U.K. Registration petition

[colinfowler]

As we all know, the government in its infinite ignorance is bundling anything RC into the category of Drone and this year will start charging us all £16.50 per year to be part of a registration scheme. In most European countries (and USA) the similar scheme is either free or a nominal charge. Those in the know claim that the CAA and DoT are well known for hiking fees so who knows what it will escalate to.

As we are all responsible flyers I would encourage you to sign this petition and to pass it on to others.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/259863?fbclid=IwAR2KEpNEQo35vzyQR7ZEguJ3KZIPi_a5w22cJhYI9Z75ITz6TsVugp0hwSs

 

[Jerry]

So far only 627 signatures!!! Wtf!!! .. we only have ourselves to blame for silly rules regulations and charges being forced upon us with this level of apathy.

CLICK THE LINK!!!

Archived Petition: Scrap the CAA Drone Registration Scheme

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are launching UK Drone Registration Scheme, which is due to be launched from 1 October 2019 which means anyone who may fly recreationally will be subject to an annual charge of £16.50 to cover the cost of the registration! We want this registration process scraped

petition.parliament.uk

 

[ZX14-R]

So far only 627 signatures!!! Wtf!!! .. we only have ourselves to blame for silly rules regulations and charges being forced upon us with this level of apathy.

CLICK THE LINK!!!

Archived Petition: Scrap the CAA Drone Registration Scheme

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are launching UK Drone Registration Scheme, which is due to be launched from 1 October 2019 which means anyone who may fly recreationally will be subject to an annual charge of £16.50 to cover the cost of the registration! We want this registration process scraped

petition.parliament.uk

I think this will be coming into Australia Soon.

Registration of all your drones and an Annual ~$20 fee. Big Brother stuff.

 

[gnirtS]

Most people would have actually spent the time filling out the consultation document where the issue of price was clear with plenty of scope for addressing it.

A petition after the event carries far less weight.

Also, the price hasnt been announced yet - that was the whole point of the consultation document. It was a starting point suggestion. So the place to argue the case was in there.

 

[zocalo]

Also, the price hasnt been announced yet - that was the whole point of the consultation document. It was a starting point suggestion. So the place to argue the case was in there.

Have to agree with this; we had a chance to comment (I took it, as did others on this forum), and this adds nothing more to that. Even if the petetion gets to 10K signatures (response), or 100K (discussion in Commons), it'll just get dismissed with something along the lines of "it's only a consultation at this stage" and maybe some waffle about how all comments from that consultation will be considered.

In any event, I suspect the consultation pushback was pretty severe, mostly thanks to the BFMA and posts drawing attention to it on forums such as this, so I expect things to change before the next update. Whether that's for the better remains to be seen.

 

[Jerry]

So go sign the petition anyways .. what you got to loose ?

 

[Jerry]

Re BFMA severe push back, didn’t they help negotiate 400ft for drones and 1000ft for “others”? .. perhaps “we” should speak up for our rights ourselves more often .. just a thought [emoji848]

 

[zocalo]

Re BFMA severe push back, didn’t they help negotiate 400ft for drones and 1000ft for “others”? .. perhaps “we” should speak up for our rights ourselves more often .. just a thought [emoji848]

I think drone pilots definitely need to find our own voice separate to other users of the UK's airspace, especially given the way "drone" seems to have become some kind of trigger word in the media (although, to be fair, there has been some positive coverage too). My point was more that many of us did do this and there are a few, quite lengthy, discussion threads here on it with myself and several other forum regulars submitting responses to the consultation that were hopefully more constructive than just critical. My own response included some potential alternative sources of funding (BALPA, airports, airlines), the need to incentivise people to register by providing some "perks" for doing so, and concerns over raising pilot awareness of the need to register, for instance. Signing a petition that is unlikely to go very far isn't really going to add much more to that, but equally can't do any harm so I've signed it anyway.

