Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ruled against the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) policy for registering drones.
This decision should mean that most hobby drone pilots will not need to register their drones with the FAA or even keep their current registration up-to-date. (*See legal note below)
We previously
wrote about this harsh requirement two years ago.
In the ruling from May 19, 2017,
John A. Taylor v Federation Aviation Administration, the court ruled against the FAA's regulations. Specifically, the court found that the agency does not have authority to regulate model aircraft:
In short, Section 336 of the FAA Modernization and
Reform Act prohibits the FAA from promulgating “any rule or
regulation regarding a model aircraft.” The Registration Rule
is a rule regarding model aircraft. Therefore, the Registration
Rule is unlawful to the extent that it applies to model aircraft.
But the court's ruling is not all inclusive.
Pilots of drones used for commercial use--- even piloted by a hobbyist -- still appear to need to register and maintain a drone registration for their model aircraft.
Most importantly, all drone users must continue to pilot their drones in a safe, responsible and legal manner.
The FAA released a statement on the ruling:
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.
We continue to encourage registration for all drone operators.
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