Drone Operators Need to Register Aircraft

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced today that they are creating a new task force to figure out the rules and solve the questions and problems ahead that will come from requiring unmanned aircraft to be registered. Now keep in mind, we here at Big Squid RC are all about safety and rules (for the most part) but most of us can’t imagine how this going to do anything but deter hobbyists and future hobbyists while grabbing money out of their pockets. Sinking so much time and government effort into this hurts our heads. The people flying in and around airports, those guys chasing wild fires, the morons at 5000+ feet over major cities, I’m guessing they aren’t going to register their UAV’s.

While watching the video today (which I will try to link below, for some reason it’s been removed from many parts of the internet) the Q&A afterwords was eye opening. There was probably only 10-15 reporters in the room, and every one of them asked intelligent questions! Blew our mind. Sadly the FAA and Mr. Foxx didn’t really have any good answers, and had to respond back with ‘wait and see’. Questions like ‘how big of an aircraft will need to register’ (Our guess is they aren’t going to be big. Probably 180 and up ) Someone else asked how they will track down the owner of a flying drone via the registration, the answer was basically, unless it crashes, or lands where we can grab the drone, then we can’t.
Basically registering could be a huge waste of time and resources because the people that do, are usually not the people breaking the law. Coming from Chicago, ask us how our ‘Toughest Gun Laws in the Country’ are effecting the 70+ weekly shootings. We can imagine tons of police officers now tracking down kids and hobbyists to see if they can give them a fine for not having a registered vehicle while flying around a park because there aren’t any other MORE important crimes they could be fighting.

Again, don’t get this mini rant wrong (I should of let Cubby do this one) we 100% believe there are problems out there, and there are a lot of uneducated people flying ‘drones’, and we need to get the word out on how to be safe when they fly, and where they can fly at (Hey, ANY TIME with that no-fly zone app you have been promising for months), but forcing what they claim is currently one million drone owners in the US today, with a predicted one million more after this Christmas season isn’t going to go smooth.

We now need to wait till around November 20th, when they claim they will have more rules worked out with sizes, weights, and who needs to register. They did make it sound like it’s going to be anyone and everyone, and not just quadcopters. We will have to wait and see.

You can read the official speech right here. It’s crazy to see the FRONT PAGE of FAA.gov AND Transportation.gov both have front/top stories about drones.

Finally found the video. It’s unlisted on the US Department of Transportation Site. The first 10 minutes are dead space.. so skip ahead. Q&A starts around the 22 minute mark.

Finally, trying to do our part to help, if you are flying a quad or drone, or UAV, whatever you want to call it, make sure you visit the Know Before You Fly website for safety rules and tips.