National Press Club to Host Newsmaker Media Briefing on "Commercial Use of Drones and the FAA: Drawing a Line in the Sand"

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Jun 13, 2014, 04:36 ET

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Brendan Schulman, attorney and leading expert in use of commercial drones who just won the first case ever brought by the FAA on this issue; Ben Gielow, government relations manager and general counsel for the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI); and Parker Gyokeres, executive member of the Professional Society of Drone Journalists.

TOPIC: "Commercial use of drones and the FAA: Drawing a line in the sand"
DATE: Wednesday, June 18
TIME: 2 p.m.
ROOM: Zenger Room

The FAA is struggling to come up with regulations to control commercial drones in the country's airspace. But the rampant commercial usage of drones continues to cloud the issue, with the FAA asserting its authority without any clear regulations regarding the use of drones in American airspace.

The problem is that drones have quickly gone from being simple toys for hobbyists to new tools for everything from law enforcement to monitoring crops to social media to even getting amazing, cost-effective high-definition aerial shots for television and film production.

Journalists, commercial television producers and filmmakers are buying or building their own drone units for just a few thousand dollars, and are quickly creating a host of new problems about what is legal and what is not in an increasingly wider grey area of aviation law that involves not only airspace safety but questions about first and fourth amendment rights protections.

This newsmaker will feature a presentation by New York attorney Brendan Schulman, who challenged the FAA for fining his client for using a drone to make a promotional commercial. Schulman recently won the case, which was the first case of the FAA fining any business or individual for commercial use of a drone.

Also presenting will be Ben Gielow, ‎general counsel and government relations manager at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI); and Parker Gyokeres, representing the recently-formed Professional Society of Drone Journalists.

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Contact: David Hodes, event host, 202-596-5037 [email protected]

SOURCE National Press Club