Irish roll out obligatory drone register The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has announced that from 21 December, all drones (or Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), as they're known locally) weighing over 1kg must be registered. The authority's director of safety regulation Ralph James announced the scheme at the Drones, Data X Conference, in County Mayo, the …
It seems to make sense to have some kind of weight limit, but I'm wondering whether 1kg is a good cut-off? It seems a little on the low side if someone wanted to try their hand at building their own (with Pi and Arduino, say) rather than buying a kit or pre-built model. It seems that an extra 250 to 500 grams would be more practical in these cases.
I dunno - I'm not a drone pilot (they're banned in Spain); but I would be basing the number more around how comfortable you would be if one fell on you; working on the theory that the technology will get smaller and lighter. 1kg sounds like they've taken home-building into consideration with current kit and compromised. It's a little bit heavy from the 'dropping on you' perspective.
" I would be basing the number more around how comfortable you would be if one fell on you; "
The damage done by a falling object depends on both its weight and its speed. IIRC in countries where people shoot rifles in the air in celebrations - then a falling spent bullet can apparently kill someone.
Not sure what the terminal velocity of a typical drone would be - or what height it would have to fall from to accelerate to that speed. Obviously a lot more air resistance than a bullet - but presumably a falling drone is not going to be stable enough for its free-running rotors to act as efficient speed governors.
I'm not sure what this is going to achieve. All the responsible drone operators will register, but these aren't the people that are going to be flying them near airports or built up areas anyway, and probably already have one of the freely available apps on their phone to check they are flying in a safe area.
Its the less responsible owners that are more likely to be breaking the rules, but then they wont bother to register anyway. Unless they are going to insist on retailers passing on the details of anyone buying drones, or drone components, then it just isn't going to work.
The drone being registered wont really help if the drone is used in forbidden airspace unless clearly readable reg markings are also mandatory. The point us more that if you DO catch someone flying an unregisteres unit you now have a way to throw the book at them. With no register they would have to be caught red handed and then law enforcement still has to prove that particular drone was in forbidden airspace
Getting retailers to pass on ownership details of drones won't help, especially as you can buy them straight from China and most likely all that'll be scrawled on the customs declaration sticker is "TOY" which could mean literally anything.
Methinks it's time I get one of these multirotor toys before too many miscreants act like complete morons with them and ruin the fun for everyone else.
One would hope the net weight was negative, at least at sea/land level. Or else it's not the most useful of items...
That's a balloon. Most people don't really want to fly them.
For an airship - which is what we're talking about - you want the weight to be positive - just not *very* positive. That way, the thing comes down gently if you lose power for any reason, but you have minimal weight to overcome with power to gain height.
Vic.
So if I build a Quadcopter that weighs less than 1KG I'm fine, I then take out the KK flight controller and place it into a new build Hexcopter that weighs a little more than 1KG.
I register the drone now and get a number.
If I now replace the KK board with a highend one supporting GPS and other bells and whistles, is that the same drone or should it be registered again?
Registering a home built drone isn't like registering a car, it's more like saying any Meccano model over 300mm tall or wide must be registered. Bits break off and/or are replaced regularly as people fiddle with them. Might have been better to try registering the owners instead. Otherwise I can see the system getting overwhelmed with people registering each modification in order to stay legal, especially with the police clamping down at the start.
I would guess that the people drafting the law have actually thought of this scenario. It seems pretty obvious. But the people writing eye-grabbing headlines about it - are likely not to go into these kinds of details.
So go read the bill itself. Or ask a lawyer who has an interest in the topic, they've probably already read it. You're unlikely to find the answer on El Reg.
You have a lot of faith in the politicians to actually know what they are doing when writing the Bill, which I suppose might be true for a change.
But considering that there is very little detail on the website about what is going to be required when registering,instead there is just a note saying that the information is coming in December, to me implies that they don't yet know the detail. I suspect that they are waiting to hear what comes out of the FAA on 20 Nov.
If I now replace the KK board with a highend one supporting GPS and other bells and whistles, is that the same drone or should it be registered again?
I would imagine it's the same drone.
They're not trrying to log all capabilities, they're trying to find a way to catch people flying drones where they shouldn't. So the fact that you've upgraded your avionics is irrelevant - all they're interested in is whether they can bust you for putting an airframe into controlled airspace.
Vic.
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