Drone News: Texas Drone Law Decision Reversed, New FAA Administrator Confirmed, and the World’s Largest Foam Board Quadcopter!

First up this week is the new FAA Administrator, Michael Whitaker. As we previously speculated, this confirmation process appears to have gone smoothly. Z Whitaker worked for three years as the Deputy Administrator of the FAA and Chief NextGen officer, coming to the FAA now from Hyundai’s Supernal eVTOL manufacturer. AOPA’s President Mark Baker said “I am really pleased the Senate took action to confirm Mike and look forward to working with him to help pilots and to move GA forward… He’s a capable leader, knows aviation, knows the agency, and he’s a private pilot.” We’ll look forward to see how Whitaker lead the FAA in the coming months and years! Next up this week is one for all our Texas folks out there, the ruling labeling Texas drone law (Code 423) unconstitutional, has been reversed. In March of last year (2022) a federal judge declared Texas code 423 unconstitutional under the first and 14th amendments, now after an appeal in the fifth circuit court, the decision has been reversed. The NPAA (National Press Photographers Association) says the law has been used to target journalists in situations where privacy hasn’t been an issue. The court decided the plaintiffs lacked standing for a 14th amendment claim because none of the plaintiffs had been arrested or prosecuted under Texas Code 423. In addition, the appeals judge said “And nothing in the No-Fly provisions has anything to do with speech or expression. These are flight restrictions, not speech restrictions,”, which is interesting considering the FAA is the sole party permitted to control the airspace. Brenden Schulman, former DJI VP of Legal said “In a very significant drone law update, the prior decision in Texas articulating a First Amendment right to drone journalism, and striking down a Texas statute that interfered with that right, has just been overturned by the Fifth Circuit… Depending on what the plaintiffs decide to do, this could be the first drone law case to go to the US Supreme Court.” This means that Texas Code 423 is now back on the books, and we’ll see if it’s appealed again to the Supreme Court. Alright, last up is a fun one, we have a new possible world record for the largest foam quadcopter! Engineers in the UK have created and flow what they believe is the largest quadcopter, at over 21 feet from corner to corner! The “GFQ” or Giant Foam board Quadcopter appears to use hobby foam for its structure and weighs 54lbs. Next up, the team hopes to expand the project to create a quadcopter even larger! That’s it! Have a great week and we’ll see you for our live on Monday! https://dronexl.co/2023/10/24/drone-innovation-manchester-quadcopter/ https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.423.htm#:~:text=(a)%20A%20person%20commits%20an,is%20a%20Class%20C%20misdemeanor. https://www.courthousenews.com/fifth-circuit-rejects-media-groups-challenge-of-texas-drone-regulations/ https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/288975/