Practical Aviation & Aerospace Law

This is the hardcover edition of this title.

Updated and expanded in its sixth edition, Practical Aviation & Aerospace Law (previouslyPractical Aviation Law) and its companion workbook function as a comprehensive instructive package for undergraduate and graduate aviation law courses. Whether used as a set or alone, this book is an invaluable reference guide for aviation and aerospace business managers, pilots, maintenance personnel, aircraft owners, air traffic controllers, air safety investigators, operators of unmanned aircraft, and others involved in aviation and aerospace as a profession or hobby.

Practical Aviation & Aerospace Law provides readers with the basic legal knowledge and perspective to understand how the legal system works in the aviation and aerospace industry. The author helps readers recognize and avoid common legal pitfalls, and enables them to recognize when they need to call a lawyer. This sixth edition is updated and expanded to reflect recent judicial decisions and changes in statutory, regulatory, and international treaty law. It covers topics surrounding the burgeoning unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and commercial spaceflight segments as well, from an increasingly global viewpoint.

In addition, Dr. Sarah Nilsson (ERAU) has contributed a new chapter discussing the historical development and current trends in spaceflight law, with an emphasis on how it affects commercial spaceflight operations.

Written clearly and concisely, this book and the companion workbook provide a succinct foundation to a complex field of law. The conversational tone and frequent examples, many of them from the author’s experience in practice, make this an engaging and readable resource for schools and for the industry.

J. Scott Hamilton, J.D., is an Assistant Professor of Management for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, serving as Faculty Chair for the Sky Harbor Center in Phoenix, Arizona. He previously served as chief operating officer of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), after serving as the national organization's general counsel. He is an experienced pilot (Private Pilot with airplane, single engine, land & sea, instrument airplane, advanced & instrument ground instructor ratings, and about 1,700 hours flight time) who has owned several aircraft. He is also an experienced skydiver (with 2,500 jumps) who served as a combat demolition specialist and HALO instructor in Army Special Forces.

Dr. Hamilton founded a law firm specializing in aviation law in Colorado, where he practiced law for 25 years and served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Denver, and as an Adjunct Instructor for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and for the Aerospace Science Department at Metropolitan State College of Denver, then served as Senior Assistant Attorney General in Wyoming. He holds a B.A. degree in economics and business from Hendrix College; J.D. from the University of Denver; and LL.M. in aerospace law from Southern Methodist University, where he was named the Easterwood Foundation Scholar. He is currently a Master of Aeronautical Science candidate at Embry-Riddle, pursuing a management specialization.

Hamilton has published widely on aviation law, including the "Practical Aviation Law" textbook, workbook and teachers' manual, now in the 5th edition, and Amazon.com's bestseller in the category of "Air & Space." He has received many honors, including induction into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame (1988) and Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame (1998).

Sarah Nilsson is an Assistant Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a practicing attorney in Arizona, where her practice focuses on aviatioerospace and business law. She previously managed an Aerospace Magnet program at an inner city high school in Phoenix. Nilsson gained extensive aviation operating experience working as a cargo pilot and flight instructor and now volunteers as a safety representative on the FAA Safety Team. Her research interests include aviation, space, and unmanned aerial systems law.