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Flying drones in the US now requires a certificate

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SiliconWizard:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/all-recreational-drone-pilots-must-now-past-the-faas-trust-test?utm_source=roboticsnews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=roboticsnews-07-06-21&utm_content=httpsspectrumieeeorgautomatonroboticsdronesallrecreationaldronepilotsmustnowpastthefaastrusttest&mkt_tok=NzU2LUdQSC04OTkAAAF-GjvsWIhrz4IREokOs2be9S8G_5ASwd3JpWe-V7MvVUB6Fd5O5_lilA-2iXqu8AB_whjw_78qsKNjSWllXSIEY3Tw9U0jcZBL-dYNjGr1L28

Note that the FAA has made it pretty easy to get the certificate, so this is really not changing much IMHO. It will mostly catch a few people who aren't aware of the new regulation yet... and possibly the very few that are illiterate, although, as the test is apparently online, you can always ask someone else to do it for you...

I'm sure other countries will follow.

What do you guys think?

duckduck:
The police aren't going to check for certificates, the prosecutors aren't going to prosecute these cases, and the FAA isn't going to be sending inspectors out to the city parks and backyards where quadcopters are flown. Conscientious people will continue to operate RC aircraft carefully. Morons will keep doing stupid stuff. Those out to cause death and destruction will not be dissuaded by new pages added to the FAA's rulebooks. Therefore, this is 100% waste of everyone's time except for a new "drone license testing" department on the federal payroll.

EDIT:

I guess that I'm most ticked off by the FAA making this de jure mandatory. The goal is education (assumed by the "everyone passes with 100%" test), so why not just reach out to manufacturers, importers, retailers, and RC clubs/organizations?

TimFox:
Therefore, we should not criminalize bad dangerous behavior.  People still drive under the influence, so DUI laws are a waste of everyone’s time.

Bud:
It is ironic that the link referenced an IEEE publication, a moronic organization paranoid about registrations and licensing.

SiliconWizard:

--- Quote from: TimFox on July 06, 2021, 10:31:56 pm ---Therefore, we should not criminalize bad dangerous behavior.  People still drive under the influence, so DUI laws are a waste of everyone’s time.

--- End quote ---

Sensible ironic reply to someone trying to justify that some rule is stupid because people can still bypass it.

Also, silly assumption that the police won't check for certificates or that people won't get prosecuted. If it's a legal requirement, they will. Of course probably not massively (in fact like checking most certificates or licenses, the individual probability of being checked for one's driver license is pretty low on a daily basis, even lower for people hunting when hunting licenses are required, etc.) That of course doesn't mean this is worthless.

As I mentioned, at the moment the certificates won't mean much in terms of people's capabilities of course. But that's not what they are for at this point IMO. The main point is to potentially register people flying drones. You'll get a certificate, they'll get your name.

And, of course, the point is also making people more responsible for what happens when flying drones. If you cause damage and you don't hold a certificate, I guess the legal consequences will be much more severe. I think that's the main value of it. It's a step towards regulating drones. Which is something much needed. It's completely different from people flying RC stuff, which are an ultra small fraction of the population, and usually pretty careful because most are aware of the risks, and their stuff often costs a lot. OTOH, drone use has literally exploded and prices keep dropping. You can't let that unregulated.

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