Free Drone Registration (Now Required by FAA)
Own a Drone? Effective December 21st, 2015, anyone who owns a small unmanned aircraft of a certain weight must register with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Unmanned Aircraft System registry before they fly outdoors. People who previously operated their UAS must register by February 19th, 2016.
Check out this email I received from reader Tori –
“Some of the Drones for sale are required to be registered by February 19th, 2016 – including a popular $130 model sold on Amazon. Until January 20th, 2016, the FAA is offering Free registration – afterwards it’s $5. Penalties for not registering can be huge ($27,000 and $250,000). Wired.com compiled a list of current drones and whether they are required to be registered.”
(Thanks for the tip, Tori!)
Good to know! I’ll pass this along to a few of my real estate friends who use drones to photograph properties for sale. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Happy to hear this is required.
Drones and selfie sticks are the two dumbest things from this year. I saw a drone near my house and it was annoying me. I wanted to take a ball and throw at it. Not sure what it was doing other than invading people’s privacy.
I agree. You know 99% of people will NOT register these stupid things! I did see signs in toy store with this warning clearly displayed.
Failure to register an aircraft may result in regulatory and criminal sanctions. The FAA may assess civil penalties up to $27,500. Criminal penalties include fines of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment for up to three years.
Not sure it’s worth the risk of not registering.
Yes! drones are annoying. These are banned in Yellowstone, because of the problems they have had with people bringing them in and flying them over geysers and other thermal areas to get pics, and then crashing them!
I hate them. They are so invasive. But since they are a thing now, the FAA decided that they fall under their authority – and have redefined the air space they control to right above ground, even right above ground over your property. You own none of that. I wonder how all of this will pan out. I think it’s ridiculous to allow people to just fly them right over your home and yard just because they can. I’d say if I can accurately hit it with something, game on.
There was a story on the news about a woman in her own driveway. The neighbor flew his drone close enough to her that she hit it and broke it and she ended up having to pay for the thing! It wasn’t the first time either. Apparently he had by spying on her teen daughter in the backyard as well! I hate these things. Really, what’s the point?
Well, if anyone is interested, I looked up the drone that Collin posted within the last month or so on Amazon and there is no need to register it. It is the Syma X5C.
Thanks, Melanie, I ordered one but it hasn’t arrived yet. I was going to bookmark this post so I could come back to it, but I guess I won’t need to. 🙂
The lists out there aren’t necessarily all inclusive. I’d look based on the FAA rules not just based on lists published by other websites.
Good luck enforcing this! There are far too many grey areas regarding drones, property, air space, etc. Yes, some people misuse them, but then others just enjoy them as a harmless hobby. My fiance builds his own and flies them around for sheer recreation. Of course, because he builds his own custom drone, its not on the FAA “list” at all, so its a major grey area.
Just remember, there are always people out there that are going to abuse things.
I agree, my husband has one and they are quite fun and not necessarily being used for mischief or spying on people. My husband’s is also semi “custom” and he did discover it needed to be registered and figured out how to do so. I hope that people will be smart, safe and responsible with drones because it’s a neat hobby. I’ve also seen them (with proper licenses) used for commercial purposes such as filming marathons. It’s a neat perspective that you can’t easily otherwise get. I’m hoping that required registration will result in more responsible owners and use of drones.
We have one it weighs 4.2 ounces. I looked and the brand name isn’t on the list.