By technical editor Matt Allard:
The US government plans to force all domestic drone owners to register their gear with the Department of Transportation, according to a report from NBC.
The DoT is yet to make the announcement formally, but NBC News said it expected the plan to be launched imminently with the registration program starting around the Christmas holiday period. A FAA spokesman said last month that some officials expect more than 1 million drones to be sold around Christmas this year.
One of the biggest challenges will be ensuring that millions of existing devices are registered – it will be interesting to see what fines and punishment are set for those who fail to comply with the new regulations.
Companies like DJI have voluntarily introduced geofencing, preventing the multi-rotor from flying in restricted airspace. DJI in particular has also tried hard to encourage responsible use. But the drone industry’s attempts to police itself have not been enough and US legislators are increasingly seeking to police users.
Drones have already been banned in many places and California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed legislation earlier this month prohibiting paparazzi from using drones to surveil private property after celebrities including Kanye West and Miley Cyrus complained. It closes a loophole in paparazzi legislation passed last year by prohibiting the flying of drones in the “airspace above the land of another” in order to “peer into windows, capture goings on and otherwise spy on the private lives of public persons.”
The new legislation is thought to be aimed at preserving safety, not just privacy. According to NBC, 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.
Federal Aviation Administration claims that statistics show pilots spotted drones while flying more than 650 times in the year to August, up from 238 sightings in nearly all of 2014. In July, there was a dangerously close encounter between a drone and a passenger jet with 159 people aboard which was coming in to land at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The drone was flying just 100 feet away from the jet, far short of the normal safe separation distance between aircraft of at least 1,000 feet.
We have also reported here on Newsshooter an incident where private drones were also blamed for hampering aerial firefighting efforts over a California wild fire.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $1.9 million US fine against the Chicago drone company SkyPan, which it alleges flew dozens of unauthorized flights over New York and Chicago from 2012 onwards.
If you’re going to fly a drone, please do it responsibly and safely. The more incidents occur, the harder it will be for filmmakers to use the technology for legitimate reasons.
