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FAA: Small Drones Must Be Registered By February (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has finally unveiled its new drone registration rules. Starting on 21 December, all newly-purchased drones between 250 grams (.55 lbs) and 25 kg (~55 lbs) must be registered before their first flight. Owners of drones purchased before that time must register by 19 February 2016. The FAA will charge $5 to register the drones, though the first month of registrations will be free. "Make no mistake: unmanned aircraft enthusiast are aviators, and with that title comes a great deal of responsibility," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "Registration gives us an opportunity to work with these users to operate their unmanned aircraft safely. I'm excited to welcome these new aviators into the culture of safety and responsibility that defines American innovation." There is also an age requirement: kids under the age of 13 will not be allowed to register a drone by themselves.
In related news, Bard college has compiled a report on drone safety with respect to encounters with manned aircraft.
The good news is that now people who want to use RC machines to fly someplace they're not supposed to, or to carry some not-right payload (say, a small bomb, or ferrying contraband over a prison wall, etc) will now be stopped by this new paperwork.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Turn the engine on. Its weight will miraculously decrease.
Did I completely misread this or did we just spend $46 million on a website because of 238 "potentially unsafe" operations? Does the Federal Government even have the right to do this for "aviation" that never crosses state borders?
From the rules (http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=19856):
The FAA estimates that in calendar year 2014, 200,000 small unmanned aircraft were operated in the NAS in model aircraft operations. During this period, the FAA received 238 reports of potentially unsafe UAS operations.
In order to implement the new streamlined, web-based system described in this IFR, the FAA will incur costs to develop, implement, and maintain the system. Small UAS operators will require time to register and mark their aircraft, and that time has a cost. The total of government and registrant resource cost for small unmanned aircraft registration and marking under this new system is $56 million ($46 million present value at 7 percent) through 2020.
It's hardly freaking ruined. Spend $5, get registered, nothing else changes. Except they know who you are if you fly like a retard.
And if you aren't registered and fly like a retard, they now have legal recourse.
I'm all for the government minding their own business... But RC Helicopters are hardly ruined by a $5 tax.
Just buy a drone, register it under your enemy's name...and then fly it into an airport.
They are screwed at that point.....
At that point, they appear on all sorts of governmental lists, no fly...no buy weapons...etc.
And those are virtually impossible to get yourself off of....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I agree with you but I would point out that the FAA has long kept it's finger on model rocketry and radio controlled aircraft. They have been happy to do it with low key regulation and the concept that if they can self regulate and Keep Out Of Trouble, then the long logbook of the law won't bother them. It's a philosophy that has worked with amateur radio for years.
But the sheer number of drones and the various and disparate people crashing them into every object above coffee table height has pushed them to do something.
And something, so far, has been pretty reasonable.
It's a compromise. Nobody is happy.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
It allows an investigation to find the person responsible.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
I'm all for the government minding their own business...
Just noting that minding your/mine/our business *is* their business. If everyone was honest, fair and responsible (etc) and minded their own business we wouldn't need government to legislate and arbitrate things.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
How about we only require remote controlled aircraft large enough to carry a weapon to be registered...
The problem is not "weapons" but collisions. If a drone collides with a manned aircraft, it doesn't matter if it is carrying a weapon or not. Of course, a 250 gm drone is not going to fly high enough or be big enough to be a problem. This law is fine in principle, but is a big overreach in going after toys.
That's less than a quarter million per incident. Can't you see what a great value that is? Just think, our government can protect us from hundreds of dollars of damage! Isn't it wonderful?!
$5/drone is not a moneygrab. I fully expect that the system will operate at a loss.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Note, that is $5 every three years. The FAA is making a list without any benefit to the people on the list. Thanks.
The point of the list isn't to benefit the people on the list, the point of the list is to benefit everyone else against the people on the list.
I'm a licensed amateur radio operator. I have a very basic tech/no-code license, and as such I am limited to a very specific set of frequencies and power levels. This is to protect everyone else from me, while giving me some guidelines so that I may actually pursue the hobby, so that your TV and radio and cordless phone and cell phone and WIFI don't stop working because I'm pursuing my hobby.
Licensing of drones works in a similar fashion- it gives the hobby some room to operate but works to curtail abuses and abusers. I expect rules to be developed for where people can fly and what can be flown in what kinds of locations and conditions. I expect rules on altitude, the crossing of private property, the use of cameras regarding private property, etc. Given that I legally own the airspace over my house to a certain extent, operators will have to learn what they are and are not allowed to do, in the same way that I don't transmit on frequencies that break your electronics.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.