I did LOL a bit a the BMFA's response though; up until the consultation was published it seemed like they were just expecting it to apply to drones and that they would be exempt, then had an infarction when they realised they were going to be expected to pay as well. They were certainly opposed to the proposal in general, which is helpful for drone pilots, but what alternative proposals their members might have come up may well be akin to the "400ft for drones and 1000ft for 'others'" distinction. That would be a pretty naive view though, given that it appears pretty clear from their terminology definitions that the CAA has decided to make life easy for themselves and lump all unmanned/RC aircraft together going forwards. Yes, each group has its specific corner of needs and wants to fight for, but there's no reason why we shouldn't work together as much as possible as well given the huge amount of shared common ground.

 

[jagraphics]

Most people would have actually spent the time filling out the consultation document where the issue of price was clear with plenty of scope for addressing it.

A petition after the event carries far less weight.

Also, the price hasnt been announced yet - that was the whole point of the consultation document. It was a starting point suggestion. So the place to argue the case was in there.

The number who completed the concultation document was low. £16.50 is OK. However it is the other things around it..... like the test. Though AFAIK it is going to be very simple. The other thing is you are probably going to need your registration number in order to get insurance and as with driving a carI suspect it is going to be mandatory to have insurance. The £16.50 will disappear inthe mist compared to the £300 a year for insurance.

PfCO pilots are not really going to notice any difference other than they have an aditional £16.50 to pay. Though I suggesting in the consultation that anyone who has a PfCO, when they register they enter their licence number, the charge is Zero as they already pay the CAA registration for the PfCO.

This would suggest a combined database. It makes a lot of sense.

 

[zocalo]

The number who completed the concultation document was low. £16.50 is OK. However it is the other things around it..... like the test. Though AFAIK it is going to be very simple. The other thing is you are probably going to need your registration number in order to get insurance and as with driving a carI suspect it is going to be mandatory to have insurance. The £16.50 will disappear inthe mist compared to the £300 a year for insurance.

PfCO pilots are not really going to notice any difference other than they have an aditional £16.50 to pay. Though I suggesting in the consultation that anyone who has a PfCO, when they register they enter their licence number, the charge is Zero as they already pay the CAA registration for the PfCO.

This would suggest a combined database. It makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, I'm not expecting there to have been a massive number of responses either - there never is, even for things with relevance to the general public. In this instance it's also not exactly a huge pool of interested parties to draw from, but in any case it's the quality of the responses that matters more than the numbers, and hopefully that got a few points across.

FWIW, I too think £16.50pa isn't much in the scheme of things and would pay it (despite it being much higher than other country's schemes), and several others here have said the same. I don't think those here (and in the BFMA) are the problem - we're all generally pretty keen on our hobby/business, clueful of the UK legislation, and (mostly) seem to abide by the rules. The problem is those who are more casual fliers, not so clueful of the legislation and/or disregard the rules (whether wilfully or through ignorance), many of whom are either not going to know about the need to register and/or ignore it if the price is too much to bear - especially if it includes a requirement for insurance which, so far at least, has not been mentioned in connection with the hobbyist-only fliers. Look at it like this: £16.50pa for a £1,500 drone is ~1%; £16.50pa of a £150 "toy" is ~10%; and if you need liability insurance as well...

Agreed on the combined DB and integration of the PfCO being a good idea - should save some costs and reduce the admin burden too.

 

[gnirtS]

There is nothing in the document that can justify charging 4-5x what most other countries do annually (and offer less in return).
That cost will deter people from registering.

 

[Mavic Carl]

Why should we pay for a hobby we enjoy it's just the government putting the nose in and making money. It will indeed go up in price like every think does. It's unfair having to pay for a hobby and most of this has probably come from the ignorance of the people who brake the rules behind the restrictions already in place.

 

[validatekev]

We do ourselves no favours by wording a petition in such a way. I am unsurprised that so few have signed. Most responsible flyers are not averse to registration. It is more to the likely cost. That said I have signed and written to my local MP and would urge all others to do the same. That said you could also join the BMFA as they are very actively engaged with parliament.

 

[jagraphics]

Why should we pay for a hobby we enjoy it's just the government putting the nose in and making money. It will indeed go up in price like every think does. It's unfair having to pay for a hobby and most of this has probably come from the ignorance of the people who brake the rules behind the restrictions already in place.

