Page 16 - MFW Sept 2024
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The second is a FRIA (Federally Recognised Ident Area)    enforcement/intelligence  communities;  have  taken
    This is a circle (up to 400 ft, but higher can be obtained)   parallel action with their own report to Congress.
    around a defined spot location. In the FRIA, recreational
    (note the emphasis!) aeromodelling can continue as it had   The GAO report deals with the 2 concerns of Remote ID,
    for a long time. These are not hard to obtain, subject to an   driven  by  commercial  ops  and  LEOs/intelligence,  and
    FAA safety assessment of the proposed site. Educational   they are going to push hard for a "network and database "
    or  Community-Based-Organisations  (CBO)  can  obtain     solution, it's not known what exactly this will be but will
    them with a modest amount of paperwork. CBOs have to      almost certainly be built on the Internet backbone.   The
    meet criteria, and the correct IRS tax status. Right now,   commercial operators don’t like remote ID as it pops up
    the AMA and at least 3 others are FAA approved CBOs.      and down, it stops transmitting when down, has a short
                                                              range, and they don't know when or how many will next
    Clubs can have multiple FRIAs and temporary ones can      pop up. It's difficult to plan the delivery routes in such a
    be granted for special events. They are valid for 48 months   dynamic environment.  Law Enforcement wants to know
    and can be renewed (within 120 days of expiry) There is a   immediately the identity and location of the operator, and it
    public list of all FRIAs.  Right now, around 900 have been   can  take  48  hours  to  get  this  from  the  FAA.  This  will
    granted, about 200 denied and as there's 2500 AMA clubs   become  especially  relevant  after  the  attempted
    in the USA, there's many more in the pipeline.            assassination of Trump on 9 July !


    They are not open to the general public, only the CBO     On the other hand FRIAs are very much favoured. The
    members, and individuals cannot apply for a FRIA, even if   commercial operators like them as they are static and can
    you own a 100,000 acre ranch in rural Montana.            be planned around, just like any other restricted airspace.
                                                              LEOs like them as the FAA will never grant them in at-risk,
    If you chose not to fly in a FRIA, the only remaining option   busy or sensitive locations.
    was the third part, a Remote ID broadcast module. This is
    a small device housing a GPS receiver and a Bluetooth     In particular, Sec.928 of the GAO report directs the FAA to
    transmitter, usually powered from the UAS battery and     establish a process to approve and publicly disseminate
    transmits  a  number  of  parameters  including  location,   fixed sites for recreational UAS operations, including over
    ground  speed,  altitude,  drone-specific  information  and   400' in Class G airspace. Furthermore they are to prioritize
    your personal ID number. The maximum theoretical range    FRIA  requests  for  fixed  sites. They  note  that  the  FAA
    of Bluetooth 5 is around 800 metres. It’s not exactly clear   agrees with this.
    who  it  will  transmit  to,  but  presumably  the  commercial
    delivery drones should be able to receive it, and re-route to   Europe is a mixed bag. But it is constrained by the EASA
    avoid the UAS. You only require 1 Remote ID module, the   direction and views, Briefly this is … With the inclusion of
    FAA specifically states it can be swapped from model to    model aircraft in the EU UAS Regulation, the intention of
    model; it carries your personal ID number, as that’s what   the legislator was not to introduce new restrictions, but to
    the FAA or Law Enforcement will be looking for if they see   enable EASA Member States to continue applying their
    a transgression! Here’s the Spektrum one that retails for   current  requirements  for  model  aircraft.  It  explicitly
    around USD 105, but there many others, from the UK and    encourages States to do so and provides various options
    many EU countries.                                        for this, with one important exception: the need for the
                                                              model  aircraft  owner  to  register  themselves  as  a  UAS
                                                              operator and make their registration number visible on (or
                                                              easily accessible within) the aircraft while on the ground.
                                                              Therefore, each EU nation can make it’s own rules, and
                                                              they have done so, Some countries have a lightweight
                                                              rule-set like Switzerland   and France, others are more
                                                              proscriptive, There’s no space to cover them all here, but
                                                              y o u   c a n   s e e   a   s u m m a r y   a t
                                                              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_unmanned_
                                                              aerial_vehicles

                                                              Post Brexit Britain still seems a little confused. Possibly
                                                              because  they  are  still  reeling  from  the  insane  “Drone”
                                                              d e b a c l e   a t   G a t w i c k   i n   2 0 1 8 .   S e e
    So  far,  so  good.  However  there  was  an  important   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport_drone_inci
    development recently in May, President Biden signed the   dent for coverage of this and weep.
    the FAA Reauthorization Bill which is in place for 4 years.
    It's huge and covers almost all aspects of FAA operation,   Japan has some of the most restrictive laws, I guess they
    including details like how much compensation bumped       are still touchy that despite their draconian gun-control
    passengers will get and the like.                         laws, some guy made his own gun and ammunition from
                                                              $5 worth of junk to assassinate their Prime Minister.
    However,  at  the  same  time  The  GAO  (Government
    Accountability  Office),  the  independent  supreme  audit   There is a useful website at
    and  investigative  office  for  Congress,  (also  commonly   https://www.drone-made.com/drone-laws which claims to
    known as The Congressional Watchdog) after concerns       be a world-wide summary of drone-laws, But I’m not sure
    f r o m   c o m m e r c i a l   o p e r a t o r s   a n d   l a w   how up-to-date it’s kept.
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