It's Starting, FAA Regulation On Model Aircraft

Admiral

Well-Known Member
Re: It's starting

I feel for you guys, from no regulation to a system that is too complex to work.

Every model aircraft in the USA needs an individual registration, if they must do it why not register the Pilots and all their models carry the same registration.

Good luck guys
 

callsign4223

Staff member
Re: It's starting

It is an owner registration system. Each owner will have a number and that same number will go on all aircraft. The fee is a one time fee and isn't a per aircraft fee.

Still don't like it though. What is this really gonna do other than catch idiots who fly beyond LOS or who lost control of their craft?
 

Tony

Staff member
Re: It's starting

I tried to keep from posting this because this is the biggest bunch of crap I have ever heard. this isn't regulation, it's information collection. And personal information at that, like your name, address and so on. this is a complete invasion of privacy and it's going to push many people out of the hobby.

Basically what they are saying is, my 250 racing quad is more dangerous, and MUST be registered, but my 1941 20ga I have hanging on my wall, well that's not as dangerous. But then that gets back into gun control and I have a saying for that. If you want them, come and TRY to get them!

But since Rc is not protected under an amendment somewhere, we are free game. It was bad enough that you had to get AMA, and now they jacked up the prices of it, but now you have to register everything you fly? What about that 10th scale truck that can carry a brick of C4? Those trucks can do more damage than a quad. I have seen them completely shatter peoples legs when they hit them.

Okay, as you can see I am NOT a fan of this regulation. It's complete BS!
 

callsign4223

Staff member
Re: It's starting

And of course it's the government with your info in a database, how could that possibly go wrong. :)
 

heli-maniac

New Member
Re: It's starting

This is not going to solve anything . The morons causing all this crap are not going to register . So this is going to do nothing but run people out of the Hobby
 

Derek

Well-Known Member
Re: It's starting

In the end, all I know is that my Dad and I will register and that will be that. We know that we are safe and responsible hobbyists. We've been flying safe and having fun. We'll continue to fly safe and have fun. The only difference is that there will be a small registration number on our planes. Life goes on and I just hope (leap of faith) that the irresponsible hobbyists wise up and fly safe.
 

Stambo

Well-Known Member
Re: It's starting

It is an owner registration system. Each owner will have a number and that same number will go on all aircraft. The fee is a one time fee and isn't a per aircraft fee.

Still don't like it though. What is this really gonna do other than catch idiots who fly beyond LOS or who lost control of their craft?

Nope, not a one time fee.
Check again you will find registration lasts 3 years, then you have to do it again.
I bet the price will have gone up by then too.
Revenue gathering at its finest.
 

Lee

Well-Known Member
Re: It's starting

I think you should get some sort of petition going to protest against this. If nobody pays, what are they gonna do?
WHAT DO WE WANT?
TO FLY WITHOUT REGULATION!!!!
WHEN DO WE WANT IT?
NOW!!!!! :ripped:
 
Re: It's starting

I am going to register, what else can you do? I don't think I should have to wear my seat belt either but if I don't, they will make me pay a fine. I understand why they are doing it, and as usual, the idiots in the world make it harder for us who follow the rules. Sadly though the ones who follow the rules will adhere to this and the ones who don't, won't.
 

Tony

Staff member
Re: It's starting

Sitting here reading through all of this on the FAA site, and this is astonishing.

We are modelers, we are hobbyists, we do this for fun. But, if you do not register, you face a civil fine of up to $27,500, criminal fine of up to $250,000 and/or up to 3 years in PRISON! For flying in your front yard!

This is the biggest bunch of horse ish I have ever heard in my life.

As they state on here, and on the pages where people have read this, registration is free for the first 30 days. However... It plainly states "Register before January 20, 2016 and your $5 registration fee will be refunded!". Which means, not only are you giving your personal information to the government, you are also required to give them your credit card number.

They have filed this as FEDERAL LAW. Meaning, it's a FELONY if you fly without this registration number. So having fun with your children for those that just purchased one of these at walmart will be committing a felony in their own front yards. Last I read the definition of "Felony" was "a crime, typically one involving violence, regarded as more serious than a misdemeanor, and usually punishable by imprisonment for more than one year or by death."

Why go after terrorists which are running rampant, instead lets go after a law abiding citizen who is HURTING NO ONE!!! Do these cracks actually think people that are spying on anyone is going to register? This country might as well be run by Hitler!
 

Tony

Staff member
Re: It's starting

And here is more. This is the own FAA's docket regarding the hobby...


[Docket No. FAA-2014-0396]
Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of Interpretation with Request for Comment
SUMMARY: This action provides interested persons with the opportunity to comment on the FAA’s interpretation of the special rule for model aircraft established by Congress in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. In this interpretation, the FAA clarifies that: model aircraft must satisfy the criteria in the Act to qualify as model aircraft and to be exempt from future FAA rulemaking action; and consistent with the Act, if a model aircraft operator endangers the safety of the National Airspace System, the FAA has the authority to take enforcement action against those operators for those safety violations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SEC. 336. SPECIAL RULE FOR MODEL AIRCRAFT.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law relating to the incorporation of
unmanned aircraft systems into Federal Aviation Administration plans and policies, including
this subtitle, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration may not promulgate any
rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft,
if--
(1) the aircraft is flown strictly for hobby or recreational use;
(2) the aircraft is operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and
within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization;
(3) the aircraft is limited to not more than 55 pounds unless otherwise certified through a design,
construction, inspection, flight test, and operational safety program administered by a
community-based organization;
(4) the aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned
aircraft; and
(5) when flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the aircraft provides the airport
operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the
airport) with prior notice of the operation (model aircraft operators flying from a permanent
location within 5 miles of an airport should establish a mutually-agreed upon operating
procedure with the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic
facility is located at the airport)).
(b) Statutory Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of
the Administrator to pursue enforcement action against persons operating model aircraft who
endanger the safety of the national airspace system.
(c) Model Aircraft Defined.--In this section, the term ``model aircraft'' means an unmanned
aircraft that is--
(1) capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere;
(2) flown within visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft; and
(3) flown for hobby or recreational purposes.
 
