By Brandon Guillot, RPC, MAS
A common way that I open presentations to manned pilots, airport personnel, and other decision makers is to point out that the Federal Aviation Administration has classified sUAS as “aircraft” as of 2012. While this sometimes brings out skepticism or laughs, it helps to point out that this classification allows the FAA to have control over the regulation, certification, and even protection of these aircraft.
New rules regarding marking the drone registration number on your drone will become effective for all flights as of February 23, 2019.
The FAA has posted the new rule in the Federal Register which will require that the registration number for your small unmanned aircraft needs to be displayed on an outside surface of the drone rather than in an inside compartment and it must be readily visible.
First used in military applications as far back as the Second World War, drone technology has now advanced to the point where they are used as toys, as photography and surveillance tools, and yes, as commercially viable appliances.
Far cheaper to purchase and operate than manned aircraft such as gyrocopters, drones can carry a wide variety of sensors and even light cargo. Informed observers expect the drone market to reach as much as $7 billion per annum by 2020. A great deal of this expected sudden increase will be based on regulatory reform, which has not kept pace with technological advances, even lower costs for greater capabilities, and – not to be overlooked – the improvements and wider application of machine learning and data analytics.
