours of a receiving a request from a government agency. It’s called a certificate of authorization.
“We are not aware that any government entity with an existing COA has applied for an emergency naming Texas EquuSearch as its contractor,” the FAA said.
Miller said EquuSearch cannot apply because it is not a government entity, and that it’s difficult to locate an agency with a COA who could put in for the flight.
“There is just not one of these on every corner,” he said.