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FAA Sued In Federal Court Over Drone Registration Rules

Discussion in 'Flight Regulations' started by Howard Dapp, Jan 4, 2016.

  1. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Unfortunately no. I speaks with the ghostly voice of Steve Jobs.
    Andy.
     
  2. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    The FAA's primary interest is the airspace not the groundspace:

    Our Mission​
    The mission of the FAA is to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.​
    The role of the FAA Airports organization in meeting this goal is to provide leadership in planning and developing a safe and efficient national airport system to satisfy the needs of aviation interests of the United States. The FAA Airports organization accomplishes this task with due consideration for economics, environmental compatibility, local proprietary rights and the safeguarding of the public investment."​

    Nothing in there about keeping people on the ground safe -- just the National Airspace System.

    That said, the FAR's do include language like:

    Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:​
    (a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.
    (b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.​
    (c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.​
    [ (d) Helicopters, powered parachutes, and weight-shift-control aircraft. If the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface--
    (1) A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, provided each person operating the helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the FAA; and​
    (2) A powered parachute or weight-shift-control aircraft may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (c) of this section.]​


    Andy.
     
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  3. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    :(
     
  4. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    Well keeping the airspace safe is keeping the ground safe. What goes up most come down. :eek: The FAA will change their approach when a drone takes down a helicopter in a populated area. In my opinion its only a matter of time unfortunately.
     
  5. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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  6. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    I still think a T-shirt cannon would be more effective. They could use "Know Before You Fly" T-shirts too.
    Or perhaps T-shirts that just say "Gomen'nasai" on them ("Sorreee...")

    Andy.
     
  7. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    Why waste a perfectly good t-shirt? You could load some al dente spaghetti and get the same effect. Or spare hairpieces from The Donald.
     
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  8. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    I'm sorry but the FAA does not regulate the hairspace.

    Andy.
     
  9. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    LMAO
     
  10. Shaun Stanton

    Shaun Stanton Active Member

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    There is a way around that. If you keep your ipad off the internet and make sure the app cannot auto update, it will not require a firmware update. The only way it knows it needs a firmware update is if the ipad app "DJI GO" does an auto update or you update the app. Then it wants to sync the app to the latest firmware on the bird. This question was brought up to the DJI folks.

    Also DJI is working on releasing restrictions on people who have 333's in the US or equivalent authorizations in other countries.
     
  11. Shaun Stanton

    Shaun Stanton Active Member

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    According to DJi if your app does not update then the firmware will not need one. That is why I only use the 2 ipad airs only for the Inspire, and nothing else. I keep the things off the internet so I have control over firmware updates. So far it has worked.
     
  12. Shaun Stanton

    Shaun Stanton Active Member

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    I like your approach. I would go one step further. I would lock the firmware on the system. Then I would make it so a new drone owner has to go to the manufactures website read through all of the rules and pass a simple test on the rules. Once you pass, you plug in your FC into the firmware assistant and the firmware gets an unlock instruction through the internet. After that you fly. Any subsequent purchases would already go and look up your account info and unlock it for you.

    Of course this would only work for new owners to the major systems. It would not work for any legacy system or anyone using FC's like Multiwii, Ardupilot or Naze, since it is hard to control the firmware on those.
     

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