FAA’s Drone Registry Will Be Public, Including Names And Addresses

Megalith

Megalith

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Here’s a setback for would-be drone operators who would prefer to stay private.

“Until the drone registry system is modified, the FAA will not release names and address. When the drone registry system is modified to permit public searches of registration numbers, names and addresses will be revealed through those searches.”
 
Registry because they use public airspace, fine.

Making the registry public, fuck no.
 
More strict than being able to buy an assault rifle and open carry in America... As a gun owner, I guess the drone maker industry just isn't as strong as the corporate owned NRA.
 
Why not make it public? Aircraft registration is public, public space, public registry.

Want to avoid it, buy drones that fly no further than 60 ft above ground (in the US), as the courts seem to agree that those who own the land own the airspace up to 60 ft above it.

The current regs don't adequately account for "toy" drones vs semi-pro or pro drones because the reqs are weight based, but they will sort that out soon enough.
 
Chunder said:
More strict than being able to buy an assault rifle and open carry in America... As a gun owner, I guess the drone maker industry just isn't as strong as the corporate owned NRA.
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The main difference is that guns are generally not able to operate autonomously, or drop from 1000 ft on someone's head/property by accident.
 
Thuleman said:
The main difference is that guns are generally not able to operate autonomously, or drop from 1000 ft on someone's head/property by accident.
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Right.

Guns are objectively far more dangerous.
 
It is the operator of either that decides the danger. People are objectively much more dangerous.

That said, I not really comfortable with R/C and drone aircraft requiring registration. However, I recognize, that not being a codified right, it will be hard to justify not having a list, and making it public, when other aircraft and their owners are on a public list.

If there is going to be a list, I would prefer it be public rather than private. As little as I trust corporations, and or fellow citizens, I trust the government even less.
 
Random airplane registration number pulled off Google Images:

0q8KA8Q.jpg


FAA Registry database entry for that number:

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N4885X

Does anyone have a problem with this?

Why should it be any different for drones? If you find a lost drone in your backyard, or maybe inside your house after it broke a window, don't you want to know who owns it?
 
evilsofa said:
Random airplane registration number pulled off Google Images:

0q8KA8Q.jpg


FAA Registry database entry for that number:

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N4885X

Does anyone have a problem with this?

Why should it be any different for drones? If you find a lost drone in your backyard, or maybe inside your house after it broke a window, don't you want to know who owns it?
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This.

If you're going to share the airspace with real aircraft and real pilots, then you had better be willing to accept responsibility for your actions.

I'd be willing to take it a step further and require something akin to the FAA sport pilot license, for drones that can fly higher than 100' AGL or more than 200' from the operator.
 
Krab said:
Right.

Guns are objectively far more dangerous.
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Legal firearms in the US are not remotely controlled. They cannot move under their own power into your neighbors backyard, and then maim or kill because of signal loss. They require direct manipulation and specific intent in order to do harm.

It's not even worth trying to compare the two.
 
What follows registry though? Insurance, obtaining pilot licenses, and end to the altitude restrictions, transponders. I do think that what started as a hobby anyone of middling means could enjoy, is going to eventually be too regulated for any but the well heeled to indulge in.
 
This is the US, not some third-world country. If you want to fly your lawn-mowing drones willy-nilly without rules and redress move to Costa Rica or something. Regulation is the price of doing business, or "having fun," in someplace that most people would like to live. Now this doesn't apply for guns because the whole country was built on guns and later on the gun industry, and also because the right to self-defense is still something people see as a necessity here, even if that concern has to piggyback on something as obscure as a "well-regulated militia."
 
evilsofa said:
Random airplane registration number pulled off Google Images:

0q8KA8Q.jpg


FAA Registry database entry for that number:

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N4885X

Does anyone have a problem with this?

Why should it be any different for drones? If you find a lost drone in your backyard, or maybe inside your house after it broke a window, don't you want to know who owns it?
Click to expand...

Eh its kinda like when that newspaper in NY posted the names and addresses of all the registered gun owners.

A real plane is not going to be at the address listed, the owner is. This means the owner(and the public) is not put in harm's way due to crime.

Now on the other hand if the general public finds out that "Ted" has $10k-30k worth of guns/drones registered to him, there is a dam good shot that they are stored at said address.


Or are people arguing about this for some other reasons?


Then again i am fine with MR crashed Drone having a license plate on it that can be traced back the owner the same way a crashed car would.
 
Azzkiker said:
This.

If you're going to share the airspace with real aircraft and real pilots, then you had better be willing to accept responsibility for your actions.

I'd be willing to take it a step further and require something akin to the FAA sport pilot license, for drones that can fly higher than 100' AGL or more than 200' from the operator.
Click to expand...

I would say about 500' from the operator but I'd agree. Basically there is no need to license a device that you can use from LoS, so general RC applications would be perfectly acceptable as you are in walking distance / can be seen controlling the device. If your device operates outside of LoS then it would need to be registered. (Including remote control air planes which already can fly a mile away via a remote video system)

Think about this, if two drones collide into each other mid air over your backyard, you probably would need to know who to contact to take care of any issues that arise.

