FAA registration number placement

[mfc]

Hi mfc,

Thanks for your response.

OK, you said "I'm looking for ideas for placing the Operator's ID to a Mavic Air here in the UK" and I replied assuming you were in the UK. Perhaps you could clarify your question? Where is "over here"?

 

[Goughy01]

Hi mfc
By "over here" I mean the UK.
Unfortunately your suggestion that "There's no requirement that you 'disfigure' your drone by putting your operator number on the outside. Put it in the battery compartment". is not possible as there is a requirement to display the Operator's ID on the main body of the aircraft that can be easily read when the aircraft is on the ground in letters at least 3mm high.

 

[Goughy01]

Hi bwana.
Yes. Putting the number in the battery compartment is a great idea but I think I would end up in trouble if a situation arose where say a member of the public wanted some proof that I was flying a legitimately.
It's all new legislation here so I may be interpreting the requirements too literally. At the same time I want to be very careful I don't fall foul of the law over a simple label issue.

 

[mfc]

"over here" would be the UK presumably.

The new regs stipulate:

Your operator ID must be:

• visible without needing a special tool to remove or open part of your aircraft
• clear and in block capitals taller than 3mm
• secure and safe from damage
• on the main body of the aircraft
• easy to read when the aircraft is on the ground

Presumably having your ID underneath your battery would go against the spirit of being "easy to read when the aircraft is on the ground"?

FWIW I've also opted to go against the same rule and add it to my existing battery label. If worse comes to worse I could always shift the CAA no to the side and move the battery number.

View attachment 84990

Easy to read when on the ground seems to be compatible with 'in the battery compartment'.

There is a 'back story' here -- these rules apply to all model aircraft (not just drones) and it would make no sense for it to be required that the number be visible from outside the aircraft when the model aircraft is a 'scale model' which would be invalidated by having such a number on the outside.

Therefore, it is only necessary that the number be easily accessible (e.g., in a battery compartment). Seems reasonable.

 

[mfc]

It is safer if the number is inside the battery compartment. That way, the battery has been removed when showing the number to the 'member of the public'. No chance of the props suddenly slicing them.

 

[Thomas B]

There's no requirement that you 'disfigure' your drone by putting your operator number on the outside. Put it in the battery compartment.

In the U.S you must put your registration where it is visible from the outside in any condition. This straight from FAA regs... and my communication with them.

 

[Thomas B]

(For non-UK folk reading this .. drones themselves are not registered, it is the 'operator' (usually the owner/pilot) that is registered. Hence many drones might have the same registration number .. the number of the responsible operator. )

Unless the operator is 107 doing business. Then the drone itself must have a unique number visible on it in any condition.

 

[Thomas B]

It is safer if the number is inside the battery compartment. That way, the battery has been removed when showing the number to the 'member of the public'. No chance of the props suddenly slicing them.

Not allowed by FAA regs unless the number is also displayed on the drone elsewhere so it can be seen w/o removing battery.

 

[Goughy01]

Hi Guys.
Thanks for your ideas and responses. As I mentioned, it's brand new legislation here so I'm still getting used to the interpretation of the rules. It seems to me that the CAA have virtually adopted the same rules as th FAA which is good as it keeps the rules consistent. Thanks again mfc, beans, Thomas B

 

[mfc]

Yes, FAA rules require the number to visible from the outside -- but also those rules only apply to drones, I think? Here (UK) the rules apply to all model aircraft over 250g and unsurprisingly builders of scale models objected to that rule .

As for Farmer Joe, how's he to know what the number is and what to do with it? More likely he'd dump the drone in a skip or sell it on eBay ...

 

[Goughy01]

???

 

[Earthman]

I hope someone said this earlier - I don’t have time to read the entire thread. In any case, in the USA, all of an owner’s UAVs flown for recreation can display the same registration number, but each UAV flown commercially needs to be registered individually and display a unique registration number.

Obviously the FAA wants to be able to ID the owner of a UAV for liability reasons, but they are also tracking the number of UAVs used commercially.

The method of labeling the UAV isn’t specified other than it has to be legible and visible on the outside of the aircraft without needing to open anything, so you can’t put the ID number in the battery compartment, etc.

You can use a Sharpie or make a label using a cheap label machine. I use a $30 Brother label machine that uses a thermal printing process to make my labels. It doesn’t matter what the end result looks like as long as it’s legible. You don’t need to buy a “special FAA label” from a vendor online.

I typically apply 1/2 inch wide, white plastic, thermally-printed labels that show my FAA registration number, name, and cell phone number on all my fixed-wing, rotary, and multi-rotor UAVs regardless of size and weight. Some people add a notice of a reward if a lost UAV is returned to the owner.

My label printer also prints barcodes so I also apply a barcode label to my aircraft and batteries for inventory and logging purposes.