Most current drones illegal in 2.5 years in the USA

Today the FAA published the final rules that will require all drones to broadcast remote ID information into the airspace system 30 months from the date it gets entered into the Federal Register which will be July 2023.  At that point you will either need a new drone, equip your existing drone with a radio module, or get a drone that weighs less than 0.55lb:
https://www.faa.gov/news/media/attachme ... ummary.pdf

I'm afraid it will get more restrictive.

Wildflower-nut wrote:I'm afraid it will get more restrictive.

Unless it's a commercial venture, it seems not worth the hassle as an average photographer. Most of the places I'd like to use mine, it's not allowed, or if it is, it annoys people. When I use mine, even in areas where it's allowed, or at least, not specifically banned, I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

2020 was the year I was going to try mine in UT and CO over Forest Service or BLM land. Needless to say, that has been a bust.

Scott Fairbairn wrote:

Wildflower-nut wrote:I'm afraid it will get more restrictive.

Unless it's a commercial venture, it seems not worth the hassle as an average photographer. Most of the places I'd like to use mine, it's not allowed, or if it is, it annoys people. When I use mine, even in areas where it's allowed, or at least, not specifically banned, I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

That's exactly my feeling, too. It's particularily disappointing and annoying for existing owners who are repeatedly faced with new restrictions and regulations that had not been foreseeable and valid at the time of purchase and will now make their $$$$ investment to a piece of trash. No grandfathering clause for existing drones, of course. A few days back the politically based ban on DJI had been announced which maybe would have affected users and visitors in the future, too and now the FAA rules effectively are the final death of your existing drone in the US. I doubt that the manufacturers will offer radio modules to equip todays drones. They will sell you new drones at best that basically could be operated in the US  - not included the banned DJI company, of course. But it's not just the US that continuously change the regulations and build up new hurdles; the EU has issued a new drone regulation taking effect on January 1st 2021 with a transition period. You need to attend a course and pass a test for a drone flying licence required for all drones weighing more than 250 grams. And new flying restrictions come into effect, too. There's no radio module required (yet) and you still can use your existing model such as the Mavic II, at least. But I'm afraid they will follow the US route sooner or later in the next round, too.

I bought the Mavic II pro as my first drone in January and was looking forward in exploring this fascinating photographic possibilities. A fellow photog had used his copter on a voyage along Greenland's coast and the aerial pictures of the icebergs simply were breathtaking. Because of the unexpected pandemic and travel restrictions, my drone has been used only one time up to now, though. I was hoping for better chances in 2021. But as you say, it's not worth the hassle anymore in an increasing number of countries and I probably have to regret my investment, unfortunately. That's sad and I think about selling my drone again before it becomes worthless scrap, though I have no plans to travel to the US in the next future. To avoid misunderstandings, reasonable regulations and flight restrictions are absolutely necessary for the protection of wildlife, sensitive areas and people, of course. Shocking to read of the drone pilot who got a ruinous $182,000 fine by ignoring the warnings and flight regulations. Nevertheless, the safety argument for the new tightened regulations seems somewhat prefaced and double moralic to me given the still relatively unrestricted use of fire arms.

Wolfgang

Scott Fairbairn wrote:

Wildflower-nut wrote:I'm afraid it will get more restrictive.

 I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

It is funny you say that.  I am not a drone flyer and personally don't like them but recognize that many people don't like photographers, climbers, kayakers, mountain bikers and many of the things I do.  I happened to be standing next to a couple of guys about a year ago that were flying drones in a place that was completely legal.  A lady walked up and started to let me have it about flying a drone in a National Park and wanted my name and address so she could report me.  I explained she was on National Forest land not National Park land.  I explained the difference of the various public land agencies and their current status on drone regulation being very polite the entire time.  She continued to go off on me, the drone flyers were enjoying the entire conversation.  After about 10 minutes of getting yelled at I finally told her I wasn't flying a drone and have never owned one at which point the drone guys busted out laughing.  She was about to attack the two drone flyers when her husband firmly said "come on dear we have had enough fun for the day". 

Yeah, current drones will not be allowed their present state in 2.5y or so.

But they can be retrofitted with a part that makes them legal. This will, I suspect, be fairly cheap and easy to do.

