Drones Now Will Need I.D.# Displayed

New requirement starting soon:

https://petapixel.com/2019/02/12/drones-will-need-to-have-id-numbers-displayed-faa/

Joe

Great decision. It will at least inhibit some of the idiots using drones the wrong way.

No problem with the external display of the ID, I've been doing that all along. The problem I have is with the proposed transponder like requirement. I live inside the 5 mile radius of an airport. Just turning the drone on inside my house triggers the airspace alert. Why would you turn on the drone in your house? well for one, to make sure it is working, and most of all, to update firmware. This could now trigger a warning to the FAA and result in problems for the drone owner. A lot more thought would need to go into this to make this workable, such as an automatic disabling unless the drone is actually in flight.

How would the drone broadcast to the FAA anything if it didn't come with a transmitter/transponder to do so? Perhaps your attached phone or tablet if within wifi or cell coverage, but in much of Utah where I live there's neither wifi nor cellular.

I can see a transponder that broadcasts at a power level that depends on altitude, speed and airspace but getting something small enough and stingy enough on power to be viable for a small drone isn't going to be easy ... or cheap. It will come sooner or later, but I think were a good 5 years or more from that time.

Still, the handful of idiots that don't care and do whatever they please may force the governments hands.


Brian

Yes, the drone has position awareness and the phone that you are controlling it with has background transmit capability.