Being a law abiding citizen, and wanting to do the right thing, I sent in my five dollars and registered with the FAA my drones for use while filming kite events and for personal use.
Everything went well and I was informed that I would receive my five dollar registration fee back because of early registration. After downloading the app onto my phone, it dawned on me that I will not be able to fly my drone legally.
The app I am referring to is put out by the FAA, and it is called B4UFLY.
The issue that came up and after studying the app and figuring out how it works, is that it doesn't go far enough. But then again it goes way too far. The law requires that if I am going to fly my drone within 5 miles of an airport that I must contact the airport and let them know that I will be flying my drone. The problem is twofold.
1. There is no information on how to contact the airport which can also be a heliport.
2. Heliports are also considered airports.
Here's the big problem, there are over 318 heliports in the greater Seattle area. These are only the ones that are registered with the FAA that has an occupancy of three or more occupants in the helicopter. If there is a gyrocopter or a two occupant helicopter These fall under a different category.

Along with the other rules such as only fly with in visual site of the quad copter, and not over public, you are basically limited to only flying in your yard as a toy hooked on a string tied to your wrist. Here in Washington state you can land and aircraft on the beaches so operating a drone while filming your buddies kite buggy in is against the law.

So after contacting the FAA and asking about the definition of drone and not receiving any information back except that they are looking into it and RC plane is still not considered a drone, and my single blade helicopter with a forward mounted camera is not listed as a drone either. Not sure at this point whether I can be an honest citizen anymore.:evil:

@bigkid- not sure if you are trying to stir thepot or not but any rc craft that weighs more than 250 grams is considered a drone or uav- so good luck with that. I have no intention of registering!

if you are a line sight pilot why bother? kinda my position... i don't use GPS or do crowd flying just like RC plane . i would not register

the real problem, hobby grade in consumer ready stream! now non hobbyist (GPS dependent) are putting the public in danger. they are not rc pilots. don't know the rules and don't care.

That's the thing. Here in Vancouver, good luck finding a place to fly it without getting a complaint within 5 minutes.. That's unless you go east and find an empty field. Even then, someone will find a reason to kick you out. The rules here are no flying drones 9km from airports, (at least for YVR). I fully respect that.

Way too many people are breaking that rule and ruining it for others. This restricts others (recreational flyers/clubs) and doesn't really make me want to get a drone any more. I have a blade 180qx which I only fly in my backyard. Try flying one at a local park and people start complaining that their, "privacy is being disrupted because their is a GoPro mounted on your drone."

If they implement licensing for drones, sales will obviously go down for businesses. But the real question is, will drone operators still follow the rules?

consumers' only rule... $ has given them the power and the right! skill, rules, judgement were not in purchase agreement.

The whole RTF units that a brave consumer might buy i seem to remeber there being "red zone" areas, where RTF hardware for GPS dependent operation cannot be used... the birds software tells unit automatically that its close to an airport/metro area and unit will not work ?? don't really know whats going on, gotta have commerical licsense to fly and shot for $, so its gonna punish the lifetime hobbyist cause some careless "operator " drops a bird on someoene.

Last I heard the AMA said to hold off on registering as they are attempting to work on things with the FAA...

http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amagov/2015/12/17/hold-off-...

I fly all kinds of stuff from combat wings to 700 size Heli's.. one of my main concerns is what if someone manages to get your FAA ID #, puts it on their model aircraft, then proceeds to fly into restricted airspace or some such other nonsense? Then the FAA just comes after you? Maybe I'm just paranoid.

its basically "the gamer" now has actual external live unit! NOT virtual.

now lifetimers' of hobby/rc piloting has just been swallowed by mainstream consumer market with GPS assist...now ANYONE can be an "operator".

A good video on the same topic. I guess drone liability insurance will be advisable, if not mandatory, in the not too distant future.

http://youtu.be/LXjvIZTp-mI

Quote: Originally posted by flyguy0101

@bigkid- not sure if you are trying to stir thepot or not but any rc craft that weighs more than 250 grams is considered a drone or uav- so good luck with that. I have no intention of registering!

not trying to stir the pot, just vent.
wanting to do the right thing and follow the law which makes it even harder to do legally. I have to travel 4 miles due East to find any area to use my quadcopter, now Im in the middle of the forest with trees everywhere. I live 1/4 mile from a major hospital with a heliport and its not listed. Bill Gates has a helipad and doesnt even have a helicopter.
MaryMoor park has an RC field which is located less than a mile from 2 helipads and thats ok.

one of those laws that are as stupid as the morons who made them. by the way, dont spit in Seattle or you go to jail.

wonder how to go about registering my place as a heliport, hmmmmm:evil:

just one of those things that makes life a bit less......

I've been an RC pilot for 50yrs. the development of semiautonomous aircraft that any person willing to put down the money can fly into trouble
with no thought of learning how to share and safely use the air space is killing our sport. We have had an airfield within 5 miles of the
Jetport and have coexisted in harmony with the airport and FAA. The early reading of the rules could cause us to lose our field if exceptions
are not allowed. At some point there will be a fatality caused by an unthinking user and we will all loose our use of the skills and equipment
garnered over a lifetime. Consumerism strikes again, bring out the wallet and do whatever you want regardless.

