If you’re a drone enthusiast in the USA, chances are you heard about the FAA’s recent proposal for remote indentification of drones in America.
The proposal, called the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Remote ID for drones, establishes design and production requirements for two categories of remote identification.” These two categories, Standard and Limited, will require the UAV to broadcast simultaneously from the aircraft through an internet connection to a separately run service provider.
While we are in favor of a reasonable Remote ID framework that doesn’t push unnecessary costs and compliance burder on both commercial and recreational pilots, the current proposal just isn’t acceptable on many levels.
“DJI supports Remote ID but is advocating against the FAA’s Remote ID proposal to save drone innovators needless expense and hassle.”
Intended to be a ‘license plate in the sky’, Remote ID should actually help open up the skies, make it safer and more efficient to fly and be compliant. And many drones already in existence, especially those made by DJI (which has somewhere more than 70% of the US market) are already capable of broadcasting a remote ID that meets the needs of the FAA proposed regulation.
Since the new proposal was released at the end of 2019, industry stakeholders (such as DJI) have had time to consider the proposed framework and are now sharing their comments. VP of Policy and Legal Affairs, Brendan Schulman, released DJI’s official response to the FAA Remote ID proposal and his carefully considered comments are well worth reading if you are a drone pilot in the United States.
Schulman points out several problems with the proposed Remote ID system, but also informs readers how broken the actual process was that lead to it’s development. The most frustrating part of the Remote ID system proposal, for those involved with the process, is how (or why) “the FAA strayed so far from the advice it received from 74 stakeholders who devoted their summer to the cause.”
“We all want safe and secure skies. But few people who understand drone technology will support this proposal, except those who stand to profit from it.”
And the fact that roughly 80% of drones in the United States already have a form of Remote ID ‘built-in’ to the drones (at no expense to the operators) causes anyone who is active in UAV operations to seriously challenge what the FAA in considering.
The proposals put forth by the FAA allow for public comment until March 2, 2020 and DJI (like us) strongly encourages all drone operators to take the time to read the FAA’s proposal and provide comments at this link.
DJI will shortly be providing tips and suggestions on what to include in your comment, but also recommends consulting what others are saying on social media, as well as in discussion groups and forums.
You can read the full text of DJI’s response here.
