Why are model airplanes or "drones" flown in your own backyard considered to be so much greater a danger that the FAA requires them to broadcast Remote ID, but manned aircraft are not all required to do so?
Are you sincerely asking this question because you don't know and you're really looking to understand why, or is this just a rhetorical question you're tossing out to just blow off steam because you're pissed off at having to follow rules and regulations?
The answer is not complicated nor any great mystery.
OK, I'll give you my opinion on "why."
The short version: It's not the drone or the airplane.
It's the operators. You, me, and the other guys. The FAA has developed some level of trust with crewed aircraft operators. They have less trust of drone operators. So they are on a shorter "leash." Unfortunately, the relative trust levels are entirely justified, IMHO (though inconvenient and sometimes frustrating). Sorry, I know you don't want to hear that. It's still true.
The longer version: It's not so much because of the equipment (crewed aircraft versus drones). It's primarily because of the repeatedly demonstrated behavior of the people operating them.
Those operating crewed aircraft and those operating drones are very different in many fundamental and critical ways. I'll name just a few.
Pilots operating crewed aircraft have a
lot of skin in the game - both literally and figuratively (this has been stated here before, but it's important). Screw up big in your airplane, game over - there's a good chance you'll die. Even if you survive, the financial/career consequences can be devastating and life-changing. That tends to make most folks pretty cautious. The FAA sees this reflected in behavior every day.
Screw up big with your drone, you go on Amazon and click three times, a new drone is on its way, play again tomorrow, no big deal. The FAA knows this too.
Qualifying for a (crewed) aircraft pilot license is a major undertaking, requiring sometimes many years of training and continuous effort (even for the most basic Private Pilot rating, never mind Commercial, Instrument, Air Transport, etc.) - people invest decades of their lives and tens of thousands of dollars to achieve those. With that much at stake, people tend to take things v-e-r-y seriously.
So they follow the rules.
Qualifying to be a drone pilot requires...maybe having a valid credit card or saving up a few hundred bucks.
Scoff at that if you want (many here will), the investment, and potential loss of your airman privileges is a powerful motivator for licensed pilots to follow ALL the rules, or at least to appear to be following all the rules as much as you possibly can. Drone pilots behave...well, see YouTube.
There's also what I'll call "demonstrated behavior" and
airmanship (sometimes ascribed to a combination of
character and
professionalism).
The FAA has well over half a century of experience overseeing and "managing" pilots of crewed aircraft. They are very much "old school" in so many ways, which can certainly be frustrating and at times difficult to believe (I could tell you lots of stories...), but that inertia and lived experience (which has informed their way of doing things) is also a great benefit - though I'll admit it sometimes does not feel that way.
The FAA knows how pilots of crewed aircraft behave (and how they occasionally misbehave). They have recently been learning about how drone pilots behave, too...and we (drone pilots in general) do not have a good record.
For sure, many drone pilots are responsible, careful, trustworthy, and follow every rule. Unfortunately, many are not, and some of them openly brag about how they won't be following the rules. People post right here every day how they're not going to follow the rules (and here on this forum we have about as responsible a bunch of drone pilots as you will ever find anywhere). Go look elsewhere (YouTube, social media, etc.) you'll see people proudly breaking every rule, bragging about it, confessing they plan to continue doing so, screw the guvmint', don't tread on me, and more.
You just don't see that same kind of open, brazen contempt for rules and regs among crewed pilots (generally speaking). They have way too much to lose.
There's also a completely different attitude about safety culture, responsibility, and toeing the line (for sure, some pilots will grouse endlessly about rules, but you don't see/hear them declaring
"screw your rules, your rules don't apply to me"). You might speculate that this is all just a front to look nice for the FAA, but generally I don't think that's the case. Even pilots who might have lots of contempt for government agencies tend to follow the FAA's dictates to the letter, if grudgingly (I know plenty of guys like that).
I think there's also a generational/cultural divide. I'm an old guy, I learned to fly airplanes a long, long time ago. I was literally a kid (9 or 10 years old) when I had my first flying lesson - had to sit on multiple pillows and seat cushions to see out the windshield ahead. Many of the aviation people I was around, some of whom would become my flight instructors, were military veterans (some were WWII pilots with combat experience). The first things they taught me really had nothing to do with flying. They stressed integrity, honesty, "doing the right thing" and other stuff before we ever got close to an airplane. You did not lie, cheat or (heaven forbid) steal. You were expected to conduct yourself as a gentleman. Trust was drilled into me. I was told that countless lives would be in my hands (it was assumed I would go on to become an airline pilot, just because others around me were). With all that responsibility came a duty. You tell the truth, always, even when nobody is looking and you would never get caught. The rules are there for a reason, they apply to you, and so on. Now, I did not grow up a completely blind automaton, always respecting my elders and every authority (well, not for long...I grew up). But the stuff about integrity and responsibility and safety stuck with me. And I saw it (and still do) in other pilots (and I see it here, in fact).
In today's society, I think this kind of talk must sound like someone from another planet. Of course, everybody lies, cheats, cuts corners, fakes it, breaks rules. That's how society is today. So when someone buys a drone, many are shocked to discover that they need to take a knowledge test, register, and -
good god! - follow a whole bunch of PITA rules!?
Wadda ya mean, I can't fly my drone here? You know.
Now, of course, not all drone owners are like that. Many are real "eagle scouts" who do their best to follow every rule. But there are enough idiots out there who don't and won't (and even are proud of that).
We all suffer because of them. Those who refuse to behave responsibly and instead act like spoiled 4-year olds ruin it for the rest of us. The FAA has seen enough irresponsible drone owners to crank up more regulations as a response to the more problematic users. They have a regulatory "dial" they can turn; it's currently set to, I dunno, maybe "4" or "5". It could go higher. I hope it doesn't but I suspect it will. You can bet it will if people continue to do stupid things.
"But I'm trying to follow all the rules, I'm not one of those irresponsible guys." Good, thank you. Please continue to, and try and get some of the irresponsible people to understand that we need them to behave too, if we all want to be able to fly anywhere going forward.
Grouse about the regulations if you must. Try not to inflame the
"your rules stink and they don't apply to me!" crowd.
I'm sure things are more or less the same in Canada (except you're all just a bit more polite aboot it, eh?).
We Stand On Guard For Thee, too, friend. Blue skies and tailwinds.
