At 3 a.m. on January 26^th, the Secret Service put the White House on lockdown shortly after a ground officer spotted what he described as a two-foot “quad copter” flying above the White House at low altitudes shortly before crashing into the ground. The owner of the drone called the U.S. Secret Service later that morning to self-report his involvement in the incident.

The drone’s operator and owner is a government employee who claims the drone was being used recreationally, Secret Service sources told CNN. Secret Service Brian Leary reports that the owner of the drone has been interviewed and was fully cooperative during the process.

Secret Service sources also reported to CNN that they believe the drone to have taken off from a neighborhood east of the White House. However a second source says the flight path has not been confirmed.

Leary says the Secret Service will continue investigations of the incident through “corroborative interviews, forensic examinations, and reviews of all investigative leads.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established a rigid set of rules on regulating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the use thereof. The FAA defines the term UAV quite broadly, counting in most everything from model planes to shoulder launched military grade spy drones.

For recreational use, the FAA will allow operators to fly their UAVs under 400 feet, away from airports, air traffic, military bases, and other restricted locations. In this case, the White House. The operator also must have a direct line of sight to their UAV, meaning if you can’t see it, you can’t fly it.

FSA Connection Questions

1. In the article, the authors uses the term “quad copter” to refer to?
2. What are 2 of the FAA’s limitations on UAV flight?
3. What is the connotation of the word “recreationally”?
4. The author seems to offer what main idea about drones?
5. Select a sentence from the story that best summarizes it.