FAA's drone regulations: Answers to common questions


The FAA is in the process of developing regulations and safety guidelines for drones and other UAVs, and TechRepublic is tracking its progress. Here's what you need to know.

By Hope Reese TechRepublic

With an estimated 400,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) expected to be purchased during the 2015 holiday season, the Federal Aviation Administration has been scrambling to come up with regulations to ensure the safety in the airspace. Commercial drones are currently subject to regulations, but on October 19, the FAA announced that they will also be coming up with guidelines for the registration of non-commercial drones.

That means that many of the drones consumers are buying will likely need to be registered with the FAA soon.

On November 20, a task force delivered a report to the FAA with recommendations for registering drones. In a statement about the task force recommendations, FAA administrator Michael Huerta thanked the team for "excellent and expeditious work" and announced that they will "work quickly and flexibly to move toward the next steps for registration."

This naturally brings up lots of questions. Here are some of the answers about drone registration, based on what we know so far.

Who is on this task force?

The FAA created a 25-member task force, by invite-only, which includes companies like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, 3D Robotics, and others. The group met between November 3-5 to come up with a list of recommendations for a free, streamlined registration process. According to the FAA website, topics discussed included: "how an operator might prove a UAS [the FAA's term for a UAV] is registered, how the aircraft would be marked, and how to use the registration process to encourage or require UAS operators to become educated on basic safety rules. The group also continues to gather data and analyze which types of UAS would need to be registered and which would not." The task force worked with the FAA, DOT, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Interior, Office of Management and Budget, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of State to develop their guidelines.

What kind of drones are included?

The new regulations apply to small (under 55 pound), independently-owned, recreational drones. The registration is intended to prevent rogue drones from causing accidents in a crowded airspace and to promote education about how to fly drones safely.

What happens next?

The FAA will now consider the recommendations, along with public comments. According to their website, they will announce the "Interim Final Rule" on the registration process in December, and it will be implemented quickly. The last step will be to receive public comments before finalizing the registration process.

 

I really dislike the frequently mis-used term "drone" which by definition implies an "autonymous aircraft". What were really talking about is Unmanned Aircraft and more spcifically R/C Model Quad and Hex Copters operated via remote control and visual line of sight or first person view. Nevertheless, the proposed recommendations for registration may help improve accountability and hopefully improve safety.

In my opinion, it will do little to prevent nefarious operations. BATF Form 4473 has proven to be ineffective, since the criminals ignore the requirements. I predict this may have a similar result. Perhaps we should require registration of laser pointers also?

 

Great. Just announced that all "drones" need to be registered, including model airplanes used strictly for recreation at R/C AMA-sanctioned flying fields. Way to go, feds. Regulate something that has had an impeccable safety record for the last 80 years.

The rogue operator who is flying these things irresponsibly (near large crowds, airports, etc...) will be completely unaffected by this, while the "grandpa-grandson" who are spending time together at the local flying field with an R/C Piper Cub will be forced to jump through red tape, just to pursue an innocent hobby. Sickening...

 

Or wait for the first mid-air that takes out a helicopter or other aircraft?

 

Registration fee of $5 is waived for the first 30 days.. Starts December 21, 2015:

Http://www.faa.gov/uas/registration

 

You think a $5 registration is going to stop the outlaw drone operators from setting up just outside KDFW to get videos of airliners taking off and landing? Absolutely not. All this does is put more burden on the same modelers who have SAFELY and RESPONSIBLY shared the skies with full-scale aircraft for the last 80+ years.

 

Course not, just like a drink driving law doesn't stop drunk driving, but this lays the groundrules to establish minimum safety standards for those drones and operators. That way for properly registered and educated drone pilots, the risk is transferred to them in the case of something going bad (that they caused, like a mid air).

 

Since pilots have already had to take evasive action, I wouldn't really say that is true...

 

Classic RC airplanes aren't a threat. There was no reason to include them in this. It takes skill to operate those and they're simple not the same thing as a multi-blade helicopter with a go-pro attached. It would have been easy to put a VTOL qualifier into this regulation.

 

I see your point, but I fail to see how this addresses it. Drone operators who have caused those incidents you speak of are not likely to register, or adhere to any minimum safety standards. All this does is force people who already follow to rules to follow one more rule.

I sure don't have an answer to the drone problem, but this sure isn't it. Traditional model aircraft users should have been separated from the "drone" users years ago, but now they are all lumped in, and now must deal with misplaced knee-jerk reactions.