Drone Registration

egproductions

egproductions

Veteran
Hello, I have a Mavic pro that I recently purchased. It is my understanding that when I registered the drone in the DJI go 4 app it automatically registered the drone with the FAA (i'm in the US) is that correct? Or am I required to register separately with the FAA? How can I check to confirm my registration?
 
If it's for your personal use you don't need to register yourself or your drone. That rule got quashed recently. If for commercial then you need your UAV commercial ticket and your drone will need to be registered. Of course you'll know that once you have your UAV pilot certificate. Have fun.
 
Thank J Micheal. I found this topic confusing since the FAA still claims even hobbyists need to register their drone:
https://www.faa.gov/uas/faqs/


What is the difference between registering a UAS flown for fun vs. UAS flown for work or business?
If you fly your UAS for hobby or recreational purposes and you use the web-based registration process to register your aircraft, you only need to register once and then apply your registration number to as many UAS as you want. Recreational registrants only need to provide their name, address, and email address. The $5 registration fee covers all recreational UAS owned by the registrant.

Unmanned aircraft flown for work or business must be registered individually by the owner, and each registration costs $5. Registrants must supply their name, address, and email address, in addition to the make, model, and serial number (if available) for each UAS they want to fly.

Furthrermore, I'm assuming that the registration required in thedji go4 app has nothing to FAA registration.
 
egproductions said:
Thank J Micheal. I found this topic confusing since the FAA still claims even hobbyists need to register their drone:
https://www.faa.gov/uas/faqs/


What is the difference between registering a UAS flown for fun vs. UAS flown for work or business?
If you fly your UAS for hobby or recreational purposes and you use the web-based registration process to register your aircraft, you only need to register once and then apply your registration number to as many UAS as you want. Recreational registrants only need to provide their name, address, and email address. The $5 registration fee covers all recreational UAS owned by the registrant.

Unmanned aircraft flown for work or business must be registered individually by the owner, and each registration costs $5. Registrants must supply their name, address, and email address, in addition to the make, model, and serial number (if available) for each UAS they want to fly.
.
Click to expand...

The courts recently ruled that the FAA's registration (which you reference above) is illegal.
https://www.nbaa.org/ops/uas/faa-hobby-drone-registration-requirement-ruled-illegal.php

Now personally, I got my 107 license and need to be registered to use my drone
commercially, so I registered mine. But hobbyists don't need to register anymore.
 
Thank you for the link, that was helpful. I also plan on getting my part 107, its still unclear if DJI registration is relayed to the FAA, however i'll register with them anyway to cover my bases.
 
I have a feeling this isn't completely done yet and may go further in the courts - or the FAA will implement something new.
This is one of the things I have found odd going through the process of getting my 107 certification. Not that I'm for or against registering - but if safety is of the utmost concern - which I think it should be - then I think hobbyists need more general info about flying safe - and registering did nothing to that end imo.
 
Greg_E said:
The AMA has pretty clear guidelines on safety, even for non-members.
Click to expand...


I posted an article about DJI requiring anyone who purchased their drones must register them, other wise they limit the the preformance of them. It doesn't address your question, but if you can't fly your drone then what's the point.
 
Michael Thames said:
I posted an article about DJI requiring anyone who purchased their drones must register them, other wise they limit the the preformance of them. It doesn't address your question, but if you can't fly your drone then what's the point.
Click to expand...

I'm confused, what exactly is stopping someone from flying their drone?
Also, a lot of people are using drones other than DJI. I understand that
DJI is the most popular drone manufacturer (at least in the lower/hobbyist
end of things) but lots of other ones out there.
 
alaskacameradude said:
I'm confused, what exactly is stopping someone from flying their drone?
Also, a lot of people are using drones other than DJI. I understand that
DJI is the most popular drone manufacturer (at least in the lower/hobbyist
end of things) but lots of other ones out there.
Click to expand...

Dji recently implemented a firmware that limits the app from letting you fly their drones (without begginer restrictions) until you register it through their app. Whether that registration goes to the FAA (which i'm wagering it doest) is the question.

On a side note, i Passed my Part 107 exam today!
 
I've seen that djI register thing in the firmware update notes. (but haven't yet updated to the latest fw on my P4pro) And if I'm reading it correctly - that requires you to register - or essentially create an account with dji - to "unlock" range & height beginner restrictions. But I believe it has nothing to do with the FAA.

Congrats on passing the exam. Even though I was prepared, I was surprised at how many of the questions focused solely on sectional charts. And even after getting my certification in the mail ( it took longer than most people say), I find questions about waivers still linger...
 
