Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ("UAV") have been a part of aviation from the infancy of manned aviation; yet, have not reached their fullest potential as they are not integrated into the national airspace system ("NAS"). However, we are at the edge of technological breakthroughs to make integration a reality. Nevertheless, the regulatory construct necessary to provide safe integration of UAVs is unfinished. This thesis looks at necessary regulatory changes within the United States to allow for integration of the UAV into the NAS. I will first define the UAV and look at its historical roots. Then, I will review existing regulations and directives of manned flight that would apply to UAVs, as well as various rules specifically for UAVs that now exist. Through this examination, I will review the gaps and offer recommendations to fill regulatory holes in hopes to provide a useful contribution to the eventual integrated flight of UAVs.

This study addresses a narrow but important facet of the war on terror: the interception of civil aircraft over the high seas without the consent of the state of registry, when such aircraft are suspected of transporting weapons of mass destruction or terrorists. It introduces the contemporary legal regime over the high seas, in particular the customary norms relating to freedom of overflight, jurisdiction over aircraft, and the 'Rules of the Air' adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The study also examines the legal status of military aircraft in international law as a symbol of a state's sovereignty. It explores the justifications for lawful interceptions as well as the legal obligation of states to show 'due regard' for the safety of civil air navigation. The ICAO standards for the interception of civil aircraft and their applicability to state aircraft are also discussed. In conclusion the remedies an aggrieved state may pursue for alleged violations of international law are addressed.

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / It is within the perception, the reality and the problematic of international air travel that this thesis is situated. It argues that a space has been created for international air travel, which is conceptually and physically demarcated from normative social space, the Transit Zone. The thesis examines four sites constituting the Transit Zone using both political and social theory and the analysis of performance and visual artworks that explore, explain or contest aspects of the sites. The first site is concerned with the construction of nation-state territory, population and legal movement. Its physical expression can be found at the border between the Transit Zone and the nation-state. However, its conceptual reach is much more extensive, appearing in immigration policy, national law, international covenants, data-sharing practices and the creation of a space external to, yet within, the nation-state system. This site creates the Transit Zone’s paradoxical position of being excluded from nation-state territory while simultaneously defining it. The second site is premised on the (in)security of civil aviation and explores the striving towards absolute security, and the unachievability of that goal. This is a reflection of the prevalence of (in)security discourses in contemporary society. The third site is created by corporate interest within the airport terminal and the aeroplane. It is the site of logistics and sales, of the passenger functioning both as an object or unit of movement and as a desiring purchasing subject. The fourth site is constructed through the imagination – it is made up of the ideas, cultural dreams and responses that have accreted around the site of the Transit Zone. These intimate and personal responses transform the Transit Zone from a site of function, profit and government control to a vehicle for the construction and realisation of fears, fantasies and rites of passage. This thesis demonstrates that many contemporary issues infuse and surround the Transit Zone. Immigration, national defence, international politics, logistics, social interaction and cultural fantasy all collide there. It explores the complexity of the Transit Zone’s paradoxical collection of sites and systems, which can not be reduced to one single reading. The Transit Zone has evolved, and continues to do so, in response to government and international demands, legal problems, technological advancements, logistical and commercial needs, and social changes. In doing so, its evolution redefines and articulates contemporary concerns. Additionally the thesis reveals an extensive artistic engagement with the Transit Zone and the contemporary concerns it articulates. Art is used as a designated imaginative space that challenges the established reality and the art works discussed change our understanding of the Transit Zone.

The Cuban Crisis of October 22-28, 1962, pitted against each other the two world giants who have weapons that can destroy each other and at the same time all of human society. The suspenseful events of that week brought the world to the brink of World War III. As the crisis receded upon agreement of the Soviet Union to remove the offensive missiles from Cuba and by the States to refrain, under certain conditions, from invading Cuba, so did the memory of that week. [...]

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On 24 February 1996, two US-registered civil aircraft operated by members of the anti-Castro organisation Brothers to the Rescue were shot down by Cuban fighters. This action was denounced by the United States and the majority of the international community on the grounds that international air law, as reflected in Article 3bis of the Chicago Convention, prohibits the use of force against civil aircraft. However, at the time of the incident, the 1984 Protocol introducing Article 3bis in the Chicago Convention was not in force nor had it been ratified by Cuba or the United States. This thesis will examine the international legal rules applicable to the incident and will assess the legality of the Cuban action.