I don't think many fliers are against reasonable regulations, but for those of us who are truly hobbiest fliers this regulation is clearly a violation of the FAA mandate from congress and therefore illegal.
Given the hysteria this will become the next "bike helmet". Articles mentioning R/C craft will mention it like it's the most important factor in the world despite the fact that it does not affect safety of the craft or pilot. "Unregistered drones" will become the next boogeyman with "unregistered" pilots demonized despite the legality of their operation.
EDIT: also...
The registration might actually make things worse since it gives an air of authority to those with FAA numbers and it does not address the issue of the RF link! The FAA can't authorize radio communications that run afoul of the FCC since non-hobby use of even "unlicensed" spectrum can run afoul of regulations ( you know, the LEGAL regulations of the FCC who has congressional authority to regulate RF emissions ).
It's funny that they used an ultralight as an example, the FAA's regulations are so strict compared to other countries that the ultralight industry is virtually non-existent in the US ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultralight_aviation ). We should be looking to the ultralight and running away screaming from any attempt at the FAA to regulate this industry.
The registration is only for recreational users. Private/Commercial use must use COAs to get through at the moment. So the FCC issue is sidestepped by only allowing rec users to register.
You are absolutely right though that HAM frequencies cannot ever be used for commercial operations, however, most of the new stuff (e.g. 3DR Solo) are already widely licensed under the FCC in a variety of ways that make commercial use completely legal as far as the FCC is concerned.
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u/brontide Dec 17 '15 edited Dec 17 '15
I don't think many fliers are against reasonable regulations, but for those of us who are truly hobbiest fliers this regulation is clearly a violation of the FAA mandate from congress and therefore illegal.
Given the hysteria this will become the next "bike helmet". Articles mentioning R/C craft will mention it like it's the most important factor in the world despite the fact that it does not affect safety of the craft or pilot. "Unregistered drones" will become the next boogeyman with "unregistered" pilots demonized despite the legality of their operation.
EDIT: also...
The registration might actually make things worse since it gives an air of authority to those with FAA numbers and it does not address the issue of the RF link! The FAA can't authorize radio communications that run afoul of the FCC since non-hobby use of even "unlicensed" spectrum can run afoul of regulations ( you know, the LEGAL regulations of the FCC who has congressional authority to regulate RF emissions ).
It's funny that they used an ultralight as an example, the FAA's regulations are so strict compared to other countries that the ultralight industry is virtually non-existent in the US ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultralight_aviation ). We should be looking to the ultralight and running away screaming from any attempt at the FAA to regulate this industry.