WIRED reports FAA says Tesla Roadster falls outside its aircraft definition

WIRED reported on October 16 that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson Rick Breitenfeldt said the Tesla vehicle “does not meet the FAA’s definition of an aircraft.” Aarian Marshall’s WIRED report also described Tesla’s October 15 demonstration of the next-generation Roadster at SpaceX’s facility in McGregor, Texas: the car briefly rose a few dozen feet with no human occupant.

NeoTeo previously covered the scheduled presentation in an earlier report on the Roadster.

What the FAA statement addresses

The FAA’s aircraft definition is a classification question. Authorization to operate in flight is a separate regulatory question; the statement reported by WIRED addresses the first.