Drone enthusiasts debate new regulations

December 15, 2015 5:52 pm

By: Rebecca Turco

Email: rturco@abc6.com

WARWICK, R.I. – New drone rules are getting off the ground, as thousands of drones are expected to fly off the shelves this holiday season.

Starting Monday, all drone owners will have to register their aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration. The move follows hundreds of close calls of drones flying near jets and airports.

“It puts [drones] in the big leagues,” explained Chris Williams, owner of Rhode Island’s only drone store, Cloud City Drones. “It’s no longer just a Frisbee or a paper airplane – we’re talking about something that now has to be registered like any other higher-end device.”

Drones weighing anywhere from half a pound to 55 pounds must be marked with a unique registration number, so that the owners can be tracked down if they break the rules, like flying higher than 400 feet or within five miles of an airport.

Current drone owners will have to register online by February 19 and new owners will have to do it before they fly. But exactly how this will be enforced hasn’t been specified.

“Everybody is just trying to keep up right now with the changing technology,” said Williams.

The Academy of Model Aeronautics has spoken out against this regulation, calling it an “unnecessary burden for more than 185,000 members who have been operating safely for decades.

Registration costs $5 and must be renewed every three years, but that fee will be waived until January 20. Recreational fliers can register as many aircraft as they want on one registration number.