As
noted in the previous post, the FAA has determined that it is time in the
development of UAS regulation and operation
to enforce the applicability of the statutory
requirements regarding aircraft registration to UAS, including those operating
as model aircraft. In response to the Clarification and Request For
Information document in Clarification of Applicability of Aircraft Registration
Requirements for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Request for Information
Regarding Electronic Registration
(“Clarification”) in Docket No. FAA-2015-4378, 80 FR 63912
(October 22, 2015), the FAA has now issued an Interim Final Rule ("IFR") clarifying
these statutory requirements and issuing a request for further
information. See Registration and
Marking Requirements for Small Unmanned Aircraft, 80 FR 78593 (December 16, 2015) .
In
the Clarification, the FAA requested comments on the following specific issues:
1. What methods are available for identifying
individual products? Does every UAS sold have an individual serial number? Is
there another method for identifying individual products sold without serial
numbers or those built from kits?
2. At what point should registration occur (e.g.
point-of-sale or prior-to-operation)? How should transfers of ownership be
addressed in registration?
3. If registration occurs at point-of-sale, who
should be responsible for submission of the data? What burdens would be placed
on vendors of UAS if DOT required registration to occur at point-of-sale? What
are the advantages of a point-of-sale approach relative to a prior-to-operation
approach?
4. Consistent with past practice of discretion,
should certain UAS be excluded from registration based on performance
capabilities or other characteristics that could be associated with safety
risk, such as weight, speed, altitude operating limitations, duration of flight?
If so, please submit information or data to help support the suggestions, and
whether any other criteria should be considered.
5. How should a registration process be designed
to minimize burdens and best protect innovation and encourage growth in the UAS
industry?
6. Should the registration be electronic or
web-based? Are there existing tools that could support an electronic
registration process?
7. What type of information should be collected
during the registration process to positively identify the aircraft owner and
aircraft?
8. How should the registration data be stored?
Who should have access to the registration data? How should the data be used?
9. Should a registration fee be collected and if
so, how will the registration fee be collected if registration occurs at
point-of-sale? Are there payment services that can be leveraged to assist (e.g.
PayPal)?
10. Are there additional means beyond aircraft
registration to encourage accountability and responsible use of UAS?
The Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) chartered the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)Registration Task Force (RTF)
Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) (Task Force) to provide recommendations to the FAA “on
registration requirements and process for small UAS, including those used for
commercial purposes, and all model aircraft.”
On October 20, 2015. The Task
Force issued its recommendations in a Final Report on November 21, 2015.
Robert E. Kelly
on behalf of NetMoby, Inc., on November 6,
2015, submitted timely comments
in reply to the Clarification
which submission addressed the issues above.
Not surprisingly, the Task Force, comprised almost entirely of aviation industry companies
and businesses with an acute interest in the development of the drone industry,
such as Amazon and Wal-Mart, issued
recommendations that were not followed in
toto by the regulatory-minded FAA.
The following will analyze the IFR and which elements of the above list
of issues were adopted in the Task Force's Report and which of NetMoby’s comments were adopted as well.
1. Unmanned Aircraft Covered By The Registration
Requirement.
The FAA’s
IRF requirement for the category of UAS covered by the IRF is:
Unmanned
aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds and more than 0.55 pounds (250 grams) on
takeoff, including everything that is on board or otherwise attached to the
aircraft and operated outdoors in the national airspace system.
This
requirement follows the Task Force recommendation to the letter. NetMoby had recommended that all UAS below 55
pounds be registered, but acknowledges the concern that aircraft weighing less
than 0.55
pounds (250 grams) might be considered toys.
However, the Task Force in its Report did note that an
object with a kinetic energy level of 80 Joules (or approximately 59
foot-pounds) has a 30% probability of being lethal when striking a person in the
head. Solving
for mass and velocity, this equates to an object weighing 250 grams traveling
at a terminal velocity of 25 meters/second or approximately 57 miles per hour.
2. Timing of Registration
The FAA
determined that “Owners
of small unmanned aircraft must register their aircraft prior to operation of the
sUAS (small UAS").”
Both the Task Force and NetMoby
recommended registration prior to operation of the UAS, rather than at point of
purchase. As NetMoby pointed out, it should be clear that registration by the
owner is a pre-condition to legal operation of the UAS and should be the
responsibility of the owner, not the entity selling the UAS. Furthermore, the point-of- sale approach
would be an enormous burden on the merchant selling the UAS. It would also
present a problem discriminating against brick-and-mortar merchants versus
those selling UAS online. The
purchase transaction itself would be tremendously complicated by the
requirement of a simultaneous registration process at the point of purchase.
This would hinder sales of the UAS and the concomitant development of the UAS
industry.
3. Minimum Age To Register A Small Unmanned
Aircraft
The FAA established the minimum age to
register a small unmanned aircraft in the IRF as follows:
Persons
13 years of age and older are permitted to use the part 48 process to register
a small unmanned aircraft. If the owner is less than 13 years of age, then the
small unmanned aircraft must be registered by a person who is at least 13 years
of age.
The Task
Force had recommend the 13 years of age benchmark for registration. This position is not surprising from the Task
Force/industry perspective, as it will allow for a greater universe of
registrants. NetMoby had urged in its
comments submitted in the FAA’s Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking for Small UAS in Docket No.
FAA-2015-0150, 80 Fed. Reg. 9,544 (February 23, 2015) that a 16-year old limit
for small UAS operators may be reasonable for hobbyists and students, but that
the age limit should otherwise be 18 years of age for small UAS operators.
4. Registration Platform.
The FAA determined in the IRF
that registration will occur through an online web-based system. This makes eminent sense. The FAA in
the Clarification notes that "To date, UAS operators that the Department
has authorized have been required to register their UAS through the FAA's
existing paper-based registration process under 14 CPR part 47." The FAA acknowledged in its Clarification
that “… it is apparent that the current paper-based system for aircraft
registration is too burdensome for small UAS.”
As NetMoby had urged in its comments, the volume of paperwork alone in a paper-based registration system, even
if a one-page registration form were used, would have clogged the FAA' s
limited resources beyond salvage. To continue
a paper based
registration platform for UAS going forward
simply was not feasible. The Task Force also recommended a web-based
platform for registration.
To be
continued in the next post.
