The Federal Aviation Administration's "drone task force" has landed.
We knew it was coming. The FAA has said that it will come out with recommendations regarding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (aka drones) flying in American airspace.
Understandably enough, unregulated drone use in American skies does pose security threats especially around airports and even the White House. That being said, the task force set up by the FAA has only come up with recommendations [pdf] but are not yet official policy.
Nonetheless, however, the recommendations from the task force made up of 25 people from private companies and interest groups may carry a lot of weight when the government's regulators do seal the deal on drone use in America. It's their recommendations along with about 4,500 public comments that will determine the final rules.
In the 14-page report, the FAA's task force basically suggests that all drones weighing more than 0.55 pounds must be registered with the FAA either through a web form or an app. Upon registration, drone operators would be assigned a registration number. The unique registration number assigned to that specific drone for that specific operator would then have to be attached to the drone itself. There's also an age limit. Those 13 years old and below do not have to register.
The weight standard for registering a drone has hobbyists up in arms. They say the weight requirement pretty much includes all drone that are little more than plain toys especially since they would be incapable of flying at heights that would interfere with neither commercial airplanes nor any other safety hazard.
But the task force has actually computed mathematical explanations that indeed justify the weight requirement. Where "solving for mass and velocity, this equates to an object weighing 250 grams traveling at a terminal velocity of 25 meters/second or approximately 57 miles per hour," stated the task force in its report.
Other fine print included in the report also recommends that a basic education course be part of the registration process, requiring only one operator per drone, restricting flying at night, no flying beyond line of sight, and no flying over densely populated areas.
