Welcome back to Legal Geek. This week, we look at how one of the hottest holiday gifts in the US may soon be subject to much more regulation than currently, that gift being drones and other model aircraft.
https://archive.org/details/LegalGeekEp58
Drones, also called unmanned aerial vehicles, have become more common as evidenced by some popular commercials making fun of the trend. Approximately one million UAVs will be sold this holiday season, including a lot of drones to go with your typical motorized model aircraft and helicopters that have been around for many years.
That hot trend has raised some eyebrows at the Federal Aviation Administration, so much so that more regulation appears to be on the way. After all, there's no Constitutional right to fly such devices, but added regulation always comes with some pushback on government agencies like the FAA. Still, the process has already begun with a detailed proposal delivered from the Rulemaking Committee of the FAA at the end of last month.
The big debate leading up to the proposal was whether the threshold for requiring formal registration of unmanned aircraft would be based on weight or performance of the craft. Weight was the choice, specifically any aircraft weighing more than 250 grams or about 0.5 pounds being subject to registration. This will force all but the smallest toys to have the owner registered with the FAA, should this regulation be enacted in the future.
Interestingly under the proposal, only the owner must be registered, not necessarily the operator. So the information actually collected will be limited, but it's still better than nothing as far as the FAA is concerned. The FAA currently does registration business in paper with carbon copies, so before this regulation goes into effect, expect some significant upgrades with electronic or software-app type registration becoming available.
The Free Inhabitants from our last full segment certainly won't like another government registration requirement, but the FAA set that low weight limit based on what would jeopardize safety in a crash from 500 feet in the air. So while it may feel like government stepping in on people's privacy and not really collecting enough information to stop terrorism risks, this is the first step in protecting safety of everyone. And that's probably the right time for government to function in this manner.
The Bottom Line is, when an industry or hobby gets this big, it is difficult to escape government regulation. Just ask the Daily Fantasy Sports websites.
Until next time, enjoy your drones and model aircraft hanging in your stockings and under your trees. At least your BB-8 toys won't need registered yet!
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