New FAA Proposed sUAS Rules 14 Jan 2019

[kadras]

Today on the FAA website:
On January 14, 2019, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced proposed new rules and a pilot project to allow unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or more commonly called drones, to fly overnight and over people without waivers under certain conditions and to further integrate drones safely into the national airspace system.

Secretary Chao's Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting Remarks

DRAFT NPRM--Operation of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems over People (PDF)
These proposed changes to Part 107 would attempt to balance the need to mitigate safety risks without inhibiting technological and operational advances.

DRAFT ANPRM--Safe and Secure Operations of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (PDF)
The FAA will seek public input to identify major drone safety and security issues that may pose a threat to other aircraft, to people on the ground or to national security as drones are integrated into our national airspace.

 

[kadras]

The two major sections of the draft NPRM deal with allowing flight over people and flying at night without requiring waivers. With much less discussion, there are two other proposed changes.
1. Require remote pilots to present their remote pilot in command certificates and photo ID to the [FAA] Administrator, authorized representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) or Transportation Security Administration (TSA), or any Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer, upon request from any such officials. This would be in line with the requirements for other FAA certifications.

2. Requiring recurrent training every 24 months, in lieu of recurrent knowledge testing, with test questions incorporated into the training. The training could be accomplished online. The FAA would either offer, or review and approve, all such training that could fulfill the requirements.

The draft ANPRM requests public input, by asking specific questions, on proposed ideas.
1. Establish stand-off distances, the amount of space between a small UAS and the closest person or object. They can have a horizontal component, a vertical component, or be measured directly using a slant range. The FAA points out that both Canada and the Europeans include prescriptive stand-off distances.

2. Establish additional operating and/or performance limitations on sUAS.

3. Parameters needed for Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) systems.

4. Payload restrictions.

5. Specific design requirements for sUAS operating over people and beyond visual line of sight.

 

[wonderspark]

I'm very new to drones. I received a Mavic Air for Christmas, and the first time I went to fly it (inside my house), I had to take a little quiz on my DJI GO 4 app, which I passed the first time without knowing any of the rules. (The answers seemed pretty obvious.)

So, I've read what appears to be conflicting info, and have become confused. Do we need to register to fly drones outside, or is that currently not required? I have flown 25 times, with 23 of those flights outdoors. I want to be sure that I stay on the right side of the rules, and would be loathe to be caught off guard by some authority that asks for my registration.

I've read that the quiz I took is all that's required to fly outdoors, and I've read that the FAA was blocked from requiring registration, then that there was some appeal, and so forth.

It would be logical to conclude that it's just better to just pay the $5 and register properly, especially given that I'm most likely going to have to go even further soon, as I'm very likely to be paid for drone video footage in the near future. As I understand it, that's another process and $150 for two years of registration via Part 107.

I need to read up more on it, but is the general consensus that everyone with a device weighing more than 0.55 lbs must register, or does that pre-flight quiz meet the requirement?

 

[DanMan32]

Since 2016, with a few months pause due to legality issues that were soon resolved, you have to register with FAA which costs $5.
Make sure you are on FAA site, as there are third party sites pretending to be the registration site.
Also be sure you are in the right section. The one for FAA for recreation should not ask complicated questions about your AC. You only have to register once for yourself, no matter how many drones you have.
Part 107 registration requirement is per drone.

 

[dmac1]

I'm very new to drones. I received a Mavic Air for Christmas, and the first time I went to fly it (inside my house), I had to take a little quiz on my DJI GO 4 app, which I passed the first time without knowing any of the rules. (The answers seemed pretty obvious.)

So, I've read what appears to be conflicting info, and have become confused. Do we need to register to fly drones outside, or is that currently not required? I have flown 25 times, with 23 of those flights outdoors. I want to be sure that I stay on the right side of the rules, and would be loathe to be caught off guard by some authority that asks for my registration.

I've read that the quiz I took is all that's required to fly outdoors, and I've read that the FAA was blocked from requiring registration, then that there was some appeal, and so forth.

It would be logical to conclude that it's just better to just pay the $5 and register properly, especially given that I'm most likely going to have to go even further soon, as I'm very likely to be paid for drone video footage in the near future. As I understand it, that's another process and $150 for two years of registration via Part 107.

I need to read up more on it, but is the general consensus that everyone with a device weighing more than 0.55 lbs must register, or does that pre-flight quiz meet the requirement?

You must register, quiz or no quiz.

If you are going to be making $ from drone flying, you should register your drone under section 107 which is for commercial use vs where I'm registered as a hobbyist.

 

[dawgpilot]

You must register, quiz or no quiz.

If you are going to be making $ from drone flying, you should register your drone under section 107 which is for commercial use vs where I'm registered as a hobbyist.

Just to further elaborate, if you are flying for commercial purposes, you need to register the drone under 107 AND the pilot needs to hold a Remote Pilot Certificate.