Nearly 300,000 Recreational Drone Owners In U.S. Database

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
While not the one million that some people predicted, 300,000 registered drone owners is nothing to sneeze at. It makes you wonder how many drones haven't been registered yet.

Nearly 300,000 recreational drone owners have registered their unmanned aircraft in a new federal database intended to help address a surge of rogue drone flights near airports and public venues, U.S. regulators said on Friday. The Federal Aviation Administration said 295,306 owners registered in the 30-day period after the registry was launched on Dec. 21 and obtained an FAA identification number that must be displayed on their aircraft.
 
I have not registered yet, but I may have to, and I will not be registering a quad. If I have to, I will be registering an R/C airplane and helicopter. I will wait to the last minute, but I may just abandon the hobby altogether if the AMA does not come through. Though the way the registration works, is you are registering if you have a R/C aircraft big enough to fall under their new rules. You are not registering the individual aircraft, you are registering yourself for owning one.

I know R/C airplanes are not a right, but if this was a registry for gun owners, they would scream bloody murder, and rightfully so.
 
Did you register your guns while you were at it?

It's bad enough we have to register vehicles to use public roads, now we have to register public air space.

I don't recall model airplane and helicopters being an issue in the last decade. You could take one down to the local park and fly all you want without registering anything.

More government more problems.
 
SolidState said:
Did you register your guns while you were at it?

It's bad enough we have to register vehicles to use public roads, now we have to register public air space.

I don't recall model airplane and helicopters being an issue in the last decade. You could take one down to the local park and fly all you want without registering anything.

More government more problems.
Click to expand...


In the past, there was an investment in money, and time involved to get good enough to fly an R/C aircraft. Now, quads are so easy any moron can get one in the air and do all sort of stupid shit with it. With all the BS a few of these quad operators have been up, I can understand the need to do something. Of course the assholes doing stupid shit are not likely to be the ones registering them. It will be just like with guns, the people that are not a problem, the reasonable and law abiding, will comply with the law, the tards doing unsafe, illegal, or just plain stupid crap will not.
 
I'm shocked that many people have registered. I means that a medium sized cities worth of people that are that all in.
 
Wow that's a lot of people who have drones. Pisses me off that government is always getting into people's afairs though. "oh no a new hobby is starting to take place, we better regulate it!"

They're planing on doing the same here in Canada too. Been toying with getting a drone, but if they're going to regulate it to this point I might not bother. The problem is the fines, they are ridiculous. If something happens you can be fined like 25 grand. That's worse than texting and driving.
 
More red tape please, it makes pretty pin stripes on my drones. I do not have mine registered yet and will wait and see. As an AMA member I hope they get this sorted out.

I was surprised to see that big of a number of registered users however I am inclined to think that many are from new Christmas sales, many companies will not complete the shipping process unless you fill out the registration. There are still many very nice GPS drones that one can attach a gimbal and camera to that are under the regulations but I am sure that will change soon.
 
tunatime said:
If you get faa numbers then no one has a right to shoot it down or correct?
Click to expand...
It does not change how legal or illegal shooting down a R/C aircraft is. It is merely a government entity taking your money and giving you permission to fly within the same rules you were already supposed to be flying under b4. It also puts you on a registry so that anyone that can get the numbers you will be required to display on the craft, will know where you live.

There is no benefit to the R/C aircraft owner in this.
 
I misspoke. There is no short term benefit to this. This might drive some of the morons from the hobby over time. So that might be of benefit.
 
I registered for a FA#. The site only request name address, phone number. They don't want serial numbers or make/model of your aircraft. I already label my aircraft with that info anyways. Only one registration per person. I have over 40 planes, helicopters, and multirotors all with the same FA#.
 
Gorankar said:
In the past, there was an investment in money, and time involved to get good enough to fly an R/C aircraft. Now, quads are so easy any moron can get one in the air and do all sort of stupid shit with it. With all the BS a few of these quad operators have been up, I can understand the need to do something. Of course the assholes doing stupid shit are not likely to be the ones registering them. It will be just like with guns, the people that are not a problem, the reasonable and law abiding, will comply with the law, the tards doing unsafe, illegal, or just plain stupid crap will not.
Click to expand...

Except laws already exist for all of the issues people had before. Flying and looking into windows? Harassment. Flying low in someones yard? Already covered by use of property rights. Not low and not harassing the property owners but the UAV is big/loud? Noise restrictions etc etc.

There was no need for any of this other than more government control of yet something else.
 
csgill75 said:
I registered for a FA#. The site only request name address, phone number. They don't want serial numbers or make/model of your aircraft. I already label my aircraft with that info anyways. Only one registration per person. I have over 40 planes, helicopters, and multirotors all with the same FA#.
Click to expand...

Damn, how the hell do you find room for them all? I scaled back to just a handful of my favorites long ago because I realized I could no longer get a motorcycle in my garage let alone a car. Avoiding buying new ones until the old were worn out/crashed is difficult. I did briefly consider moving to the country and building a barn/workshop complete with my own runway though. buy-build-fly-tweak-fly-tweak-fly-perfection-boredom-sell-repeat.

