The US Federal Aviation Administration have unveiled their new mandatory registration procedure for drone owners.
From December 21 owners of all Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) weighing more than 250g and less than 25kg will have to register and pay a $5 fee, which is going to be waived for the first 30 days to encourage people to sign up. The new legislation explicitly treats drones as ‘aircraft’ rather than ‘models’ and the FAA’s press release refers to drone pilots as ‘aviators.’
If you’re a hobbyist and have been flying already there’s a grace period – you’ve got until February 19, 2016 to get your paperwork in order. But if you’re flying a drone, er, aircraft purchased after December 21 you must complete the registration process before taking to the skies.
In return for registering you’ll be supplied with a unique identification number that you’ll have to display on all your aircraft – it will be valid for three years.
However – and here’s the sting for many of our readers – the process currently doesn’t allow for any commercial registrations, so using them for newsgathering is still a big no-no. The FAA say they intend to expand the parameters of the web registration process to allow uses other than hobbyist flying in ‘early 2016.’
There’s been a lot of frustration at how long it’s taken for the FAA to get this far, and it’s certainly progress from the previous system of cease-and-desist letters and formal evaluations. It’s the next step they really need to get right though, and although integrating large numbers of UAS into already crowded skies couldn’t be described as a simple task, it’s one that will be key to either giving a still-nascent industry a much needed boost, or not even letting it get off the ground.
