FAA To Drone Owners: Get Ready To Register To Fly (networkworld.com)

coondoggie writes: While an actual rule could be months away, drones weighing about 9 ounces or more will apparently need to be registered with the Federal Aviation Administration going forward. The registration requirement and other details came form the government’s UAS Task Force which was created by the FAA last month and featured all manner of associates from Google, the Academy of Model Aeronautics and Air Line Pilots Association to Walmart, GoPro and Amazon. “By some estimates, as many as 400,000 new unmanned aircraft will be sold during the holiday season. Pilots with little or no aviation experience will be at the controls of many of these aircraft. Many of these new aviators may not even be aware that their activities in our airspace could be dangerous to other aircraft -- or that they are, in fact, pilots once they start flying their unmanned aircraft,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in announcing the task force’s results.

Comments

Re:What purpose does registration serve?

[Anonymous Coward]

Show me where in the Constitution, or in the Air Commerce Act, the FAA was given authority over all airspace in the U.S.

Of course, you're aware that those are not the only laws governing the operation, authority, and structure of the FAA, right? In fact, the law in question that gives the FAA the authority to regulate drones is the "FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012," specifically, Title III, Subtitle B, "Unmanned Aircraft Systems," in which Congress specifically directs the FAA as follows:

Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with representatives of the aviation industry, Federal agencies that employ unmanned aircraft systems technology in the national airspace system, and the unmanned aircraft systems industry, shall develop a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.

They go on to specify in quite a bit of detail exactly what must be covered in such a plan. So, let's pick your question back up:

Are you asserting that Congress doesn't have any authority to make this law, and delegate enforcement of it to the FAA? If so, then perhaps you could share for us your legal rationale, rather than spouting off generalized inanities that demonstrate your lack of knowledge about aviation. If not, then perhaps you can take your claims that the FAA has "no lawful authority" over you, and shove them up your ass.

(empty) weight has worked for aircraf for a long t

[raymorris]

Weight is an extremely important and controlling parameter for aircraft. It has worked well as an important parameter for classification. For example, the smaller two classes of manned aircraft are called Ultralight and Light Sport Aircraft.

"Maximum" speed, range, and altitude are less useful because they are highly variable under different conditions and impossible to test for a true maximum. Maximum design ratings are used, but weight it the major criterion, the criterion that the classes are named after.

The FAA also regulates lighter-than-air craft such as hot air balloons and blimps. It turns out that by using the EMPTY weight of the craft, you totally avoid the issue of filling it with helium balloons- and the trick of having the gas tank only 1/4 full when it's weighed. They are all measured empty, and it's the empty weight the classifications are based on.

Re:Exactly what part do you register?

[AHuxley]

Yourself. The person is registered in a new federal database. The registration number "must be affixed to the aircraft" and "marking must be readily accessible and maintained in a condition that is readable and legible upon close visual inspection".
Its all about the person and connecting them to any and all drones in use. A demand for photo ID does the rest.