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Your drone is no toy! It’s an “unmanned aircraft system”

By Koh Wanzi - on 20 Oct 2015, 11:50am

Your drone is no toy! It’s an “unmanned aircraft system”

Image Source: DJI

You may think your drone is just a toy, but the US Department of Transportation doesn’t share your levity. In fact, it thinks your drone is an "unmanned aircraft system".

In an announcement Monday, it said that drone owners will have to register the devices with the US federal government as part of a new national registry.

The new move isn’t entirely without reason though and is apparently a response to several close calls with drones and passenger aircraft at airports. And as the holiday season approaches, there’s expected to be a further surge in drone sales that could put even more of these aircraft in US skies.

According to Anthony Foxx, the transportation secretary, the new measures are intended to help build a culture of accountability and responsibility. New users have little experience operating in the US aviation system, and the need to register might prompt them to be more aware of existing regulations and safety issues.

Then there’s the need to track down rogue drone pilots who fly irresponsibly or simply ignore regulations. A national drone registry would help the authorities do this by linking drone owners to their drones with a unique identification number.

However, it looks like not all drones are affected as the US government also announced a task force to determine which aircraft should be exempt from the registration. These craft would have low safety risks, and might possible include toys and other smaller devices.

Given the growing numbers of drone hobbyists locally, there are already regulations in place that require drone owners to apply for permits to operate their drones in specific cases. However, this stops short of requiring all drone owners to register their aircraft and users flying their drones (it must weigh less than 7kg) recreationally in public spaces like parks can still do so without an official permit.

For a closer look at the current Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) regulations, you can refer here.

Source: US Department of Transportation via Ars Technica

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