An Update on the UK Regulations for Model Flyers

[Bob Thompson1894]

Any guesses at how many register today?

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

None, until the 1st prosecution on the TV, policeman in our local club says nothing has been mentioned in any briefings at work,

[Bob Thompson1894]

too busy chasing bad lads on tv.

[chris-berry]

The news channels and pages are full of the story in their headlines. This time tomorrow it'll all be forgotten until the 29th when it'll make headlines again. I hope the CAA have got a decent marketing strategy if they want 130'000 registrations by December. They had better put someone in every toy shop handing out leaflets and even then they will struggle.

[Bob Thompson1894]

I know a couple of drone flyers. Both insured and not idiots. One of them had no idea he had to register.

[Glenn Masters]

Its been mentioned throughout the day on the radio, but interestingly, not one word regarding model aircraft requiring to register as well. One guy in the phone-in was really angry because his delivery of drugs to the local prison had to be put on hold until after he had passed his online test. Another caller said he had found the test very helpful and felt more empowered when flying at his local airport . . .

[Steve Mansell]

Glenn, April 1st is months away.

[Steve Perry]

New CAA directive due, specifying that hard toilet paper not to be issued, max altitude that it may be thrown to 300 feet AGL, toilet paper must not be deployed within 1/2 km of an airport due to the FOD risk, minimum age for the use of toilet paper to be 15, all toilet paper must be constructed so that it will show up on radar and ADS-B.
Working group set up with members of Greenpeace, vegans, parents of primary school age children, steel producers, and The Christmas Tree Growers Association - to report back in 2025.

[Dave Hayfield]

There was a bit of news on Meridian TV talking about drone registration and it wasn't until the end of the report that they said "Oh it also includes model aeroplanes".......And that was it!

[David Baker]

Soooo..
Now we are past the deadline date to register.. I did a “random check” of drones for sale on t’internet... what with it being the run up to Christmas..
Checked drones for sale at Amazon, Argos, Curry’s, EBay, and several other primary suppliers.. (checked drones in our weight limit)
Well..
Not one of them even makes mention of the requirement to “register and pass a test”

Good luck with your pointless scheme “ukgov”

[chris-berry]

The requirement to register is not until the 30th November for those less privileged than us lot in the trade so to speak.

[sean smith]

The problem i have with having to display your id number on your model is whats to stop people copying it and then flying how they like? Guess who the police are going to come and see? After all its your registration number so it must have been you.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Because the bad people who fly drones will be scared of that sort of thing, because the entire judiciary will hunt them down,

[David Berry]

The problem i have with having to display your id number on your model is whats to stop people copying it and then flying how they like? Guess who the police are going to come and see? After all its your registration number so it must have been you.

If the number is printed in 3mm letters inside a hatch the person copying it will need pretty good access to your plane - you might just notice a stranger tinkering with it!

[Bob Thompson1894]

And I will certainly use 3mm letters.. I have some old sticky printable address labels from the days when I used to send club newsletters by snail mail. Perfect for this job.

[chris-berry]

Re. People copying your number. Its unlikely, as most of us fly in a club or group with people we know so its unlikely they'll copy the ID.

[Dave Hayfield]

Well, it's the end of November and there is a definite flurry of no information from the powers that be to tell the general public that they will be subject to unimaginable punishment if they don't register if they fly a plastic aeroplane bought from the toy shop!

[Bob Thompson1894]

Any news as to when we can renew our LMA fees? And how long before the CAA deigns to present us with our numbers?

[Barrie King]

Do we renew with LMA first to get to get CAA reg number, then with BMFA so they don't ask for £9 as well? Assuming like me some of you are members of both. Also how do I prove my BMFA competency to the LMA?

[Rob Buckley]

Renewals should be available in a week, maybe a bit longer. We need to make changes to our membership machinery to deal with the CAA registration & finish off the insurance arrangements for 2020 before we can start the renewals & issue all the membership documents.

As long as you've requested registration with one of the model associations by the end of January 2020, you'll be registered with everyone else & get your registration details directly from the CAA by mid February.

You can only register as an operator once & it doesn't matter how you do it, LMA, BMFA, SAA or directly with the CAA. What you get in the end is identical.

You don't need to prove pilot competency in order to register as an operator, there's no direct link or dependency between registering as an operator and having remote pilot competency.

Anyone that says pilot competency must be done & proved before being allowed to register as an operator is wrong & making up their own rules for some reason.