CAA Drone Registration costs money!

[esmozz]

they only linhk the drone to you if you crash it or lose it i assume they will be sending out stickers or you will have to put your reg number on your multirotors.... So that will be another fail point in the system

True, although most owners won't lose or crash their drones (I have a mavic and its quite hard to lose), nonetheless combined with the ability to take down a drone, I suppose it gives the capability to track an owner.

It does depend on the widespread capability to take down drones.

It does at the moment seem to be a somewhat ineffective measure, given that, I suspect, events such as that occurred at Gatwick have presumably driven it. I don't particulary have a problem registering my drone and will do so, but I think this is probably only the beginning and far more onerous restrictions are just round the corner, this being the first step.

 

[StriderX]

What about super heavy drones? Can you fly massive ones with impunity?

Brb gonna create a 1 tonne drone with huge propellers.

 

[GSXR Gaz Mc]

https://consultations.caa.co.uk/fin...oneregistrationchargeconsultationdocument.pdf

this is the paper from the caa

 

[wolfie138]

No, that does'nt work at all. They check local owners and find, say, 200 drones registered within a 20 mile radius (or something).

How do they tie that drone to me. Unless they can identify a drone in flight, they have no idea who is using it. They could check the flight logs onboard (if not deleted) but how do they know who to check - all 200 registered drones?

yes, that will work very easily. if you've been ****** about a restricted area and stopping/impacting flights etc, you better believe they will check each and every one of you that has a drone that fits the description.
if you think they won't please feel free to try it, and report back.

 

[booyaka]

Don't see what difference it's going to make if there is no one to police it.

this - I wouldn't pay it. I fly mine maybe 3 or 4 times a year in places that a miles away from anywhere (lochs/forests etc) - who's going to be there to check my license fee is paid etc.

Yes it's cheap - but seriously - who is going to charge me/chase me up for it. Police ain't going to waste time on it.

 

[esmozz]

yes, that will work very easily. if you've been ****** about a restricted area and stopping/impacting flights etc, you better believe they will check each and every one of you that has a drone that fits the description.
if you think they won't please feel free to try it, and report back.

First of all, who checks? I know that if you are a PPL holder and infinge protected airspace the inital investigation is done by the AAIB not the police and in any event neither have the resources to check 'each and everyone you', most certainly not the AAIB.

Unless, I suppose the event is on the level of what happened at Gatwick, then they might up the ante a bit. Given the CAA figures in the above linked document I estimate they are expecting approx 28,000 drone registrations for the greater london area. Again, resources?

In fact given the CAA are expecting 170,000 drone registrations and anybody in the country can fly a drone anywhere else in the country I don't see how it helps at all.

Let me put it another way, do you really think this drone registration scheme will stop another event like Gatwick?

 

[Bigpops]

The whole thing is a joke, and is utterly pointless, as are these scams schemes all over the world. They have to have a register to comply with the new EASA rules, that the whole EU have to comply with.
These rules state that the registration can be done by an organisation like the BMFA, that already has a system in place and has offered access to the CAA for a fee. Apparently that's not good enough, and they want to spend £2.8M on a database for 170,000 people. Now, I'm not an IT expert, but I'm pretty certain that the hardware and software requirements for something so small should cost a few thousand, and not millions. They've also over estimated the number of people they expect to register by at least a factor of 2 in my opinion, which would double the cost per person.

The CAA, in it's documentation, conveniently omitted France's registration scheme from its price comparison. That's because it's FREE and lasts for 5 years.

If I wasn't already a BMFA member flying in a club environment, there's not a chance in hell I'd register. No way. If it was free, then sure, but it's a cash grab plain and simple.

The plain truth is this: If you're setting out to cause trouble, you won't register. You won't use an off the shelf drone like a DJI that logs everything. You have the same situation as you did before a register existed.

Remember Gatwick? Remember how an innocent man and his wife were plastered all over the papers, just because a neighbour said he used to fly drones to the Police? Yeah. Now they'll have a big list of people to harass when someone does something stupid.

