U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

The federal government will announce a new plan requiring anyone buying a drone to register the device with the U.S. Department of Transportation, NBC news has learned.

The government has been concerned about the rise in close calls between unmanned drones and aircraft flying into and out of some of the nation's biggest airports. The plan is expected to be announced Monday.

U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

This rule making is not law in that congress did not pass this but it could hugely impact the drone industry. This could be a bit of an overreach in my view. I think the only restrictions should be height of operation to protect aircraft. Drones should not operate in aircraft control corridors. They should only require registration if operating within controlled airspace in my opinion. Being a hobby user of drones I can say to have to register everyone of these devices I might build, buy, or operate would be costly most likely and cumbersome.

a reply to: machineintelligence

We have had toy helicopters and planes for decades without the need of a registry, why the need to pick on drones?

Freedom!
The lawyers found out a long time ago you can win any argument by simply changing the meaning of a word.

"drone" is now a legal term that can be made to cover existing things.

A new word for the same thing is a great excuse to write new laws limiting your access to said thing.



Remember when "terrorist" didn't include anyone who doesn't parrot the MSM MOTD?

originally posted by: Vector99
a reply to: machineintelligence

We have had toy helicopters and planes for decades without the need of a registry, why the need to pick on drones?

Beat me to it mate.

I do agree though there ought to be restrictions of flying remote aircraft by hobbyists near to air corridors and sensitive facilities though...i mean, that's just common sense isn't it.

originally posted by: MysterX

originally posted by: Vector99
a reply to: machineintelligence

We have had toy helicopters and planes for decades without the need of a registry, why the need to pick on drones?

Beat me to it mate.

I do agree though there ought to be restrictions of flying remote aircraft by hobbyists near to air corridors and sensitive facilities though...i mean, that's just common sense isn't it.

It always has been for aviation entertainment enthusiasts such as myself.

Next they will ban the rockets we used to fire in 8th grade science class experiments?

a reply to: machineintelligence

After registering, I wonder if the US will try to make it required to obtain a license to fly a "drone"

a reply to: gmoneystunt

that's usually the next step

a reply to: machineintelligence
I have been into building and flying R/C planes for decades. I mostly fly from my own backyard as I live in a rural area and there is 70 acres of hay field behind my house.

Are my homemade R/C planes now considered 'drones' that I will have to register???

I will not take the time, OR spend the $$$$ to comply with this regardless, which will probably put me on ANOTHER red list.

originally posted by: Vector99

originally posted by: MysterX

originally posted by: Vector99
a reply to: machineintelligence

We have had toy helicopters and planes for decades without the need of a registry, why the need to pick on drones?

Beat me to it mate.

I do agree though there ought to be restrictions of flying remote aircraft by hobbyists near to air corridors and sensitive facilities though...i mean, that's just common sense isn't it.

It always has been for aviation entertainment enthusiasts such as myself.

Next they will ban the rockets we used to fire in 8th grade science class experiments?

As I understood it there have always been laws for this. Cant they just enforce the laws already on the books? Just another issue of more control for the government, AND another way to TAX us more. There WILL be a registration fee, you can count on that.

Funny you mention model rockets, I have a bunch left from when my son was growing up. I still have a bunch of 'C' engines laying around too.
Maybe it is time to launch some rockets again too!

originally posted by: stosh64

originally posted by: Vector99

originally posted by: MysterX

originally posted by: Vector99
a reply to: machineintelligence

We have had toy helicopters and planes for decades without the need of a registry, why the need to pick on drones?

Beat me to it mate.

I do agree though there ought to be restrictions of flying remote aircraft by hobbyists near to air corridors and sensitive facilities though...i mean, that's just common sense isn't it.

It always has been for aviation entertainment enthusiasts such as myself.

Next they will ban the rockets we used to fire in 8th grade science class experiments?

As I understood it there have always been laws for this. Cant they just enforce the laws already on the books? Just another issue of more control for the government, AND another way to TAX us more. There WILL be a registration fee, you can count on that.

