EAA Concerned With Proposed Airspace Legislation

October 24, 2019 - Last week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the Drone Integration and Zoning Act, a bill that seeks to take control of the national airspace out of the federal government's hands and allow multiple parties to divide the lower levels of the airspace in an attempt to integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

EAA's long-standing position has been that federal preemption of airspace regulation is paramount to a successful and viable national airspace system. Dividing the national airspace into a patchwork of state, local, and tribal jurisdictions will only serve to impede growth and safe UAS integration, and make interstate commerce via the airways impossible.

Federal regulation of airspace has not been perfect in every instance, but the alternative of parceling out the airspace to local jurisdictions is far worse and sets a dangerous precedent for all users of the national airspace system. More often than not, federal preemption has protected flight operations from overzealous local regulation or political reactions to short-term events. EAA is working to educate lawmakers to this serious unintended consequence of this proposed regulation.