Daf Yomi Yevamot 37b: Airspace in Halacha

There probably are authentic sources on this topic, perhaps in Bava Batra, but something struck me as I read Yavamot daf 37b.

This morning, I read this story:

A group of native Canadian tribes are seeking compensation from Manitoba Telecom Services for cell phone signals they claim are violating their air space.

According to the CBC, the Assembly of Manitoba chiefs is trying to negotiate revenue sharing for signals that cross the land, water and air space of their reserves and traditional territories.

"When it comes to using airspace, it's like using our water and simply because there's no precedent doesn't mean that it's not the right thing to do," Chief Ovide Mercredi of the Grand Rapids First Nation told the news agency.

What do Chazal say of airspace, and the right to use someone else's without money?

Well, on Yevamot 37b:

For we learned: If a man went to a country beyond the sea and [in his absence] the path to his field was lost, he shall, Admon said, use the shortest cut; but the Sages said: He must purchase a path even though it will cost him a hundred maneh or else fly in the air.

We rule like the Sages.

"Fly through the air," of course, means that he has no recourse, since what is he to do? Fly through the air? The implication would be that were he able to fly through the air, he would not have to purchase the rights to pass through the airspace."

And, as we see in masechet Eruvin, Eliyahu haNavi was able to travel 10 handbreadths above the ground.

Of course, this is just an idiom, and should not stand in the way of other sources, such as the airspace acquiring objects on behalf of its owner, etc.
a
a