Tony,

The government already has your personal information.. you pay taxes and register your car right? To me this is just another inconvenience, like registering my car every year, its just one of those things we have to do. If you really stop to think about it, I am surprised we are just now having to do this. we register our boats, motorcycles, snowmobiles, ATV's, firearms etc.. This is not much different than that. and with this registration is free if you do it within 30 days. Is this a pain in the butt? Yes. Is this big brother sticking his nose in our business? absolutely. What can we do about it? Nothing. I am just going to register and keep on flying. That' s all I can do. What I am really worried about is some idiot doing something really stupid, like bringing down an airliner full of people with a quad. You run one of them through a jet engine and it could realistically happen. What would keep the FAA from grounding all of us modeler's permanently if that happened?
 

Tony

Staff member
That is exactly my point. Just because they are making people register doesn't mean they are going to be able to identify who did what. They are not going to register, they are not going to put any identifying mark on their aircraft (like a car, firearm, boat and so on which all have multiple serial numbers on them). That is what makes this different from having to tag your vehicle every year. For that, there is a number on everything that can be traced. On a quad, helicopter, plane, glider, kite, balloon and so on, there are no identifying marks saying who it belongs to.

Hell if you wanted to frame someone, put THEIR number in your quad and do something stupid with it. How would the FAA or authorities know it wasn't theirs? Hundreds of thousands of these things have ALREADY been purchased and I can assure you, NONE of those people, that purchased these for the holidays know about this. They got it to have fun and the government is going to come down on them just because they are not in the loop of all of this. The news is picking this up, but what are they showing? $5000+ DJI Phantoms. They are not going to think this applies to them.

This is a setup for failure and I hope like hell the AMA can find a way to close all of the "big brother" crap that is riddled in this regulation. This is nothing more than them sticking their nose somewhere it doesn't belong. They do not understand how to regulate these things and they are just doing a bombing run on this. I know the government has my information, I worked for them. They have a lot more than that. Just the fact that you have to give them your information, again, is not my point in all of this. My point is, this is going to do NOTHING in helping keep the skys safe. It's illegal to fly with goggles, but people still do it. And yes, that is another thing they came out with. You can use a screen, but you must always have direct line of sight to the aircraft. But do people still fly with goggles, yup.

Not attacking you in any way Bill. I just think this is the best way to get the word out there of how ridiculous this regulation is and how much it's NOT going to work. There is no strategy in any of this.
 
I know your not attacking me and for the record I agree with you 100%. It's is nothing but a big PITA for the modelers like us who follow the rules. And you are absolutely right, how does the FAA expect to police this? I just don't know what the answer is. How do you keep big government out of our business? They make these rules, for instance gun control is the perfect example, making guns illegal or hard to get isn't going to keep the criminals from getting them, only hinder the people who follow the rules. Why does the federal government care if I spoke marijuana in my own home or why can't I get a prostitute and take her to a hotel?? I am not hurting anybody.

Wish i had an answer that is better than "I just follow the rules so i dont get into trouble or wind up on somebody's "watch" list. :thumbsdown:
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
I'm also... hmmm... lets call it "amused" by their twisting of words in order to do this... what do I mean?

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 restricts them from adding any regulations to the model hobbyist. So, instead they are just calling this "registration" and not "regulation". Of course with the registration it implies that we must follow their rules and regulations or risk fines.

IMO... A rose by any other name is still a rose... Obviously they are just out after a power grab to control us even more... This isn't about safety as they have said, this is strictly about them grabbing more control and removing more of our freedoms.
 

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
Re: It's starting

Hi all, I was watching a news report on the U.K. SkyNews this morning. I'm sure the same thing will soon come to Europe, too. Apparently complaints against drone pilots has gone up 2000% in a year. A friend of ours said that she is against them as she wants to protect her privacy and doesn't want just anybody filming and photographing her. I almost asked her if she's looked in the mirror recently LOL! I also pointed out that with the right lens she could also have been captured with a camera, doesn't need a drone to do it.

A campaign? I saw a website (UK based) for starting a campaign. I doubt that it would get anywhere as we're just a small minority of hobbyists against all kinds of opposition being whipped up by the media. My philosophy is that if you can't change something it's best to just chill out and not get too worked up. Modern life has too much hassle anyway!

Big brother? Once personal records became a thing for the electronic world we're all trapped in the spiral of how safe is our info. I reckon there are too many nutters out there and on balance it's probably no big deal if you're a law abiding citizen anyway. The more crazies they can pick up the better for me.
 

Derek

Well-Known Member
Ha....I just read an email saying that Donald Trump has signed a bill that requires us to be registered with the FAA, once again. That's unfortunate.
 
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