An appeals court ruled out the need to register for a personal drone as a per a FAA (The Federal Aviation Administration) requirement. The case regarding this rule had been filed out by model aircraft enthusiast John Taylor back in January 2016. The Department of Transportation (DoT) had passed a rule making the registration process mandatory for drones and unmanned crafts.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit gave the verdict in favor of John subject to the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act. The rule states that the FAA “may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft.” Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh, in a statement, wrote,
Taylor does not think that the FAA had the statutory authority to issue the Registration Rule and require him to register.
Taylor is right.
The FAA had revealed in March that more than 100,000 hobby drone owners had registered since the beginning of this year. The rule contained a $5 fee and potential criminal charges for non-compliance. The number of registered owners is pegged to be over 770,000 in the U.S. As per a data provided by NPD, the sales of drones have more than doubled over the period of a year from February 2016-17.
This might have come as a major relief for the drone hobbyists, but not everyone is happy with this verdict. The rule was a meaningful instrument to ensure the accountability and responsibility of the users. A press statement from FAA says,
We are carefully reviewing the U.S. Court of Appeals decision as it relates to drone registrations.
The FAA put registration and operational regulations in place to ensure that drones are operated in a way that is safe and does not pose security and privacy threats. We are in the process of considering our options and response to the decision.
