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Hammond: Shooting down a drone carries federal penalties like shooting an airplane

Samuel Hammond · a16z Podcast | Airspace as the Next Internet-Like Platform · Jan 2, 2019 · at 31:56

Samuel Hammond, policy research fellow at the Mercatus Center, explains federal airspace jurisdiction and legal consequences for destroying active drones on the a16z podcast.

0:00 / 0:13exact quote · 13.1s

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“As long as we're treating drones as any other kind of airplane I wouldn't recommend this, but if a drone is trespassing over your property and you choose to shoot it down, it's like treated as shooting an airplane, which is like 25 years in jail or something like that.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Under U.S. federal regulation, shooting down a drone over private property is legally classified the same as shooting down a manned airplane, carrying federal prison penalties up to 25 years.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim is partially true. Under 18 U.S.C. § 32 and FAA guidance as of April 2016, drones are legally classified as 'aircraft', making the destruction of a drone fall under the same federal statute as destroying a manned aircraft, with no exemption for shooting drones flying over private property. However, the maximum federal prison sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 32(a) is up to 20 years, rather than the 25 years stated in the claim.

Under FAA guidance (April 2016) and 18 U.S.C. § 32, drones are classified as aircraft, making shooting one down a federal crime under the same statute that protects manned aircraft.
Federal law provides no private property exemption allowing landowners to shoot down aircraft over their land.
The statutory maximum penalty under 18 U.S.C. § 32(a) is 20 years in federal prison, not 25 years.

Checked against

[1] forbes.com [2] nationalaglawcenter.org [3] faa.gov [4] dronepilotgroundschool.com [5] cornell.edu [6] cornell.edu [7] foxrothschild.com [8] justice.gov

FAA shooting down a drone federal crime 18 USC 32 2016 18 USC 32 drone shooting down federal crime aircraft destruction 20 years 25 years FAA shooting down a drone federal offense aircraft destruction statute 18 USC 32

assessed as of 2026-07-28

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

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Samuel Hammond Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 35:19 a16z Podcast | Airspace as the Next Internet-Like Platform

Hammond: Shooting down a drone carries federal penalties like shooting an airplane

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