FAA Investigates Congressman’s Drone Wedding Video

Whoops:

The Federal Aviation Administration indicated Wednesday that it is investigating whether a video of an upstate New York congressman’s wedding last month violated the agency’s ban on drone flights for commercial purposes.

The agency’s carefully worded statement doesn’t mention Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat, by name, but said it was looking into “a report of an unmanned aircraft operation in Cold Spring, New York, on June 21 to determine if there was any violation of federal regulations or airspace restrictions.”

Although we hope that the photographer doesn’t get hit, on balance we find this situation to be rather amusing. The FAA is being forced by its own misguided rhetoric to investigate an event that was paid for by a member of Congress whose responsibilities include FAA oversight.

Break out the popcorn.

FAA Investigating Legality of Fireworks Drone Flight

Pretty much everyone on the planet has by now seen the YouTube video of a fireworks display that was shot from a drone. A report is now circulating that the FAA is investigating the legality of that flight:

According to Forbes, the FAA is now actively looking into whether drones that fly into fireworks displays is a “violation of federal regulations or airspace restrictions.”

Has anybody ever heard of such a regulation?