 

[Monkeynut]

What's stopping a drug dealer buying a kit from GearBest with no serials, no identifying marks, and then just flying drugs into prisons anyway?

 

[esmozz]

The plain truth is this: If you're setting out to cause trouble, you won't register. You won't use an off the shelf drone like a DJI that logs everything. You have the same situation as you did before a register existed.

^This.

What's stopping a drug dealer buying a kit from GearBest with no serials, no identifying marks, and then just flying drugs into prisons anyway?

Nothing as far as I can see.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Apparently that's not good enough, and they want to spend £2.8M on a database for 170,000 people. Now, I'm not an IT expert, but I'm pretty certain that the hardware and software requirements for something so small should cost a few thousand, and not millions.

95% of an IT projects cost is in people, not tech.

 

[MadMossy]

If they wanna hand me 140k (just saved em 95%) I'll do it for them, a database designed for that amount of traffic could literally be run on a laptop, need redundancy? Get 2 laptops.

 

[Liquidfox]

I'm struggling to see what this is going to achieve? Build a drone yourself, no registration. Buy it from abroad, no registration.

If you do register and do something naughty but keep hold of the drone, how is the registration going to help them? Finding all registered owners of drones in the area means nothing, people have cars, they can drive to other locations. This just sounds like a form of taxation.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Don't see what difference it's going to make if there is no one to police it.

Heh, this. There aren’t enough police for muggings and burglaries. I was going to say you’ll be fine unless flying near an airport, but even then you seem pretty safe

 

[MadMossy]

That's the thing with no one to police it, you can guarantee that the first person they do catch will be made an example out of. Besides my DJI Mavic 2, all my other quads are custom built.

 

[Bigpops]

95% of an IT projects cost is in people, not tech.

They'd need to be obscenely over paid or incredibly numerous to cost £2.8M for something so simple.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

The whole thing is a joke, and is utterly pointless, as are these scams schemes all over the world. They have to have a register to comply with the new EASA rules, that the whole EU have to comply with.
These rules state that the registration can be done by an organisation like the BMFA, that already has a system in place and has offered access to the CAA for a fee. Apparently that's not good enough, and they want to spend £2.8M on a database for 170,000 people. Now, I'm not an IT expert, but I'm pretty certain that the hardware and software requirements for something so small should cost a few thousand, and not millions. They've also over estimated the number of people they expect to register by at least a factor of 2 in my opinion, which would double the cost per person.

The CAA, in it's documentation, conveniently omitted France's registration scheme from its price comparison. That's because it's FREE and lasts for 5 years.

If I wasn't already a BMFA member flying in a club environment, there's not a chance in hell I'd register. No way. If it was free, then sure, but it's a cash grab plain and simple.

The plain truth is this: If you're setting out to cause trouble, you won't register. You won't use an off the shelf drone like a DJI that logs everything. You have the same situation as you did before a register existed.

Remember Gatwick? Remember how an innocent man and his wife were plastered all over the papers, just because a neighbour said he used to fly drones to the Police? Yeah. Now they'll have a big list of people to harass when someone does something stupid.

It’s £16.50. Get a grip.

 

[booyaka]

It’s £16.50.

that's the point - what are you getting for you money?? Nothing......

There is no actual benefit to registering your drone/item - Your not getting any additional protection, benefits or anything else over your neighbour who has the same as you and doesn't register.

It's pointless. It's a money grabbing exercise pure and simple.

I get that "it's only £16.50" but if the goverment/police decides that you need to register your electric scooter, for example- would you pay £16.50 to register your kids scooter?? No....

 

[TonTom]

In the end they're just punishing 99.9% of law abiding people because of a minority of criminals who don't give a flying **** about the law anyway.

Nothing new then

 

[Energize]

Maybe they should

But everything has some element of 3rd party liability, you're essentially advocating universal 3rd party liability insurance. Insurance is designed to pay for claims that a person could never afford to pay off themselves like a 6 figure personal injury car accident, it's not necessary for something that can be settled in the county court.

 

[hyperseven]

does the gov have to register our MQ9 fleet?