Funny you mention model rockets, I have a bunch left from when my son was growing up. I still have a bunch of 'C' engines laying around too.
Maybe it is time to launch some rockets again too!

'C' Engines!!! MAN that takes me back. Of course there are regulations in place, but none required the school getting a permit for a class to launch a model rocket on Friday, just so long as the teacher knew it wasn't flying into a flight path.

Do you seriously need a permit for common sense these days?

a reply to: Vector99
Can you imagine a kid bringing in one of these for a science project?



He would probably have homeland security at the school.....

Common sense isn't so common these days.

The federal authorities have always been like that. You need a HAM license to have your own long wave radio transmitter. To have your own static IP address, you needed your name, address and email registered with the ISP. To fly your own airplane, you need to have a pilot's license and the aircraft has to be declared airworthy.

If the technology enabled you to do anything that could inconvenience others, it had to be licensed.

The UK actually required televisions to be licensed because at the time they were originally built, the tuning crystals actually emitted radio waves at harmonic related to the reception frequency, and that could interfere with the reception of other television sets (positive feedback) .

originally posted by: Vector99
a reply to: machineintelligence

We have had toy helicopters and planes for decades without the need of a registry, why the need to pick on drones?

Because Drones, or the vast majority of them today can carry video equipment. I myself fly FPV (First Person View). That means I am virtually in the cockpit. I can see real time, and can also video tape what I see. And in my opinion, FPV is safer than LOS, line of sight.

I suspect it isn't really about safety, its about control. Controlling what we can record. Its true, an airplane or helicopter can be damaged by impacting a drone but the chances of causing enough damage to cause death, is very very slim. Drones are not high speed aircraft made of metal, they are lightweight and made of plastic that disintegrate rather easily. I know, I hit a tree once lol lol.

And now that drones, and airplanes can be flown via FPV, they, we, are going to places never visited by the RC hobby in the past, and that makes a certain type of person, nervous. And sometimes, I cant blame them. What is needed is education, not regulation.

a reply to: stosh64

Now stosh64, common sense has never been common. Galileo would have had a much easier time of it if it had ever been common. Good sense is not at all common, which is why a very small number of people wish to legislate away people's freedoms in the developed nations at this time in history, and have fooled the populations of those nations into accepting these erosions.

From PRISM to registration of drones, things are going bad, if freedom is a thing one enjoys and respects. If all one is after is ensuring the continuation of mortal life, without any thought for the quality of that life however, then things are looking up.

This makes sense to me. I'm usually against a lot of new regulations and I know people have been flying hobby craft for decades but this is an industry that's going to get a lot bigger than that and the technology is moving very fast.

I can only see registration as the first step towards restriction, and eventual revocation- no matter the topic.

Anything anyone is doing with a drone that could possibly be prevented via extra hoops to jump through is already breaking one of many other of our millions of laws and regulations. The only purpose is to collect more tax money- and keep track of who is and is not flying a "drone"

you DONT need one for a kyte!
and you can put a camra on a kyte.
its just to stop you from filming things they dont wont you to.

How much is the permit going to cost.

I started working as a blaster back in the 1970s and my explosive permit cost about $25.
by 2005 the cost had gone to over $8000.

a reply to: ANNED

You bring up a good point. The slippery slope is the cost of the new license but the giving up of liberty cost even more in my opinion in the end. Today the FAA might say 1,000 feet and a 2 mile range is the cut off ceiling and range required to register, tomorrow it might be 500 feet and a 1 mile range. In the beginning it might cost $200-$1000 depending on size and range, tomorrow it might change. This ambiguity is what cost us most of all as our liberties are converted first into rights and then into privileges.

a reply to: Vector99

Technology and sheer #s, drones can go miles now via UHF or is it VHF, fly by camera or GPS, they can fly themselves. All this is available to any hobbyist.
I was in the radio control hobby for 20 yrs..fun stuff and who likes rules but I do understand they are going to have to set something up.