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Old 09-22-2016, 04:25 AM
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Sport_Pilot
 
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Originally Posted by TimJ
He would end of in jail or fined. It is a federal crime to shoot at aircraft.

Not so fast! The law 18 USC 32 was written in 1984 and it was never interpreted to include model aircraft or drones until the FAA decided that model aircraft and drones are aircraft. The following arguments can be made.

1. The law was not written to include model aircraft or drones.
2. The law was written to protect the people inside the aircraft. So it does not include drones because they do not carry people.
3. The FAA does not have jurisdiction in non navigable airspace over private property per Causby VS US.

There is some recent news about that old Kentucky case that could clarify this.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/whos-sky-...132753742.html