BlueFireIce said:
Except laws already exist for all of the issues people had before. Flying and looking into windows? Harassment. Flying low in someones yard? Already covered by use of property rights. Not low and not harassing the property owners but the UAV is big/loud? Noise restrictions etc etc.

There was no need for any of this other than more government control of yet something else.
Click to expand...

I agree, but the assholes became prevalent enough in the hobby to bring us to this. I am not for registration, I am simply saying I understand what brought us to this point. I am pretty sure it was not AMA members, or other hobbyist group's members that brought us to this point.
 
Gorankar said:
Damn, how the hell do you find room for them all? I scaled back to just a handful of my favorites long ago because I realized I could no longer get a motorcycle in my garage let alone a car. Avoiding buying new ones until the old were worn out/crashed is difficult. I did briefly consider moving to the country and building a barn/workshop complete with my own runway though. buy-build-fly-tweak-fly-tweak-fly-perfection-boredom-sell-repeat.
Click to expand...

I purchased a farm property for super cheap and have a 3,500 Sq ft. Shop behind our house that the previous owners used as a 4 car garage w/RV storage so it has 25ft. ceilings. It's one of the reasons we purchased this property actually. I don't own a RV or a bunch of cars to store in it but plenty of room for my aircraft. I fly primarily here at home and have friends who fly here too. I had a grass strip planted w/zoysia grass behind it that my friends and I fly from.
 
Gorankar said:
I agree, but the assholes became prevalent enough in the hobby to bring us to this. I am not for registration, I am simply saying I understand what brought us to this point. I am pretty sure it was not AMA members, or other hobbyist group's members that brought us to this point.
Click to expand...

It was no one. Except government.

The craft does not have to be registered for any of those other laws or regulations to be effective, I still don't understand what people think this is actually going to do. I think most people support it because of the blown out of proportion media on UAVs, everyone else just follows along.
 
Gorankar said:
It does not change how legal or illegal shooting down a R/C aircraft is. It is merely a government entity taking your money and giving you permission to fly within the same rules you were already supposed to be flying under b4. It also puts you on a registry so that anyone that can get the numbers you will be required to display on the craft, will know where you live.

There is no benefit to the R/C aircraft owner in this.
Click to expand...

Sure there is. If you lose sight of your drone and it flies through somebody's living room window, you'll be able to get it back.
 
I don't plan on registering, but all of my quads are under the weight limit.
 
evilsofa said:
Sure there is. If you lose sight of your drone and it flies through somebody's living room window, you'll be able to get it back.
Click to expand...

I don't think I want to meet the person who thinks I was flying my quad outside of their window. You probably don't want that angry individual at your doorstep either.
 
DCookSta said:
I don't think I want to meet the person who thinks I was flying my quad outside of their window. You probably don't want that angry individual at your doorstep either.
Click to expand...

I don't think he thought that scenario through. :eek:
 
BlueFireIce said:
It was no one. Except government.

The craft does not have to be registered for any of those other laws or regulations to be effective, I still don't understand what people think this is actually going to do. I think most people support it because of the blown out of proportion media on UAVs, everyone else just follows along.
Click to expand...
Without the numerous airport, and wildfire shenanigans, added to the other stupidity at various emergency sites, these things would have flown right under the radar. The FAA would have had no reason to revisit R/C aircraft rules, nor would they have any popular support to so easily push this stuff forward. So, yeah, it is the government extending it's reach like always, but it was a pack of asses with no common sense and a mile wide entitlement streak that made them realize they wanted to.
 
evilsofa said:
But I did. Knowing that your drone will come back to you no matter where you put it makes you much more polite about where you put it, doesn't it?
Click to expand...

It would sir. It would. :D

The creepers and peepers are not likely to bother registering though are they? :(
 
Won't be long until we have those airborne little RV's with countermeasures. Looking at my kids? I'll just launch my own little solution to that. Mini SAM's coming to a toy store near you, then the chaf mechanisms, etc.. I'd probably start with a variable frequency directional higher powered device to screw up the remote control's signal. Just keep trying until you see the device falter, then crank up the power in it's direction. It'll be a preview of the next air war using military drones.
 
Gorankar said:
In the past, there was an investment in money, and time involved to get good enough to fly an R/C aircraft. Now, quads are so easy any moron can get one in the air and do all sort of stupid shit with it. With all the BS a few of these quad operators have been up, I can understand the need to do something. Of course the assholes doing stupid shit are not likely to be the ones registering them. It will be just like with guns, the people that are not a problem, the reasonable and law abiding, will comply with the law, the tards doing unsafe, illegal, or just plain stupid crap will not.
Click to expand...

so you would support registering guns for the same reasons?
 
4saken said:
so you would support registering guns for the same reasons?
Click to expand...

Nope, and I am not for R/C aircraft registration either, as I have already stated in this thread. Understanding public outcry that "something" should be done, and agreeing that what they are doing is right and will have any impact on assholes doing airport flybys are two different things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top