Canadian Question: Registering your Mini 3 Pro drone in Canada

[jbedford]

Fellow Canadians, is there any advantage to registering your drone in Canada?

Registering your drone: Overview

How to register and deregister your drone; how to transfer ownership of a drone.

tc.canada.ca

There is no requirement to do so if you fly the M3P with the standard battery, but wanted to see if there were any advantages to doing so?

What does everyone think?

Thank you!


Jason

 

[Chrislaf]

If you have no intention of buying a plus battery or adding accessories to your Mini 3 Pro, then no. If you do, then you are required to register it with TC and take and pass at least the Basic Pilot’s test if you have not already done so.

Chris

 

[Robert Prior]

The only advantage I can see is that you have a piece of paper that says your drone is an officially registered aircraft, which might be useful if some nosy parker is giving you the gears about flying.

And as Chrislaf mentioned, it's one less thing to worry about if you want to get a plus battery or add accessories. (Assuming you have a sRPAS certificate, which is probably worth getting anyway.)

I haven't ever needed to prove registration, but I've found my sRPAS certificate useful for convincing bystanders that I know what I'm doing. I'm a trained pilot, I am, not just some bloke who's bought a drone on the internet!

 

[timinator]

Unless using the plus battery, there is absolutely no reason or incentive to registering it.

 

[Zbip57]

Fellow Canadians, is there any advantage to registering your drone in Canada?
There is no requirement to do so if you fly the Mini3P with the standard battery, but I wanted to see if there were any advantages to doing so?

No advantage whatsoever. It just puts your name on a government list and adds you to the statistics for no good reason at all.

You're better off sticking your phone number or email address on the drone and SD card in case it ever gets lost and you want the finder to be able contact you.

The only advantage I can see is that you have a piece of paper that says your drone is an officially registered aircraft, which might be useful if some nosy parker is giving you the gears about flying.

If you need a piece of paper, why not a piece of paper that shows the actual regulation proving that you're neither required to register nor required to hold a licence to fly a sub-250 micro drone?

At the top of the Canadian Aviation Regulations, Section 101.01 (1) Interpretation, scroll down to find the definition:

"small remotely piloted aircraft means a remotely piloted aircraft that has a maximum take-off weight of at least 250 g (0.55 pounds) but not more than 25 kg (55 pounds); (petit aéronef télépiloté)"​

laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-96-433/FullText.html#h-987440


Then jump down to Part IX, section 900.02 which says:

Application​

"900.02 This Part applies in respect of the operation of remotely piloted aircraft systems."​

That means all RPAS, including sub-250 micro-drones.
laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-96-433/FullText.html#h-1110511


Then down just a bit further to 900.06 which says (and this is the big one):

Reckless or Negligent Operation​

"900.06 No person shall operate a remotely piloted aircraft system in such a reckless or negligent manner as to endanger or be likely to endanger aviation safety or the safety of any person."​

laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-96-433/FullText.html#h-1111561
That applies equally to sub-250 gram micro-drones.

Everything from there down, the need to register, pass exams, keep log books, prohibited distances from aerodromes, etc, etc, etc, all applies to "small remotely piloted aircraft", which by definition excludes sub-250gram micro-drones.

Not even any of the requirements for a Special Flight Operations Certificate apply to sub-250 gram micro-drones:

Prohibition​

"903.01 No person shall conduct any of the following operations using a remotely piloted aircraft system that includes a remotely piloted aircraft having a maximum take-off weight of 250 g (0.55 pounds) or more unless the person complies with the provisions of a special flight operations certificate — RPAS issued by the Minister under section 903.03:" [...]​

laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-96-433/FullText.html#h-1112132

Rather than pointing to a registration number, which you're not even required to have, it would be far more effective to point the nosy parker to the applicable regulations.

 

[Robert Prior]

Rather than pointing to a registration number, which you're not even required to have, it would be far more effective to point the nosy parker to the applicable regulations.

Thus starting an argument about regulations, which ones apply, which ones should apply, or even what they should be…

If someone thinks they have a right to interfere, I've found quoting regulations is usually less effective than providing something that legitimizes my own authority (or appears to).

It's not about proving them wrong, or educating them, it's about avoiding trouble.

A licensed drone, flown by a licensed pilot, has a degree of official legitimacy behind it, even when neither drone nor pilot are actually required to have licenses. I think the psychology is that they assume that if I'm licensed by Transport Canada then I have official federal approval for what I'm doing. (Which is totally not true, of course, except insofar as I'm always flying within Transport Canada regulations.)

I could be totally wrong about the psychology, of course; I'm just trying to explain behaviour I've observed. I mean, all it takes to register a drone in Canada is the serial number and the cost of a cup of coffee. There's no verification that you actually own the drone, or that it matches the description, or anything. The certificate would be easy to fake. And yet in my experience official documents (even if inapplicable) do make people less inclined to argue in a way that quoting rules and regulations doesn't.

YMMV, of course.

 

[3rdof5]

Registering your Mini 3 Pro is not required in Canada.
I went through the process lol.
I wanted to register my mini 3 (not the pro) for when I'm flying with the plus battery.
By default, Transport Canada's drone registration page won't even let you register your mini 3 unless you manually declare it weighs OVER 250 grams.
Which I did, so now my mini 3 has a registration number on it incase I'm questioned while flying the plus battery.

 

[Robert Prior]

By default, Transport Canada's drone registration page won't even let you register your mini 3 unless you manually declare it weighs OVER 250 grams.

Odd. I had no trouble registering my Mini 3 Pro last summer when I bought it. I registered it because I bought a plus battery, but I don't recall having to say that — just selected the drone and gave them money…

My memory could be off, of course. They say it's the second thing to go as you get older. I can't remember what the first thing is…

 

[3rdof5]

Odd. I had no trouble registering my Mini 3 Pro last summer when I bought it. I registered it because I bought a plus battery, but I don't recall having to say that — just selected the drone and gave them money…

My memory could be off, of course. They say it's the second thing to go as you get older. I can't remember what the first thing is…

I entered the serial number and the system said registration is not required. I had to register manually.

 

[Toddo]

Technically TC website lists the benefits of registering as:

Benefits of registration​

• If you lose your drone, registration may help in returning it to you if it is found
• If there is a recall from the manufacturer, we may be able to notify you

I doubt they have ever returned a lost drone. lol

 

[DanJ]

What everyone else said about the plus battery and being over 250 grams.
In my year of flying my Air 2S (plus 250 grams and needs to be registered and is) I have never been asked for registration, etc.

 

[Robert Prior]

In my year of flying my Air 2S (plus 250 grams and needs to be registered and is) I have never been asked for registration, etc.

In my decades of driving I've never needed my vehicle registration (except when buying/selling a car).

Come to that, I've mostly used my drivers license as photo id, and only needed to use it as a license when renting a car.