I had thought this was about recovering something like a broken down vehicle with drones – but even that would make more sense than the whining and overreaction on both sides (the FAA have been busting people for using relatively small model aircraft in a safe manner).
Drones are not unique to the USA, you can buy a small one for a few hundred Euros or even build it yourself.
Everywhere else in the world has already decided that small ones follow the same rules as model aircraft, and big ones the same rules as full size aircraft, and where there are medium size ones they make a clear distinction about over what size a license is required (in the UK it is from 7 to 150 kilos).
There are and always have been common sense rules for the use of existing model aircraft. I’ve had a cursory look at various aviation rules over the years, although complex they seem to be make perfect sense and keeps everyone safe (the UK has very busy skies but one of the worlds best aviation safety records).
Using any sort of aircraft to invade privacy or to discharge chemicals or other missiles is illegal anyway unless its the military or a recognised uniformed service and still would have to comply with domestic human rights laws and/or the Geneva convention.
There are slightly stronger rules aimed at commercial organisations that do not apply to hobbyists – but compliance with them is not a particularly great burden (about 150 such licenses have been issued, as you would expect the BBC and other broadcasters, film companies have got some as have a few survey organisations).
Given that this weekend a British made passenger aircraft owned by a national airline of Malaysia (a relatively developed country) has crashed into the South China Sea with hundreds on board and that the MY government authorities are having difficulty working out what has happened (seems more they are reaching the limits of their resources than any sinister motive) I can understand if the govt in USA are trying to play it safe, especially when its aircraft without pilots or these being some distance away, maybe even in another nation..
Searching for the remains of the crashed aircraft would to be fair be a perfect application for drones/UAVs, I expect that Beijing has a few of them and is simply waiting for a telephone call from Kuala Lumpur to authorise this, so its not viewed as an invasion/unauthorised surveillance…
