We’re making a lot of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that are being flown by enthusiastic amateurs – some of whom look at their small drones with the respect due to any object that flies. Others, untrained, unaware, or uncaring, might cause the authorities to step in and restrict flight for even responsible users. Unfortunately that seems to be the way it works in many realms.
The FAA won’t require registration for extremely small UAS’s like this
To prevent that, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is taking cues from several incidences of unpleasantness and requiring everyone who has a “drone” that weighs over 0.55 pounds and under 55 pounds to register the machine and pay a nominal $5.00 fee. They spell out how severe that might be in a pithy paragraph.
“Failure to register an aircraft can result in civil penalties up to $27,500. Criminal penalties for failure to register can include fines of up to $250,000 under 18 U.S.C. 3571 and/or imprisonment up to three years.”
Fliers must register any time after December 21 (just in time for Christmas) and by February 19, 2016 – giving enough time to get over their new holiday gift or purchase. There will be civil and criminal penalties for not registering your UAS with the USA.
Owners must be 13 years of age or older. Owners less than 13 must have an older friend or relative register the vehicle. Owners must be a U. S. citizen or legal permanent resident.
Owners must register their UAS online if it meets the following guidelines:
- Weighs more than 0.55 lbs. (250 g) and less than 55 lbs. (25 kg). Unmanned Aircraft weighing more than 55 lbs. cannot use this registration process and must register using the Aircraft Registry process.
FAA has similar, easy-to-follow charts to help new UAS owners register theirs
The FAA provides a handy guide to UAS’s required to be registered and those that do not. One can wish the IRS would provide a similar illustrated guide. See examples of UAS that do and do not require registration (PDF).
If owners have a UAS over 55 pounds, used for commercial purposes, or other than hobby and recreation jollies, they cannot use the easy on-line form, but must show their pen and paper skills with a paper form. The FAA requires this same form if owners intend to use their UAS outside the country. Undoubtedly authorities at any foreign destination will have additional forms and additional rules.
Owners will need an email address, a credit or debit card and physical and mailing address to register their new toy. It costs a mere $5 for a three-year registration and comes with a number the owner must mark on all the unmanned units in their possession. As an incentive to register, applications received by the FAA before midnight, Eastern Standard Time, January 20, 2016 get a refund on the application fee.
We can all assume that getting caught flying a quadrotor or other unregistered device after that date prompts the dreaded fees and penalties so beloved by bureaucrats. And to help authorities find wayward pilots, or return their lost drones to owners, owners must label their machine(s) (as many as they own) with the FAA-supplied identification number. The five dollar registration fee covers all drones.
Larger machines may be used soon for package delivery, including fast food. A pizza in a jet intake might not be the best reason to have to file an incident or accident report, though.
To see why the Feds might be taking this more seriously than people who might disregard these rules, watch as a champion skier survives a near miss by a plummeting camera drone. Your editor knows just enough French to understand the “encroyable!” (incredible!) uttered repeatedly by the sportscaster.
This longer video shows a drone in another country exceeding the 400-foot altitude limit enforced here. Luckily, the thing lands in an uninhabited part of a larger development. It also proves how incredibly sturdy GoPro cameras are, although this pilot would probably not have been a GoPro Hero.