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FAA Drone Rules May Already Be Outlawed By Congress (hackaday.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the stopped-before-they-ever-began dept.

szczys writes: New FAA rules about drone registration and operation are now in effect. So far the talk has centered around registering your aircraft, and about the weight restriction. But all of this may be moot since the US Congress made a law in 2012 prohibiting these types of rules: "The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft." Even if the rules hold up under this law, it is not all doom and gloom for drones. The FAA rules could have been much more stringent, and in general they do make sense. Brian Benchoff walks through the regulation, comparing the new rules to the FAA's existing pilot rules, and juxtaposing the threat drones make to full-size aircraft in flight with those risks associated with bird strikes.

5 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. The _massive_ flaw in these regulations... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If the FAA model aircraft database is public, then what's to stop someone local from looking up your name, address and registration number and sticking that on their model aircraft instead of their own name ?

    That way, they can fly in a reckless manner and if their aircraft crashes, it's an innocent person the authorities are going to be looking for.

    1. Re:The _massive_ flaw in these regulations... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Up until now, I've been saying that the FAA's registration isn't much different than the FCC's licensing requirements. But this is the part where the difference between the FAA's registration and the FCC's licensing are substantial, and it requires the FAA to rethink things to make it work.

      I have a ham radio license. With just my callsign, you can get my name and last-registered address. It is my current home address, as I've kept my license up to date. Now, I won't post my callsign, lest I end up registered with a few hundred drones or, worse, get Domino's delivered to my door. But with just that information, you can find my address. Oh no. Whatever shall I do? You can't sign me up with new FCC licenses and you can't change my existing licenses. New ones require a test and changes to old ones require my login info. Worst case, I get a pissed-off Domino's driver at my house. And he's not pissed at me.

      Contrast that with the FAA's database. Anyone planning nefarious deeds with a drone can register the drone with my name and address at any time. They can apply any number of layers of "laundering" techniques to obfuscate their identity, and can ultimately pin their identity on any of a huge chain of "suckers" whose address data they used in bad faith. What allows this? The FAA's incompetence and utter disregard for reality. Bad people are going to do bad things. To ignore this is criminally delusional. The next thing you know, the FAA will ban gravity because it makes planes fall out of the sky.

  2. Re:Glad for the Drone Regs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So when I write somebody else's number on my drone and then go crash it into the White House, who gets in trouble?

  3. Not really news by russotto · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We evil drone operators have known about Section 336 for a long time. It's not actually the only thing wrong with the current rules, but its a major one. The FAA asserts that "model aircraft" are included in the category of "aircraft" covered by pre-2012 regulations, and therefore they can regulate according to them and 336 doesn't apply. This is dubious already. But it's even more dubious when you find that

    1) All "aircraft" must be registered, by statute and by regulation, already.
    2) All "aircraft" require a airman's certificate to operate or to repair, again by statute and regulation.
    3) All "aircraft" except helicopters, by regulation, are required to stay above 500 feet except on takeoff and landing.

    Which means that model aircraft have been flown completely illegally for the entire time the FAA has been in existence. This interpretation seems absurd, hence the FAAs claim about "model aircraft" being covered under "aircraft" must be wrong. Either that or it's time to paint a little Jolly Roger on all the models.

  4. Re:Can somebody explain to me by budgenator · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So this guy I knew, rolled up to Canadian Customs on the way to a Civil War Re-enactment in New York, the Customs agent asked him if he was bringing any firearms into Canada. He Answered,"well I have a canon, with canon balls, black powder and fuse on the trailer I'm towing (which was in plain sight), the Agent ask "but no pistols, shotguns or rifles?" "No just the canon", "Okay Sir, Welcome to Canada"

    Most violent crime committed with a weapon in the US is committed with a baseball bat.

    --
    Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds