In a New Haven courtroom on July 6, lawyers representing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will argue that the federal agency has the right to regulate consumer drones, such as disallowing the mounting of weapons onto drones. The agency’s opponent will be attorneys representing Connecticut student Austin Haughwout, the producer of two controversial drone-related videos.
The issue was first brought to light in July 2015 when Austin uploaded a 15-second YouTube video of a drone mounted with a semi-automatic handgun taking several shots in a wooded area. The video went viral, having now amassed over 3 million views (above video).
In November, Haughwout again uploaded a video titled ‘Roasted the Holiday Turkey’, which features a drone equipped with a makeshift flame thrower roasting a turkey on a spit. The video has over 500,000 views (see video below).
In November, before the publishing of the “Roasting Turkey” video, the FAA had sent Austin and father Bret Haughwout an administrative subpoena asking Austin to attend court and provide information on details regarding the “Flying Gun” YouTube video.
The elder Haughwout declined, replying to the FAA in an email that because he had not committed a crime, he was under no obligation to comply.
After the upload of the “roasting turkey” video, the FAA again reached out to the Haughwouts, but were again disregarded.
Finally, on Feb. 11, 2016, the FAA asked a federal judge to enforce the subpoena and a few weeks later, the Haughwouts and the FAA faced off in Huerta v. Haughwout.
