Identifying the rules and regimes that should apply to small commercial drones that cross international borders was the focus of IALI Director Brian Havel's presentation at the 27th annual conference of the European Air Law Association, held in Edinburgh, Scotland earlier this month.
A long-time member of the Association’s Governing Committee and a regular panelist and moderator at its events, Professor Havel joined the chief legal adviser to the European Aviation Safety Agency, Frank Manuhutu, and the legal advisor to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, Alison Slater, for a vigorous panel discussion on the future regulatory regime governing unmanned aircraft – better known to the public as “drones.” While still an uncommon occurrence, cross-border drone flights are certainly in the future plans of commercial operators such as amazon.com, Professor Havel noted.
Professor Havel also spoke on cross-border drone issues in March at the DePaul Law Review Symposium, "The UAS Dilemma: Unlimited Potential, Unresolved Concerns." In connection with this work, Professor Havel and John Q. Mulligan, the Institute's FedEx/United Airlines Resident Research Fellow, have written an essay on international drone regulation for the forthcoming symposium issue of theDePaul Law Review.