Consumerism is not the problem- failing to hold folks responsible for their actions and more importantily allowing our government to Rule us instead of govern us. I read that 1 million drones were expected to be sold this past Christmas. Ever thought that it is just a way to create more revenue for our "concerned" gov't? If I injury or harm somebody or their property than I am responsible to make them "whole" again but the idea that I have to pay a fee to register (give money to govt so that they have my information) is ludicrious- how in the hell is that going to keep stupid people from being stupid.

As for the AMA- I am a member but in my opinion they are not much better than the dc buracracy and have completely missed the boat in the largest growth of the RC industry and that is FPV and yes Quadcopters (drones)

FYI- I fly/race small quads that have no gps or autonomous flight ability as well as a fully autonomous quad and Plane that I can use for mapping or even to follow me so I have my own aerial photographer. I think Cell Phones in cars is a bigger problem why don't we make folks put their phones in the trunk when they drive so that they stop looking at them instead of driving- but I guess we will never fix stupid or the ability for the majority of people to just use a little common sense
rant over

Well said Scott. I'm not into drones but like your thoughts all the way around.

Thanks Scott, it's always nice to be reminded of things of the past.
I'm trying to keep a sense of humor about things, and cell phones and car drivers are one of those things that aren't funny.
I bought Renee a new Jeep Wrangler and two months later on September 5 we were stopped on the freeway due to traffic and we were rear-ended. After checking to make sure both of us were OK I got out to go talk to that idiot that hit us. He was sitting there with his cell phone in one hand and a pencil in the other hand and the person on the phone was saying, hello? Hello? At which point I lost it.

So needless to say I have had a headache since 6 September. Dealing with lawyers, insurance companies, motor vehicle accident doctors, emergency room visits, neurologist, chiropractors, and the Almighty trip to the pharmacy, it's hard to forget .
The only positive aspect of this situation is it I am going to sue his blank off along with the insurance company. As for the drone situation, well I can only smile and hope that my headache goes away sooner than later .

Just read a story about a guy in Kentucky that had enough of a drone flying over his back yard below treetop level. Even though the owner of the drone asserted he was flying hundreds of feet above ground, the landowner was able to shoot down the drone with a shotgun. Not likely possible at 200 feet.

My son was telling me about the giant mosquito that was buzzing their house a few months ago and how loud it was. While he was telling me the story The mosquito returned. Upon looking outside I noticed quad copter hovering above the house. As I was watching a quad copters movements I became a little uneasy watching that hover over the backyards of each house and slowly rotate, moved to the next yard rotate moved to the next yard and rotate again.
That's when the pellet guns came out and we proceeded to have a bit of sharpshooter practice. I had already had up my mind as to what was going on and got in the truck and drove around the other end of the block to see where the quad copter was going to land. Made a phone call to the police department complaining about what was going on and we were told there was nothing that could be done. A few weeks later the neighbors had gotten together to discuss the thievery of missing things in everyone's backyards when the subject of the quad copter came up .
Long story short, the kid was arrested and charged with burglary amongst other things and most of everything was returned to those yards were they were taken in the first place.
Sad part about all of this was that the pellet rifles need to be cited in with a little more precision.

@bigkid- ^^^I am sure that having him be required to register his drone would have prevented him from being a thief:D. As I said above you cant fix stupid! Now you just need to learn how to shoot- hope you have a great weekend
S

innovation empowering ignorance...its been non-stop since fire was discovered!

all good points here guys.

innovation has put it out into the public hands (a little too easy! maybe the producers are the real capitalist bad guy in the equation) . the "build and fly" WAS the filter for this issue . now the less motivated just "buy and fly" it certainly not a consumer fault. its has been romanticized buy the seller ...now everyone is an "operator" by the filter of cash in their pocket

the coulds and the shoulds are all tangled up here. if the nefarious drone operator had the intel to build it himself (maybe he did)perhaps the moral flexibility may have been absent just with the scope of thought in that process.

Have a nice weekend.... You betcha.

Anyone else able to use the app to see local airfields? The app only works with gps as you travel, unable to access information unless you actually travel through that area. Might need to make a road trip to the beach this weekend to play and do a bit of recconisince.

Phree, your right about the build and fly filter. I miss the days of flying my gas powered plane by string.

just got off the phone with someone at the FAA about the drone REQUIREMENTS and to say it was an eye opener is like saying &%#@^%*&.
I am in disbelief at the lack of knowledge of those that make the rules the rest of us have to live by.
Upon looking up the airports and heliparks listed with the FAA I found that there are 3 within 5 miles of Wildwood NJ, and an airport on Jekyll Island that will not allow the legal use of drones in those areas. In simple terms stated by the FAA, you have to ask permission from those established air fields for permission to operate your drone and they air fields will not grant you permission due to the fact that they are not required to. You can ask till you are blue in the face and they will not ok your request.
I will not fly higher than 400 foot, I will fly only within sight of the drone, and I will not drink and fly. How do I film an event while kite buggies are playing on the beach? If any aircraft fly less than 400 feet above my head while on the beach, will be in strict violation of the law.....hahahaha
I purchased the Lily Quadcopter that automatically follows the transmitter and flies no more than 45 feet in height and distance from the transmitter. When the battery goes dead it returns to the transmitter. Wonder if I can teach it to go somewhere else to land so no one knows it mine?
Guess I will become the outlaw kiter, I think that name is already taken.

I might have to spend a little more time on my kite mounted cameras from now on.....NOT!