The federal/state jurisdictional boundary between FAA navigable airspace and private landowner low-altitude property column rights for autonomous drone delivery corridors.
In United States v. Causby (1946), the Supreme Court rejected the ancient common law ad coelum doctrine (owning to the heavens) but affirmed that a landowner owns at least as much of the superadjacent airspace as can be occupied or used in connection with the land. When commercial delivery drones operate at 100–400 feet, federal preemption under 49 U.S.C. § 40103 clashes with state curtilage property law.
State courts and federal district courts remain divided over whether landowners have a right to exclude delivery drones from their low-altitude overhead column under state trespass and invasion of privacy torts.