Another thought is that in 2.5y you’ll want a newer drone anyway. Look at ones from 2.5y ago - they are outdated. Manufacturers will probably be only making compliant drones in 12-18 months, so there will be plenty of transition time.

Drones need to integrate with the national airspace. I see this as a “could have been better, but not too bad” set of rules. Better would have been ADS-B in and out, but that’s just my opinion. China has something like this and it strikes me as a much more complete integration.

As an aside my photo business has become 95%+ drone based, so I’ve got a stake in things going well.

I'm afraid like some other things, a few jerks are ruining it for everyone. Some of the pictures I've seen are spectacular.

If a person is operating a drone in a reasonable and legal manner, I don’t see much to complain about in the new requirements. It should only affect illegal operators. It only requires Bluetooth or Wi-Fi broadcast. In Albuquerque, during the International Balloon Fiesta, there were many instances of illegal drone use. It was near impossible to know who was doing this, but it could have been very disastrous to the balloons. For most uses in allowed places, there should be no problems, IMO.

https://www.krqe.com/news/balloon-fiest ... on-fiesta/

Joe

SantaFeJoe wrote:If a person is operating a drone in a reasonable and legal manner, I don’t see much to complain about in the new requirements. It should only affect illegal operators. It only requires Bluetooth or Wi-Fi broadcast.

https://www.krqe.com/news/balloon-fiest ... on-fiesta/

Joe

I think it's not so much the content of the new rules "to complain about" but the consequences for existing owners being completely locked out from using their drones in the future. As far as I know, there are currently no drones in accordance with the new requirements. I would assume that the majority of current owners isn't happy soon to become potential "illegal operators". To the contrary, they would have been happy about a concrete solution for their drones or kind of grandfathering clause rather than the need of trashing their equipment which isn't just a toy for some. 

In fact, remote ID is required for most drones here in the EU now, too. However, you furthermore can fly your existing drone, at least, but with more restrictions regarding the flight zones, licenses required and the distance to keep from people. But you're not forced to dispose your drone in the end because you're not allowed to use it anymore at all. I don't know yet to which extent the limitations for current drones will affect the usability in real world scenarios here. And of course, that doesn't change anything for the requirements in the US either. But I guess many operators in Europe will live with that for now and don't bring their drone overseeas anymore. Basically the harmonization of the requirements for all countries in the EU isn't a bad thing.
I read that DJI is looking for a solution to retrofit current drones such as the Mavic II to adapt them to the new technical requirements and certifications in the EU. I doubt that this will work for use in the USA, though, because of the ban and probably different technical requirements.

BTW, your link above is blocked for Europeans. Quote: "This site is currently unavailable to visitors from the European Economic Area while we work to ensure your data is protected in accordance with applicable EU laws". Strange world

Wolfgang

After having read the new regulations, I would expect an adapter will be expensive and require installation by the manufacturer or some other workshop.

Electronics are not that expensive or complicated. Consider the price of these and ease of installation. It shouldn’t be hard to adapt to the requirements for a drone location broadcaster, etc.

https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/store/tiles/sticker

Here’s another link for you, Wolfgang. It may not be viewable, but you might try it:

https://sparkpilots.com/threads/hundreds-violate-faas-drone-no-fly-zone-at-albuquerques-baloon-fiesta.11132/

And one more:

https://youtu.be/1hrKmaX2TvU

And another brief article:

https://www.everythinglubbock.com/community/balloon-fiesta/hundreds-violate-faas-no-drone-fly-zone-at-balloon-fiesta/

There is also an allowance for foreign drones in the regulations under “Other Provisions in the Remote ID Final Rule”.

Joe

Thank you, Joe. The first link and the youtube vid -of course - worked for me - the last one was blocked again. It's a pity that some stupid people always ignore the rules and thus cause conesequences for the majority of users who act correctly. Nevertheless, let's hope that there will be a solution for current users within the next 1 or 2 years.

BTW, Happy New Year
Wolfgang.

I hope it will be cheap but I doubt it. My guess is the entire electronics package of the drone will need to be replaced simply to garner all the information required for the transmission."UA ID (serial number of UA or session ID); latitude/longitude, altitude, and velocity of UA; latitude/longitude and altitude of Control Station; emergency status; and time mark" Hope I'm wrong.