theverge.com/2015/10/16/9558 … e-registry
Was curious if anyone else had thoughts or concerns here. It sounds a lot less harsh of a path than requiring geofencing and altitude limits on flight controllers, but I’d prefer if they went in the direction of just utilizing fines to punish people caught flying drones improperly. (Near aircraft, over forest fires or emergency situations, landing on the White House lawn, etc.)
I’m also wondering how effective they expect this to be. Quadcopters can be built with ‘three sticks and four motors’, of course, and if the issue is being able to find the pilot, you need something onboard the quadcopter to identify it. (And be broadcasting, if you’re hoping to actually track it.) Also, AFAIK, the local police doesn’t enforce FAA regulations, so it’s unlikely the majority of people will ever see any sort of enforcement, even if they violate it.
Exaclty, not sure how that would help.
Since most people build their own “drone” and of course most of them are in fact “R/C” multirotor with not autonomous features. Most of the R/C planes and helicopters could be called “drone” than…
Putting together something that will prove to be effective might be a headache for the government.
Thanks for sharing
It seems the claim that forcing registration will encourage people to be more aware of the laws. At the requirements being looked at though, they’ll probably only be able to identify the owner if the drone crashes (or is taken down by one of the “non-lethal” anti-drone weapons a weapons manufacturer recently demo’d). It doesn’t sound like any sort of transponder is being discussed. They want to get this going at the manufacturer/retailer level, so I imagine RobotShop will be hearing from the Feds about it at some point.
But you have to wonder… if I buy a bunch of motors, a flight controller, etc… How does anyone know whether or not I have a drone, how many drones I might have or have built, etc.? Still many questions to answer. The FAA says they’re supposed to have a completed proposal on what drones will qualify, and what process will be required by November 20th.
Well, the official word is out, all drone pilots in the US must register, starting December 21st, 2015. Existing pilots have until February to register, new pilots must register before their first flight.
The registration cost is $5 for a three-year registration, and it’ll be waived for the first month. You do not have to register each drone, you register you, as the pilot, and are given a unique ID to put on all of your drones. This includes fixed wing model aircraft and such as well.
