Lynn Says

Northwest Technology Center and I have agreed for me to hold another class regarding drones in the USA. The class will be Nov. 8 and 15 this fall. Two hours each night. It is not a full-fledged commercial licensing class like I took in January, which required 16 hours.

The rules keep changing. When I taught the drone class in January this year, and in between the meeting weeks, many of the laws got changed, including required registration of all drones weighing more than .55 pounds. So I had to skip half of my PowerPoint slides, as they were out of date.

Now they are out of date again. Here is an article from a magazine to which I subscribe: Drone 360.

Federal Court of Appeals Rules Model Aircraft Are Now Exempt from Required Registration

By Leah Froats, Lauren Sigfusson

May 19, 2017

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has reached a ruling on the Taylor v. FAA case regarding hobbyist drone registration.

The ruling, filed today, determines that the FAA was outside its rights in enforcing a new rule for hobbyist drone operators. As such, the requirement was determined to be unlawful and is no longer in effect – in what appears to be the first federal court ruling on drones. The ruling does not affect commercial drones.

In an effort to promote safety and accountability among drone operators, the FAA promulgated a rule known as the Registration Rule. This rule required drone hobbyists to register their aircraft through an online portal on the FAA’s website.

But many drone hobbyists didn’t take kindly to this new registration rule.

The Case

John Taylor, a Maryland insurance lawyer and lifelong aviation hobbyist, filed a lawsuit on Dec. 24, 2015, against the FAA in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia arguing that the FAA did not have the authority to impose registration rules over model aircraft, which includes recreational drones.

Taylor’s main argument against the FAA’s registration requirement was that the FAA is prohibited by Section 336 of the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act from regulating model aircraft. But what are model aircraft? Well, the FAA says unmanned aircraft operated for recreational purposes are known as “model aircraft.”

Here’s the portion of 336 that’s brought into question: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law relating to the incorporation of unmanned aircraft systems into Federal Aviation Administration plans and policies, including this subtitle, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft.”

Taylor and Jonathan Rupprecht, a drone lawyer who assisted Taylor with the case, argued that the streamlined, web-based registration system is a new “rule or regulation” imposed upon model aircraft owners.

The FAA disagreed, arguing in its official sUAS registration rulemaking document: “While Section 336 bars the FAA from promulgating new rules or regulations that apply only to model aircraft, the prohibition against future rulemaking is not a complete bar on rulemaking and does not exempt model aircraft from complying with existing statutory and regulatory requirements.”

Well, the federal Court of Appeals did not side with the FAA.

Back to Lynn Says

So who knows what the rules will be when the November course rolls around.

Last week, in their back parking lot, Northwest Technology Center had a demonstration of drone technology by Embry-Riddle Aviation Institute. In general, they were flying drone brands similar to some that I use.

What got my attention was they were successfully flying their DJI drones in MUCH higher winds than I would have dared had I been the pilot. This was the day all the tornado chasers came to town.

The documentation that came with my drone said that flying in 18 knot winds should be the upper limit. Indeed, I have known several pilots, including myself, who have had “fly-away” drones because of too high wind speeds or they flew out of range of the radio control device in their hands. The fly-away problem exists when the winds overpower the lift of the little propellers on the drones. One manufacturer has created a 12-propeller drone designed for high winds ... if you have $30,000.

So, because of the demonstration from Embry-Riddle, I flew my drone to get a shot of Brad Gordon's outdoor wedding in probably 25-30 mph winds. It didn't fly away and I got a few good shots. You can see the wedding drone shot on another page in this Newsgram.