Thanks, there are always a few questions that trip me up but overall I did well. I purchased one of those $20 test apps, it was well worth the money. I had trouble with the questions about finding the lowest altitude along a path, other than that I was pretty well prepared.
 
egproductions said:
Thanks, there are always a few questions that trip me up but overall I did well. I purchased one of those $20 test apps, it was well worth the money. I had trouble with the questions about finding the lowest altitude along a path, other than that I was pretty well prepared.
Click to expand...

I bought the 'Study Buddy' app for private pilots and it helped a lot.
I studied until I could get 100% on every online practice test I
could find, and then when I took the actual test, I didn't have a clue
on the first 6 questions. I managed to pass and got a score in the 80's
but the test randomly chooses questions from over a thousand possible
so every test is different. Some have 2 or 3 correct answers and they ask
you to choose the 'best' answer. But there are enough easy questions thrown in
and you only have to get a 70 to pass, so most people who put in the
study time should pass.

As for the DJI forcing you to register, I guess I'm glad I didn't buy a DJI
drone......I did register as I said, but I'm not a fan of them crippling the
drone until you register.
 
alaskacameradude said:
I'm confused, what exactly is stopping someone from flying their drone?
Also, a lot of people are using drones other than DJI. I understand that
DJI is the most popular drone manufacturer (at least in the lower/hobbyist
end of things) but lots of other ones out there.
Click to expand...

The DJI GO 4 app, if you are not registered with DJI, electronically restricts how high and far the drone can fly. Not very far, like 50 feet or something. Essentially you have to register with them if you want to fly their drones. Which I really dislike, but they are Chinese and used to living under a totalitarian regime so forced registration is what they are used to. Who knows, perhaps they received pressure from the U.S. government (the U.S. is easily the largest maket for drones in the world) to require registration. It would not surprise me in the least if your DJI registration goes directly to the U.S. government or if the government can request specific information from DJI and DJI is complicit in giving it to them. I am producing a documentary right now about the distilled spirits business. I also am an NRA instructor and firearm owner. It's amazing the similarities imposed on all different levels of our society by the government as far as regulation of anything the government deems undesirable, gambling, tobacco, alcohol, firearms and now drones. I just bought my first drone and am having a very hard time even learning how to use it because my suburban community has already regulated the crap out of flying a drone.

I am slightly more than 5 miles from the local airport so that isn't a huge factor for me, near lots of open land but it is either privately owned land or County Park land. I wrote to the County Parks yesterday, they quickly replied, a new ordinance was just rammed through in February of this year prohibiting drones in any county park. I can find no public review or hearing, I have a feeling the county just arbitrarily wrote the ordinance, possibly without public hearing or even if they did allow public hearing, nobody showed up. I have a local city park a few blocks away where as far as as I can see, it would be legal for me to fly, but the local Sheriffs literally hang out in their cars at the park. I know if I fly over there, I am going to get hassled by the local cops. I flew once out of my own backyard last week, two neighbors, who didn't know I was the drone pilot were taking shots at the drone with pellet guns even as it was hovering over my own yard. It's ridiculous, people are so paranoid that drones are spying on them when new pilots who just want to stay in compliance with the law, cannot even find a legal place to learn how to fly their drone.

My advice would be, before you buy a drone, even just as a hobbyist, really dig around and investigate your local laws. Never mind the airport and helipad thing, that's easy to comply with, you have the B4UFly and other apps, you call the towers. It's trying to stay in compliance with everything else that seems almost impossible. Of course there are new drone owners who behave like clueless idiots, just like there are new firearms owners who do the same, giving everyone else in that community a bad name. I totally get the air space restrictions as far as safety. But for the law abiding drone owner who just wants to fly locally, safely, obeying the rules, the drone industry needs to pay some more lobbyists or something to ease up on local restrictions. What's the use of buying an expensive drone if you literally have to drive hundreds of miles to even learn how to fly it? I may have to drive, ironically, from the relatively uncrowded suburbs I live in, to close to downtown LA, to a place like Griffith Park, where as far as I can research from web articles, it is actually legal to fly a drone there. That's about 80 miles from me. So a 160 mile RT drive just to learn how to actually fly my drone. Kind of dumb. My own fault for not more rigorously researching the local ordinances before buying it.
 
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Even in my relatively rural environment it is difficult to find places to fly, and that goes for rc planes and helicopters, let alone the paranoia of a uav.
 
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