Agency Seeks to Curb Influx of Inappropriate Use of Freshly Gifted Drones 

The FAA has launched its "12 Days of Drones" campaign to educate the public about the best practices inherent to the hobby. While drones have settled into a somewhat common and well understood hobbyist aircraft or videography assistant, public understanding and familiarity with UAV regulations remains lower than desired.

The agency will share a specific topic or bundle of knowledge for each of the 12 days from December 2nd to the 17th, building a short and effective knowledge base for incoming drone pilots. The campaign topics will include minimum preparatory knowledge before flight; registration and drone marking; test requirements for the Recreational UAS Safety Trust; Part 107 certificate requirements; locations suitable for flight; airspace restrictions; airspace authorizations; flying at night; flying over people; flight in weather conditions; flight near wildfires, natural disasters, and police operations; and humanitarian or volunteer opportunities suitable for drone use.

Drones have become a popular holiday gift owing to their increasing affordability, high-tech branding, and photography capabilities, each year adding a considerable number of new enthusiasts to the fold. Each new function added opens up the scope of use for the tools, taking them from a fun remote controlled toy to a viable commercial adjunct in less than half a decade. While uptake on the tech has been quite fast, the same can not be said for operator knowledge. The rules may still seem new to some, despite being in place for years. While the FAA’s jurisdiction over manned flight seems obvious to many, it’s not uncommon for ordinary folk to assume the relatively innocuous, small, and low flying drones under their tree are of little interest to regulators. Campaigns like this one should help to bring operators into the fold of responsible UAV aviators and keep the industry safe from knee-jerk, onerous regulation going forward. The FAA has released an introductory video on youtube, and will continue the campaign on the Drone Zone Twitter account, as seen below. 

FMI: FAA Drone Zone Twitter,www.Youtube.com