FAA Exempts Paper-Airplane Drone

Good news for 12-year-olds everywhere: The FAA has granted permission to use a paper airplane conversion kit for commercial aerial photography.

Drone advocate Peter Sachs sought the exemption from the FAA to use the Tailor Toys PowerUp™ 3.0, which is a smartphone-controlled paper airplane conversion kit deemed safe for children 12 and older.

Promotional materials about the toy says the aerial unit “transforms your homemade airplane into a controllable aircraft that can soar up for up to 10 minutes.” The user needs a smart phone and standard 8 1/2-by-11 copier paper.

Sachs, of Connecticut, is an FAA-licensed commercial helicopter pilot and advanced ground instructor. He is also founder of the Drone Pilots Association and a critic of the FAA.

In a comment published in Popular Science and Forbes.com, Sachs said the FAA “abandoned all logic and sensibility” with its exemption for the paper airplane conversion kit.  S