Most of the hobbies I have done required a license (and generally more than £16.50 a year). As do many other things that are virtually "required" by life and many careers. £16.50 is negligible certainly a lot less the the Drone insurance you have....

What registration will do is enable the police to size drones and theoretically prosecute the unregistered flyers. I suspect that after a flurry of arrests/confiscations etc in the news most of the problem users and occasional flyers will have moved on to the next hobby. Also I expect that other than a couple of high profile cases 99% of the time the Police will just confiscate the drone and give a warning.

For the responsible/serious flyers there are going to be a lot of 2nd had Drones at car boot sales to pick up for silly money in 2020. Then all you have to do is register them. You "found it in a field"

The serious criminals will carry on as normal but idiots over Gatwick are a lot less likely to happen.

 

[DroningOn]

What registration will do is enable the police to seize ( I assume that’s what you meant) drones and theoretically prosecute the unregistered flyers

Thank you for clearly stating what many of us have known from the beginning what these registration schemes are all about. It has nothing to do with safety. It’s just a tool to help government hassle us and suppress our hobby.

 

[kensteele]

Most of the hobbies I have done required a license (and generally more than £16.50 a year). As do many other things that are virtually "required" by life and many careers. £16.50 is negligible certainly a lot less the the Drone insurance you have....

What registration will do is enable the police to size drones and theoretically prosecute the unregistered flyers. I suspect that after a flurry of arrests/confiscations etc in the news most of the problem users and occasional flyers will have moved on to the next hobby. Also I expect that other than a couple of high profile cases 99% of the time the Police will just confiscate the drone and give a warning.

For the responsible/serious flyers there are going to be a lot of 2nd had Drones at car boot sales to pick up for silly money in 2020. Then all you have to do is register them. You "found it in a field"

The serious criminals will carry on as normal but idiots over Gatwick are a lot less likely to happen.

wow, is it really that way in the uk, is this really what you expect to happen with drones? amazing. so how many government licenses do you have in order to practice your hobby(s)? six, ten, twelve?

 

[Bruce Lythe]

No one has compared all this to boats. I have a powerboat which can carry 6 people up to 50mph. In the UK: Required Qualification: zero. Licence Fee: zero. Safety Requirements: zero. Restrictions on where to travel: zero. Requirements for insurance: zero.

Risk if I hit something - 1300kg times 50mph is a lot of kinetic energy compared my Mavic Air falling out of the sky.....

Note I do read the marine equivalent of NOTAMs, have comprehensive and backed up safety kit, the recommended qualifications as a leisure helmsman of a powerboat, full insurance.....

But many don't.

And I could drive a 99.5ft powerboat at 70mph which would be 100 tonnes plus - on the same basis.... I have driven one perfectly legally at 30mph.....

the marine industry is a powerful well funded lobby which resists regulation.... wrongly actually IMHO

 

[DuffMog]

As we all know, the government in its infinite ignorance is bundling anything RC into the category of Drone and this year will start charging us all £16.50 per year to be part of a registration scheme. In most European countries (and USA) the similar scheme is either free or a nominal charge. Those in the know claim that the CAA and DoT are well known for hiking fees so who knows what it will escalate to.

As we are all responsible flyers I would encourage you to sign this petition and to pass it on to others.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/259863?fbclid=IwAR2KEpNEQo35vzyQR7ZEguJ3KZIPi_a5w22cJhYI9Z75ITz6TsVugp0hwSs

Thanks for reminder

 

[jagraphics]

Thank you for clearly stating what many of us have known from the beginning what these registration schemes are all about. It has nothing to do with safety. It’s just a tool to help government hassle us and suppress our hobby.

It's attitudes like that that cause these laws inthe first place. Your hobby is flying an aircraft in controlled airspace. That is a safety issue.

 

[jagraphics]

wow, is it really that way in the uk, is this really what you expect to happen with drones? amazing. so how many government licenses do you have in order to practice your hobby(s)? six, ten, twelve?

Many activities require a license. Some from the government sometimes from local or other authorities. It seems reasonable to require a licence to fly an aircraft in controlled airspace.