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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.
I wonder, will all drones be grounded till the US Federal Drone Registration website is actually up and running enough to accept peoples' input?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Registration will provide the FAA with the owner's name and address. How will this information be useful to them? Are they going to have airports reroute traffic around neighborhoods that have high concentrations of drone owners?
First they came for the journalism drones, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Journalist.
Then they came for the environmental journalist, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an animal rights activists.
Then they came for the citizen journalism, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not into 1st Amendment audits.
Then they came for my drone—and there was no one left to speak for me.
No more 4k ready drones moving along public property capturing news worthy footage without been in a database for a later State or Federal chat down.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
well, does my son's RC car make him a "driver", too? registration is one step closer to confiscation.
Weight is pretty much the most clueless measurement to use.
You could build something really big, put helium balloons inside it and have it sit on a scale and still weigh less than 9 oz.
Any of Physical size, maximum range, maximum speed, maximum altitude, any of those would have been much less clueless.
How about a kayaker to a cargo ship captain?
If your son's RC car is affecting regular traffic then yes.. that makes him a "driver"
Imagine if RC cars were a relatively new thing.. and people started attaching cameras to them and driving them on the freeway around emergency responders.
I have questions!
Registration is mandatory prior to operation of a UAS in the NAS not at point of sale.
UAS = Unmanned Aircraft Systems AKA "RC aircraft"
NAS = ???
Persons must be 13 years of age to register.
I don't think you have to be 13 years or older to purchase or operate one, so this seems like a loophole.
Don't for get the pilot database complete with fingerprints and DNA profiles.
If the Govt. encouraged drone-flying then it would have a cadre of skilled operators who took their hobby seriously enough to want to see it well regulated and free from idiots. That way a basically unenforceable law costing millions to police would be mostly self-policed by people with decent civic values... As well as cutting edge skills and technology. Hey what's that you say Sooty? 'Nerds being sociable?' Yes, why not.
In the UK plane spotters were once seen as some sort of terror threat but then it was realised that the anoraks would be the best people to spot an unusual sort of person.
At the start of WW2 many 'radio hams' were available to become the core of rapidly expanding signals sections.
By all means have an unlicensed backyard toy category of no registration (though everyday laws of privacy, harassment etc still apply) (a bit like flying a kite.) and a 'big-boys' category but make it something people want to achieve, belong to, participate in, rather than endless form-filling and wallet opening.
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.
...this is a good thing. Non-drone quads, like all RC craft, require skill to do something stupid that will hurt more than your neighbours or your wallet. Autonomous, self-piloting, drones can be more dangerous than a car if flown improperly. Regulate them, just as cars and other aircraft are regulated.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Imagine if RC cars were a relatively new thing.. and people started attaching cameras to them and driving them on the freeway around emergency responders.
There are already laws in place to punish anyone doing such a thing. Just like there already are for flying model airplanes in the way of real aircraft.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
So, we generally work by the fiction that a "gun" is the lower receiver, and that is the part that is what we register.
Exactly what part of the drone are you going to serialize and register? The wings? The engine? The fuselage? Will you need to de-register when it breaks? Re-register it after it's repaired?
At what point will the government decide to have us "register" all of the home made cakes we bake in our ovens? The parts and technology for a cake are just as common and available as the parts and technology for a drone...
I'll bet you get more damage to property from poorly regulated baseballs thrown by children than drones.
Obviously, baseballs can hurt, and even kill people, and people play with them in public spaces all the time - we really need to get everyone registered properly so we can educate them and hold them responsible for the errant throw.
Right now, personal drones are getting to a point where people ARE getting in the way of real aircraft, registration would make it easier for law enforcement to track a drone to it's owner instead of having to create some elaborate investigation into who owns the device.
Not even counting how drones are starting to be used a little more prolifically for businesses.
All this talk about "gub'mint confiscation" seems like runoff from gun nut types.
I first joined AMA 30 years ago. I've flown fixed wing, helicopters, and rockets. I've also climbed into something slightly larger and flown it. My next purchase will probably be a quad. I don't think that owning a quad will make me become stupid. The craft is not the problem.
