US: Required FAA Registration

Discussions about quadcopters/multi-rotors
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chad
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US: Required FAA Registration

Post by chad »

Well, there are official dates now. If you live in the US and have a drone (quadcopter or whatever else), you must register it with the FAA by February 16th, 2016 or risk fines (up to $27,500 USD for a civil penalty). Fortunately, the Crazyflie is exempt because the law covers unmanned aircraft that are 250 grams or heavier (unless your Crazyflie is the controller for a larger quad). It will cost $5 USD for a three year registration but the fee is waived if you register between Dec 21st, 2015 and Jan 20th, 2016. All drones purchased prior to Dec 15th, 2015 must be registered and all new drone purchases have to be registered prior to their first flight outside.

Personally, I don't like this. I don't have a large drone but if I did I certainly wouldn't be one of the people who interfere with commercial airspace, cause problems for aerial firefighters, or invade people's privacy and I think that's really who this law is aimed at. Of course, like everything bureaucratic, it uses a blanket approach to catch the few "bad guys" and as a result everyone is impacted (even though most people will never violate drone "ethics"). Oh well. Here's some links:

FAA Announcement
FAA Drone Statute
Hackaday Article
Popular Science article
Crazyflier - my CF journal...
4x Crazyflie Nano (1.0) 10-DOF + NeoPixel Ring mod.
3x Crazyflie 2.0 + Qi Charger and LED Decks.
Raspberry Pi Ground Control.
Mac OS X Dev Environment.
Walkera Devo7e, ESky ET6I, PS3 and iOS Controllers.
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