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U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

nbcnews.com

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Re: U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

#41

Post by saulrh »

rcthompson wrote: post #37
saulrh wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, certainly. I just also want them registered and generally recognised as being "drones". I get really annoyed at people who scream about "future killer drones changing warfare" and "how can they possibly be safe" while they're sitting on an airliner that's been under computer guidance since it finished taxiing and when the US military has been using guided missiles since the 50s.

An aircraft flying under autopilot with a human pilot present who is monitoring the situation and can respond to ATC instructions and take manual control if necessary is not remotely similar to a UAV from a practical perspective, despite the superficial similarity of both being flown by a computer.

I haven't seen a lot of "drones" that weren't being teleoperated at the level of aerodynamic controls. The ones that aren't ([1] is a good example) fly low enough that they wouldn't be visible to ATC in the first place [2]. And the humans may not be quite as in-control as you think; I can't find it, but there was a link off Reddit last week that said that pilots in commercial airliners are so infrequently in control of the airplane that they're starting to forget how to fly their planes.

[1]: https://www.airdog.com/ [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_horizon

Re: U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

#42

Post by saulrh »

discardorama wrote: post #28
mindcrime wrote: post #23

This has to be one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard in my life. Not because it doesn't possibly have some noble intent behind it, but - if for no other reason - because it's going to be bloody impossible to enforce. When any hobbyist can easily build a drone/UAV without much in the way of special skills or equipment, how in the hell do they ever expect they'll get everybody to register them?

I'm guessing that they're not worried about the hobbyists, who are generally more responsible; but the random people getting assembled drones as Xmas gifts.

Maybe there'll be a DIY exception like firearms have?

Re: U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

#43

Post by tracker1 »

ctdonath wrote: post #39
objclxt wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you apply the same logic to cars? Because I think all of your points apply equally to cars, but nobody seems to object to the idea of both registering them and requiring a license to drive.

Yes. Make driver education mandatory in public school. A vehicle tag should simply identify the vehicle out of a sea of mixed clones (a la: which blue Mustang?). I actually think the U.S. Founding Fathers would have enumerated a "right to vehicular travel" if they had conceived of license-as-a-privilege restriction on horseless carriages.

not just horseless...

Re: U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

#46

Post by [deleted] »

sopooneo wrote: post #10
barefoot wrote: post #5

In case anyone is reading from NBC, would you mind using the term "UAV" or "RPA" over "drone"? When we throw around the word "drone" here on reddit and hacker news I feel like it's okay because many of us know the key differences between what we're flying and the hellfire raining completely terrifying semi-automated flying death machines deployed in war-zones around the world. However, many people who read your artic…

I'm with you, but at some point the battle is lost, and you're throwing good effort after bad.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

#47

Post by striking »

objclxt wrote: post #22
striking wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then again, what if people start harvesting people's identities from the drones through the identifier? I think it's a neat idea, but it straddles the 4th Amendment line and could potentially expose your identity to people who don't like drones.

...really? Because both aircraft and road vehicles today have identifiers painted or printed on them. What about driving around with a license plate or flying with a tail number? What's the difference?

It would make sense to expose an identifier, rather than the person's identity. I may have misunderstood the comment.

Re: U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

#48

Post by sopooneo »

Malstrond wrote: post #8
MichaelApproved wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't ban parts but couldn't you enforce a a rule that restricts airspace above a certain height to only registered devices?

This is already true. Model aircraft have to be flown within visual line of sight (FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Section 336), which restricts the height. Commercial use is already FAA territory and you have to be registered (Section 333 Exemption). /Edit: Section 336, not 366.

I'm delving deep here, but it seems that section primarily states what the FAA will not regulate or "not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding". To my reading, it does not state that operation outside those guidelines necessarily does put a craft under the FAA jurisdiction. I admit I could be reading it completely wrong.

But then if you look at this page[1] on the FAAs web site, it says only that operators are "strongly encouraged" to follow certain restrictions like line-of-sight operation. It doesn't say they have to.

Mind you, I follow all those rules myself when flying rc planes, and prefer that other in the hobby also do. I think they're good rules. I'm just playing with interpretation.

[1] https://www.faa.gov/uas/model_aircraft/

Re: U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

#49

Post by Malstrond »

sopooneo wrote: post #48
Malstrond wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is already true. Model aircraft have to be flown within visual line of sight (FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Section 336), which restricts the height. Commercial use is already FAA territory and you have to be registered (Section 333 Exemption). /Edit: Section 336, not 366.

I'm delving deep here, but it seems that section primarily states what the FAA will not regulate or "not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding". To my reading, it does not state that operation outside those guidelines necessarily does put a craft under the FAA jurisdiction. I admit I could be reading it completely wrong. But then if you look at this page[1] on the FAAs web site, it says only that operators are…

The section 336 says that the FAA will not "not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding" if certain criteria are matched. For example that the aicraft is a model aircraft. and c) (2) says that a model aicraft is "flown within visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft".

So if you exceed visual line of sight it becomes a normal aircraft, just like every other plane. And they all have to be registered.

Re: U.S. Will Require Drones to Be Registered

#50

Post by pinaceae »

mindcrime wrote: post #23

This has to be one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard in my life. Not because it doesn't possibly have some noble intent behind it, but - if for no other reason - because it's going to be bloody impossible to enforce. When any hobbyist can easily build a drone/UAV without much in the way of special skills or equipment, how in the hell do they ever expect they'll get everybody to register them?

replace drone with car. still stupid?
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