AI
Thursday, December 31, 2015 12:08:55 AM
Drone registry infuriates hobbyists, businesses
Federal officials have a message for the estimated 1 million Americans who received drones this holiday season: Register your aircraft or face stiff penalties.
Days before Christmas, the Federal Aviation Administration launched a registry where drone owners -- from hobbyists to commercial operators -- must declare their small unmanned aircraft before Feb. 19.
The database’s launch follows a troubling rise in the number of close calls between small drones and other aircraft. Over the last year, reported pilot sightings of unmanned aircraft have more than tripled, federal authorities say. On several occasions, small drones have impeded wildfire efforts.
FAA officials say the new registry is intended to hold the bad apples accountable. But many drone enthusiasts across the country, including some in Orange County, say regulators have gone too far. The new rules, critics add, will be difficult for an understaffed agency like the FAA to enforce.
“It’s a futile attempt for them to get some sort of grasp” of the fast-spreading drone trend, said Mike Rivard, co-organizer and president of the Los Angeles and OC Drone User Group, which boasts 1,300-members.
Rivard, who owns a drone-based business, likens the FAA’s new requirements to the Federal Communications Commission’s push in the 1970s to get all CB radios registered. “Nobody did it,” he said.
The Academy of Model Aeronautics, a nationwide leading drone hobbyist group, has told its 185,000 members -- of which 22,000 are in California -- to forgo registration until further notice.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/drone-697860-drones-small.html
Federal officials have a message for the estimated 1 million Americans who received drones this holiday season: Register your aircraft or face stiff penalties.
Days before Christmas, the Federal Aviation Administration launched a registry where drone owners -- from hobbyists to commercial operators -- must declare their small unmanned aircraft before Feb. 19.
The database’s launch follows a troubling rise in the number of close calls between small drones and other aircraft. Over the last year, reported pilot sightings of unmanned aircraft have more than tripled, federal authorities say. On several occasions, small drones have impeded wildfire efforts.
FAA officials say the new registry is intended to hold the bad apples accountable. But many drone enthusiasts across the country, including some in Orange County, say regulators have gone too far. The new rules, critics add, will be difficult for an understaffed agency like the FAA to enforce.
“It’s a futile attempt for them to get some sort of grasp” of the fast-spreading drone trend, said Mike Rivard, co-organizer and president of the Los Angeles and OC Drone User Group, which boasts 1,300-members.
Rivard, who owns a drone-based business, likens the FAA’s new requirements to the Federal Communications Commission’s push in the 1970s to get all CB radios registered. “Nobody did it,” he said.
The Academy of Model Aeronautics, a nationwide leading drone hobbyist group, has told its 185,000 members -- of which 22,000 are in California -- to forgo registration until further notice.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/drone-697860-drones-small.html
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