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NBC News Reports US Will Require Registration For Consumer Drones (nbcnews.com)

Posted by timothy on from the orange-tips-on-fake-guns dept.

Gizmodo and Engadget are both reporting (and both pointing to a report at NBC News) that the Department of Transportation is expected to announce Monday a plan to regulate drone use in the U.S., based on fears of danger to aviation. From the relied-on report at NBC News: The federal government will announce a new plan requiring anyone buying a drone to register the device with the U.S. Department of Transportation, NBC news has learned. ... Under the plan, the government would work with the drone industry to set up a structure for registering the drones, and the regulations could be in place by Christmas. That sounds like an impossible task, if it's to take in all remote-controlled flying devices that might be described as drones. About this time last year, Chris Anderson (ex-Wired editor, and now head of 3D Robotics) estimated that about half a million drones had already been sold in the U.S., and that sounds like an undercount even for then, given the many cheap-and-cheerful options. From suppliers like Banggood, tiny quadcopters can now be had for less than $20, though it's hard to think of them as a danger to aviation.

7 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm going to be the rational minority in what will likely be a long, bloody thread, but I think this is a good move by the government. There were a few incidents, some in near my local airport where a drone came within the vicinity of operating aircraft. It sucks that a few bad apples ruined what would have been an enjoyable hobby, but it has to be regulated.

    1. Re:Good. by aaron4801 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      OK, now define what's a drone and what's not.
      RC planes have for decades been exempted from other FAA rules, are they now caught up in all this?
      What about the micro-copters that can't fly outdoors if there's even a slight breeze?
      Treating a 30g copter with a 10m range the same as a 5kg copter with a 1km range will mean the death of whole industries that pose no threat to anybody.

    2. Re:Good. by dbIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      RC planes have for decades been exempted from other FAA rules, are they now caught up in all this?

      In some places there have been strict rules on them for decades but sensible ones - a ceiling, restricted near airports and rules about line of sight. People using drones violating sensible rules is "why we can't have nice things" and how restrictive long lists of rules happen which I'll bet will rope in the RC planes as well.
      See also how idiots making a huge amount of noise about plastic gun parts are getting regulators busy over 3D printing.

    3. Re:Good. by WaffleMonster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm going to be the rational minority in what will likely be a long, bloody thread, but I think this is a good move by the government. There were a few incidents, some in near my local airport where a drone came within the vicinity of operating aircraft. It sucks that a few bad apples ruined what would have been an enjoyable hobby, but it has to be regulated.

      I'm not seeing the rational part of your argument.

      Should people register their knives because a few bad apples use them to stab people to death? Keeping in mind it is already illegal to stab people to death and a whopping 1500 people a year die each and every year from stabbings.

      It is already illegal to fly drones within 5 miles of an airport. If you were rational wouldn't you use statistical evidence to inform your opinion rather than reacting to specific events and assume with no evidence registration will solve a problem? What is the expected benefit of registering drones? Of the people who are already illegally flying drones within 5 miles of an airport what good do you expect it will do?

      Should laser pointers be registered too? I'm sure that'll stop asshats from pointing them at planes... I'm sure of it...because it sounds rational to me.

  2. Idiots ruined it for everyone by hsmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Much like everything in life, entitled morons do stupid things and everyone suffers.

  3. Big news, but not unprecedented by Etcetera · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Anyone who thinks this is beyond the pale has obviously never piloted a plain before. I don't care if built the aviation device yourself by hand with spare Christmas decoration parts, if you're in the air you need to do your registration, paperwork, and file a flight plan. "Model airplanes" hadn't necessarily required licensing (so long as you stay below a certain height), but other aspects of it (like radio-telemetry) do.

    So long as we're getting to a point where someone's "drone" is enough of a hazard to the conduct of real air operations, it makes perfect sense to nip this problem in the bud.

    If there's an unmarked drone flying around, filming people, and doing God-knows-what-else, I want do be able to file a complaint with the FAA about it.

    --
    Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
  4. Re:ACTUAL reason by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, because someone who's planning to kill someone with a drone will definitely register it and ask permission to do so.