Diving into the FAA certification process

[fivesense]

well, this thread took a sudden "sovereign citizen-y" turn...

Pretty much every license/certification/etc out there has a fee associated with it.

Does "sovereign citizen-y" bother you?

Do you accept the fees because "pretty much" all licenses/certifications have them?

 

[fivesense]

I spoke with a local FAA-approved test site. She told me that PSI has a complete monopoly on drone certification testing. Of the $175, the test administrator gets approximately $25 and PSI receives the balance. The FAA offers no other competitive certification pathway.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Does "sovereign citizen-y" bother you?

Do you accept the fees because "pretty much" all licenses/certifications have them?

No.

I accept them because it costs something to administer the exam, and the libertarian, sovereign citizen in me recoils at the idea of asking my fellow citizens to pay for it. Especially given the rather exclusive nature of the cert.

 

[Torque]

Can anyone explain why the FAA should be able to charge for the Part 107 exam? They mandated the certification. Why should they be able to demand money from citizens to get the certification?

The FAA is part of the taxpayer funded government. It determined drones should be regulated. It determined citizens that fund the FAA should have to pay for a certification that the FAA deemed necessary, so that citizens could make money to operate drones, money that the federal government could tax. F the FAA.

You've been getting your driver's license for free all these years, eh?

 

[Torque]

well, this thread took a sudden "sovereign citizen-y" turn...

Pretty much every license/certification/etc out there has a fee associated with it.

True. I'm requuired to recertify in ACLS, PALS, NRP (Adult, Pediatric, and Neonatal Advanced Life Support certifications) every two years for my job. They are all due in the next 2 weeks and the total cost will be around $800.

 

[ssokc]

49 USC 44809: Exception for limited recreational operations of unmanned aircraft:
(a)(1) The aircraft is flown strictly for recreational purposes.

You need your 107. You're exceeding the exemption for recreational pilots.

Of course assuming he isn't using a RPIC...

 

[anotherlab]

Does "sovereign citizen-y" bother you?

Do you accept the fees because "pretty much" all licenses/certifications have them?

There is a cost to providing the certification. We don't get to pick and choose which laws and regulations to follow.
I would rather pay my own way than have someone else's taxes go toward paying my cost to take the exam.

 

[finity]

Does "sovereign citizen-y" bother you?

yes, actually...

But that's a discussion for another forum.