Insights

Los Angeles – September 10, 2026: The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has named Crowell & Moring’s Amy Karnikian to its 2026 Business Aviation Top 40 Under 40 list in the Business Management category. The annual recognition honors emerging leaders whose professional achievements, community involvement, innovative thinking, and commitment are helping shape the future of business aviation. 

Los Angeles – August 19, 2026: The Daily Journal has named Crowell & Moring's Amy Karnikian to its "Top 40 Under 40" list for 2026. The annual list recognizes leading California lawyers under the age of 40 for their achievements, impact, and promise within the legal profession. 

Los Angeles – April 20, 2026: The Los Angeles Business Journal has named Amy Karnikian to its list of Top 100 Lawyers 2026, recognizing the region's leading lawyers for their legal achievements, community involvement, and impact on the profession. 

On May 6, 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published a long-awaited Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would create a formal process for designating drone-free zones — known as Unmanned Aircraft Flight Restrictions (UAFRs) — over critical infrastructure facilities. The proposed rule has significant implications for the entire drone ecosystem. Facility operators across a broad range of industries would gain a potential pathway to restrict unauthorized drone access to their airspace, while commercial drone operators and companies that rely on UAS services face new compliance obligations, operational constraints, and potential criminal liability in designated zones.

On January 28, 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it would reopen the comment period for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) titled “Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations” for fourteen days. This NPRM, jointly published with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on August 7, 2025, introduces performance-based regulations for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations and the third-party services that support them. Although the NPRM’s initial comment period closed on October 6, 2025, the FAA is now accepting additional feedback through February 11, 2026, with a particular focus on the proposed rule’s right-of-way and detect-and-avoid requirements. The FAA previously rejected formal requests to extend the initial comment period, citing the deadline imposed by Executive Order 14307.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently announced the issuance of a final rule[1], effective May 26, 2026, requiring covered air carriers[2] to prepare and submit a one-page passenger rights summary (a “Passenger Rights Summary”) addressing key disruption-related topics. The final rule implements Section 429 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018.