The AMA used to work with manufacturers and retailers to have a very strong presence- every $12 kit included AMA information in the package. The AMA managed to reach a high enough percentage of purchasers that most were well-behaved.
Quads brought a ton of new people into the hobby and the existing community hasn't reached them effectively. Part of that is probably because models (other than rockets) used to be harder to fly, so newbies NEEDED an experienced pilot to train them. Clueless newbies who wouldn't learn from others quickly destroyed their new toys.
On the other hand, rockets could be flown without training, yet AMA dis a good job of getting the message of responsibility out to rocketers. How can this (large) new generation of flyers be reached and educated? Blaming it on the number of props won't do the trick, of course.
Nothing more then a money grab. Registering the drones will not change anything with some of the challenges we face with drones however the registration fee will be quite nice. Shall I drone on?
...drones are the new tech race. I won't be surprised to see hydrogen as fuel, structural factor and buoyant.
And anyone who uses words like "gub'mint" seems like a moron nut type.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
Before any of you get all pissed off about 'having the government all up in your business', consider this: The assholes flying drones in the way of aircraft trying to put out wildfires, or into restricted airspace (read as: the Whitehouse), or to (attempt to) smuggle contraband into prisons, or to spy on people in their backyards? They are the ones you should be beating on for this and no one else.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
The constitution VERY SPECIFICALLY doesn't address specific regulations. Those are generated by LAWS. The constitution does give a very firm guide for how we are to come up with laws. Things like electing officials to create and maintain laws and having people in official capacities to enact those laws.
Staying awake during junior high and high school social studies classes would have avoided this incredible lack of knowledge. (If there wasn't the benefit of a proper education then there is a valid excuse for such ignorance.)
It is just as inane to say "Show me where in the constitution it says that police can enforce speed limits!" People really don't need to loudly proclaim their ignorance and supporting their ignorance makes a statement too...
Weight does not vary by drag or buoyancy.
ISO 800000, which defines mass and weight, defines weight as Fg= mg. g is a locally constant value, NOT a property of object. g is ~ 9.8 m/s/s on earth. Weight is mass times g. To avoid any confusion, ISO 800000 explicitly states that atmospheric buoyancy is excluded for weight, that weight is the -local- g times the mass of the -object- . (Not the other way around, a -location- has gravity, an -object- has mass. Multiply the two to get weight.)
Also, as mentioned the SUBJECT line of post you replied to, and also your own post, FAA weight is EMPTY weight. It doesn't include the weight of any fluids including fuel, coolant, helium, etc. Guess you didn't bother to read your own subject line.
programmers don't need a license either, and I'm pretty sure most of them started as script kiddies...
The FAA basically told the AMA eat shit.
Even though the federal law says that the FAA cannot regulated model aircraft under federal law. Utter BS the law says they cannot regulate a model aircraft under 54 LBS, that is flown under 400 AGL and operated with VLOS of the operator. The AMA self limits themselves to 15lbs.
Official response from the AMA. http://amablog.modelaircraft.o...
This will be DOA when a lawsuit gets filed by the AMA.
I crashed more than one 1k aircraft on landing, do you think I won't just throw money at lawsuit to be filed against the FAA? (2.4GHz frequency hop is godsend now, haven't had a wreck since)
I have several drones (two quadrocopters and an octocopter) and I definitely support this.
First, the requirement is not onerous. There are no serious licensing requirements.
Second, having drones to be traceable is a good thing - if somebody crashes them into your window then you'd definitely want to find who did it. And never mind that a crashed drone can sometimes catch fire (mine did) from a ruptured battery (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... as an example).
Third, there is some honey here - FAA plans to review restrictions on flying inside the national parks once the registration system is up and running.
I have a 290 gram hand launch glider which does not have any propulsion system. You throw it and find thermals to go higher. I will now need to register it.
I meant un-powered flight too.
I meant un-powered flight too.
Oh, great. So next time I dump a body off a bridge, I need to register it ... :-)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Horse was almost out of the barn and down range.