@nightnole: I can see somewhat of an issue with that, but I don't believe the way the info it listed you can specifically search for all of the stuff owned by a person. (Not that you couldn't try to script something to scan the database) If you are close enough to pick up all of the registration numbers off the side of the drones then you can probably figure out who owns them in the first place. Attempting to read the ones on planes / helicopters is feasible with a decent lens on a camera, but the letters are also like a foot tall. You'd probably have to have the drone in your possession to grab the numbers off of it if they are only an inch big.
 
Azzkiker said:
Legal firearms in the US are not remotely controlled. They cannot move under their own power into your neighbors backyard, and then maim or kill because of signal loss. They require direct manipulation and specific intent in order to do harm.

It's not even worth trying to compare the two.
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Agreed, I have yet to see anyone using a drone for self defense.
 
Gorankar said:
What follows registry though? Insurance...
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If you are flying a drone of any decent size you better carry a shitton of personal liability insurance whether there is regulation for it or not. The US is such a litigious society that you can literally financially ruin your life forever if you are flying a drone, don't have insurance, and drop it on someone's property/head.
 
Thuleman said:
If you are flying a drone of any decent size you better carry a shitton of personal liability insurance whether there is regulation for it or not. The US is such a litigious society that you can literally financially ruin your life forever if you are flying a drone, don't have insurance, and drop it on someone's property/head.
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Maybe don't ruin their life by dropping things on them, and they won't see fit to ruin you financially. Juries are also notoriously stingy with awarding damages so it's not like everyone's looking to the skies for a payday while you're playing with your toys.
 
Thuleman said:
If you are flying a drone of any decent size you better carry a shitton of personal liability insurance whether there is regulation for it or not. The US is such a litigious society that you can literally financially ruin your life forever if you are flying a drone, don't have insurance, and drop it on someone's property/head.
Click to expand...

B4 I got rid of it due to how boring it was, I never flew my quad anyplace I would not fly a R/C nitro or gasser copter/airplane. I never needed insurance, because I was never flying them over people, or other peoples yards, or near their homes. The problem with quads is that, for the most part, their users do not follow any of the safety and courtesy guidelines most people that have been in the R/C aircraft hobby have lived by for decades. The tech has made them easy enough for anyone with a pulse to fly them. Which leads me to, "If people were not dicks, we would not be here now talking about registration."
 
Gorankar said:
B4 I got rid of it due to how boring it was, I never flew my quad anyplace I would not fly a R/C nitro or gasser copter/airplane. I never needed insurance, because I was never flying them over people, or other peoples yards, or near their homes. The problem with quads is that, for the most part, their users do not follow any of the safety and courtesy guidelines most people that have been in the R/C aircraft hobby have lived by for decades. The tech has made them easy enough for anyone with a pulse to fly them. Which leads me to, "If people were not dicks, we would not be here now talking about registration."
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Yeah, I agree with you there. If everyone knew what they were doing, we wouldn't have any problems.
 
Gorankar said:
Which leads me to, "If people were not dicks, we would not be here now talking about registration."
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That is case for everything though, and people are dicks. So, really, this was inevitable.
 
Speaking hypothetically...

If I was planning to use a drone for something bad it would be nice to have a nice searchable database to show me where I could steal one from.

I also suspect searching aircraft tail numbers would be a good way to find affluent people to steal from. I mean if they can afford a plane they probably have shit loads of nice stuff to steal.
 
Mr45 said:
Speaking hypothetically...

If I was planning to use a drone for something bad it would be nice to have a nice searchable database to show me where I could steal one from.

I also suspect searching aircraft tail numbers would be a good way to find affluent people to steal from. I mean if they can afford a plane they probably have shit loads of nice stuff to steal.
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The sort of people that have $15K+ toy drones will have much more expensive toys like supercars lying around the mansion grounds... and the thieves already know where those places are and can just follow the security guards there, so I think this concern is pretty weak.

There's another thing which probably matters a lot more: when I Googled for "airplane thieves using FAA registry", I didn't get any actual stories of airplane thieves, because of course not, the one with bare feet made national news because nobody steals airplanes. What I did get was stories about the terrible disarray of the FAA registries and how the FAA has lost track of 119,000 aircraft. I imagine the recordkeeping will be much worse for toy drones because so many have been made before the registry ever existed, so it's not even going to be useful to prospective thieves.
 
evilsofa said:
The sort of people that have $15K+ toy drones will have much more expensive toys like supercars lying around the mansion grounds... and the thieves already know where those places are and can just follow the security guards there, so I think this concern is pretty weak.
.
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Its pretty hard to get a good gas model plane for less than $2000 unless you want a crap 4 channel.

10k-15k$ for a drone with a $5k camera is chump change for people who use them to make a living. Sell 2 houses with it and its paid off, even in the poor end of town.
 
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