On Feb. 11, 1942, one Andrew D. Drumm Jr. flew his private plane from his own field in Fallon, Nev. to Bishop, Calif. He had no clearance, no pilot’s license. When challenged upon landing, he asserted that Civil Aeronautics Administration regulations did not apply to him. His arguments: he had been flying for 20 years, did not use CAA facilities, was not engaged in commerce. CAA inspectors ignored all this, ordered him grounded.
But rugged Individualist Drumm thumbed his nose at the authorities, went on flying wherever his construction business took him. To him, the red nonoperating tag on his propeller was a meaningless decoration. Haled last week into Nevada’s Federal District Court on eleven counts (each carrying a $1,000 penalty) and threatened with permanent grounding, he was fined $2,500. The Court ruled him subject to CAA regulation even though “the flights in question were not commercial in character and … no commercial air routes were entered.”
If sustained by higher courts, this decision will establish an important precedent. The Supreme Court has always recognized the authority of Congress over all navigable waters, not just steamship lanes. Last week’s decision for the first time puts U.S. air on the same basis as U.S. waters, establishing federal authority over the navigable air, not just the airways.
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