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A modem isn't a phone.

A spacecraft isn't an aircraft.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/49/40102#a_6




For a substantial portion of its flight, a spacecraft is an aircraft. A first stage like the Super Heavy doesn't even necessarily exit the atmosphere. Super-Heavy's intended MECO & stage separation is 65km, well below the accepted 100km "edge of space" definition. Super-Heavy is an aircraft, Starship is both an aircraft and a spacecraft.


Not only is a spacecraft an aircraft under US federal law, a hypothetical quadcopter the size of a beetle is an aircraft under it as well.

Anything that flies through the air, not under a roof, using active control is an "aircraft".




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