The legal skirmish has focused a bright spotlight on the FAA and turned up the pressure for the federal agency to establish rules for controlled use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs. Congress has ordered the FAA to set new UAV rules by September 2015 but many observers expect the agency will not meet its deadline. Currently operators of small UAVs or radio-controlled model planes flying below 400 feet can do so only for non-commercial uses, according to FAA operating standards spelled out in a 1981. That was decades before UAV operators saw the potential for aerial photography, crop-dusting and dozens of other commercial uses already permitted around the globe.
