Drone Registration Suspended For A While.

[Dick Pacini]

http://www.interdrone.com/news/why-the-faa-is-temporarily-suspending-drone-registrations?utm_content=bufferd43a8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[peabody]

Site appears active at 6:00 am eastern

[Dick Pacini]

Short lived, to be sure.

[Bob Reeves]

This isn't really a surprise is it.

[Fredvon4]

site is currently active and working

I had hoped it would crash often like the OBAMA care site. However, I was able to get mine and the family accounts done the first day.  I assumed the traffic on the site would bog it down or crash it.... looks like the FAA does better at web based stuff then other agencies


OR there are only a few hundred of us who actually registered (more likely the true case)

[JoeJust]

What's even more interesting is the right hand column of the site.  Looks like the Drone industry/hobby is  getting their act together with an organization that promotes their interests both commercial and recreational.  I bet they don't even acknowledge the AMA.
Joe

[Paul Smith]

I heard a drone manufacturer interviewed on the radio.  Here are some of his features:

100% ready to fly.
Full time autopilot, no stick-and-rudder work needed.
Can be controlled by I Pad.  Simply trace direction and altitude with your finger tip.
Video camera included.
Automatic "come home and land" on demand feature.
Software limited to 350' altitude and 1000' horizontal.  Well below the FAA's 500 minimum for real planes.
First year sales estimate: 100,000 units.

Clearly, this one single drone maker is bigger and richer than AMA.

[Dave_Trible]

What's even more interesting is the right hand column of the site.  Looks like the Drone industry/hobby is  getting their act together with an organization that promotes their interests both commercial and recreational.  I bet they don't even acknowledge the AMA.
Joe

Thats the best possible news- let's hope so.

[Mike Griffin]

"OR there are only a few hundred of us who actually registered (more likely the true case)"

Hi Fred

I would think this is the case.

Mike

[Fredvon4]

Mike I am fairly sure we are both on to the truth of this grand waste of time

The predicted high volume "drone" sales probably did happen but there was no massive rush to be "first" to get registered

I had an ulterior motive to be close to "first" as none of us had any idea what the format would be like...I was hoping for an obvious pattern and sequence to the new Numbers but that seem to be not true am I can't detect any way to read the FAA number to see about sequence, location etc..

Over time I could still have had a real low AMA number and original FCC call sign if I had keep them current.

My current AMA 978047 is a bit much and hard to remember.  Don't remember my first AMA# but is was only 4 digits as I recall.

I  do like my "as issued" in 2001 second FCC call sign of KD5NCO...simply because I am a retied Army NCO. My fist call sign from the late 60s has belonged to three different people over the years

My first hour first day FAA registration is never going to tell someone decades from now that I am, or have an original low number since my FA33T97LXP is not too distinct from FA21R63LLM or any of the other numbers that have been posted

[Target]

If you pay your 20 bucks extra Fred, you can take the 20 question cd test and then they knock off the first two digits of your AMA number.
That's what I did.
Regards,
Target/Chris

[Bill Johnson]

Well, I'm in no hurry but it is supposed to be free, after refund, so today I got FA373MKM9L.

[George Albo]

The suspension may end up being permanent as it contradicts law already in place by Congress. The FAA has over stepped their authority to demand registration.  I copy pasted the following from: 

http://hackaday.com/2015/12/21/heres-the-reason-the-faas-drone-registration-system-doesnt-make-sense/

>>>>A few years ago, Congress passed the Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, an immense 300-page tome that set directives to the FAA including how airports should be improved, what medical certificates apply to what type of pilot, and special rules for model aircraft.

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

In the Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, ‘model aircraft’ are defined as, ‘an unmanned aircraft capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere, flown within visual line of sight, and flown for hobby or recreational purposes.’ If these qualifications are met, the FAA may not make a rule regarding these aircraft, so long as they are not flown within 5 miles of an airport.

Yet the requirements for the FAA’s UAS registration do just that. A month ago, 99% of the aircraft sold on HobbyKing were safe from FAA rules. By making a simple rule that anyone can understand, the FAA may have crossed a line, and overstepped the authority granted to it by Congress.<<<

[Phillip Kenney]

A former coworker of mine commented on facebook that she was wrapping a drone for Christmas for a family member. I commented  that she should be sure to register it before the first flight. Her response indicated she thought I was kidding her. I pointed out that I was quite serious and she responded that her drone was under 4 pounds so no registration was necessary. I pointed out the error of her thinking.
Her thought on registration I'm sure is similar to many others who received drones for Christmas. The lack of correct knowledge is I am sure part of the lack of drone registration.

[Dan McEntee]

The suspension may end up being permanent as it contradicts law already in place by Congress. The FAA has over stepped their authority to demand registration.  I copy pasted the following from: 

http://hackaday.com/2015/12/21/heres-the-reason-the-faas-drone-registration-system-doesnt-make-sense/

>>>>A few years ago, Congress passed the Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, an immense 300-page tome that set directives to the FAA including how airports should be improved, what medical certificates apply to what type of pilot, and special rules for model aircraft.

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

In the Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, ‘model aircraft’ are defined as, ‘an unmanned aircraft capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere, flown within visual line of sight, and flown for hobby or recreational purposes.’ If these qualifications are met, the FAA may not make a rule regarding these aircraft, so long as they are not flown within 5 miles of an airport.

Yet the requirements for the FAA’s UAS registration do just that. A month ago, 99% of the aircraft sold on HobbyKing were safe from FAA rules. By making a simple rule that anyone can understand, the FAA may have crossed a line, and overstepped the authority granted to it by Congress.<<<

  George is absolutely correct, and it just may be that the AMA did it's job and pointed this out to them, finally! That, and maybe there was a glaring under use of the website. If there were hundreds and hundreds of thousands of quads sold for Christmas, and only a few thousand people register, and a high percentage of those were regular model enthusiasts, a light bulb may have gone on in some ones head and figured out they can't enforce this illegal law because people just don't care and won't do it! How can you impose fines on a group of people you can't find? Unless the obvious happens and that is some incident where a quad hurts some one or damages property and the question is asked, "Are you registered with the FAA?" Time will tell I guess, but I never was going to register.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Ara Dedekian]

What's even more interesting is the right hand column of the site.  Looks like the Drone industry/hobby is  getting their act together with an organization that promotes their interests both commercial and recreational.  I bet they don't even acknowledge the AMA.
Joe


      The aviation magazine section at the Books A Million bookstore included three quadcopter magazines. They were very high quality publications although I didn't think to see who the the publishers were or the size of the circulation. The content was what one would find in any model aviation magazine; how to's, organizational notes, product reviews, articles such as obtaining a sport pilots license to legally use a drone in a business etc. Ads were typical, but I found two old friends among the advertisers. DuBro was advertising prop balancers and none other than our own AMA. They took out two side by side half page ads informing the readers of who they are and basically that the AMA would work towards protecting the quad pilots right to fly upon becoming members.

     So it seems the AMA is acknowledged, has exposure in the quad community and is making attemps to bring them into the fold.

 Ara