The link has further links for more detail, but basically if your model RC aircraft weighs more than 0.55 pounds (or “two sticks of butter” as one alternate measure given) you need to register on the FAA website for you unique identification number.
If your drone is more than 55 pounds then there is a different registration method.
Yes, this applies to anything you purchased before the rule came down that meets the weight requirements.
I now have to go weigh over a dozen RC aircraft… I’ll be back in a bit…
I was just reading this today and the first thing I noticed was the registration fees and that it will be a federal crime if person(s) do not register with the FAA.
Nothing like a self serving government that creates money and law out of thin air. Actually law and currency go hand in hand now…de-valued
$5 to register for three years, and you only have to register once and you can apply your number to any number of drones.
Contrast that with the thousands it took me to get a pilot’s license and the thousands per year I spent on retaining my privileges.
Basically, the $5 is to support the registration infrastructure. The FAA is, in fact, required to charge a registration fee - you can thank “small government” conservatives for that, requiring a lot of agencies to be “self-supporting” instead of taking such minor costs out of the income taxes we already pay.
So exactly what is considered a drone and has to be registered?
would a model aircraft purchased 25 years ago be included? I got one in a closet somewhere with fuel. how about the ones on strings? they fly in a big circle.
According to the press release, this is applies to “owners of small unmanned aircraft (UAS) weighing more than 0.55 pounds (250 grams) and less than 55 pounds (approx. 25 kilograms) including payloads such as on-board cameras.” This is aimed at “unmanned aircraft”, not just drones.
So it’s not just drones.
Here’s an Ars Tech article about the change -
If you register within the first month, the fees will by waived. Registration deadline is February 19th, 2016.
Registrants will need to print a certificate of registration, which will need to be updated if the aircraft is sold or destroyed. You will also need to mark your aircraft.
Nobody is making mad bank off $5 a pop registrations. The point of the money is two-fold:
It helps cover the cost of maintaining the database & processing the registrations.
It helps create awareness in the minds of the public. It’s a psychological thing. People remember things better and take memberships a little more seriously when they have a little skin in the game. (Even when it’s very very little).
FWIW, my dog license is $25 a year. I need to renew it this week.
About fucking time. Those things ought to be banned, or at least controlled to the point that nobody can fly one without some serious licensing and liability insurance.
If you have to ask this, I doubt you will understand the answer.
As an aside, my old man was on the “leading edge”, so to speak, of the Radio Controlled Aircraft hobby movement in the 50’s (the military was doing it back in the 40’s at least) and I grew up amid all that stuff. (I’ve got the Falcon 56 I built in the garage to this day)
By the 80’s, he was flying “jets” (they were a crude pulse-jet, I think, kinda like a V-1), ducted-fan scale Migs and high performance pattern planes that, in the wrong hands, could easily kill scores of people.
Little, 4 foot wing-span, fiberglass planes, maybe 20 pounds, going about 120 miles an hour. Now, think of that projectile hitting a crowd by accident, or on purpose.
My old man wouldn’t care for all this drone shit I think. Or maybe he would. Hard to say. I do know he spent a bunch of money and time to get a special ham license to operate on frequencies normally off-limits to the riff-raff.
I do not own a drone and I think they can be invasive to some when it comes to privacy but that does not give the government the right to force registration and regulations.
Makes me sad when people cheer government regulations
Too bad. Watching wildfires go unchecked because assholes flying drones shut down the airspace to air drops matters a shitload more to me than some jerkwads “right” to play with his new toy.
Solution for what? Is there a problem with these things that need regulation?
Just because there are a few douche bags out there operating drones irresponsibly does not mean we need government to step in and “keep us safe”.