Grab a cup of coffee and watch the video below in which Yahoo Finance interviews U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao about the latest developments in the transportation sector. Of course, drones are discussed as well for a good part of the interview. However, it seems that U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao fails to understand that the FAA’s NPRM for Remote ID kills the consumer drone hobby by severely restricting it and making it more expensive.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) NPRM for Remote ID for drones is exactly the kind of top-down, command and control policy that the Secretary states the U.S. government is not into. The interview took place during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The FAA’s NPRM for Remote ID kills consumer drone hobby
“And that brings us to drones, naturally”, says the Yahoo Finance interviewer halfway into a conversation with U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In an almost 12-minute video, Secretary Chao talks about a number of transportation issues, but most importantly, at least to us, she talks about how the drone industry has grown and why the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) NPRM for Remote ID for drones is so important.
In the interview, Chao says that “we want the consumer, you know, the consumer to decide how best they want to use these new technologies”, while at the same time the FAA’s NPRM for Remote ID practically kills the consumer drone hobby by making it much more difficult and expensive for consumers to try new drone technology in the future.
“We’re always looking to make sure that the government is doing the right thing and our posture at this point is number one, we’re tech neutral. We are not into industrial policy in this country. We’re not into command and control and we’re not top-down,” says U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. “We want the consumer, you know the consumer to decide how best they want to use these new technologies.”
This is top-down, command and control policy-making
The FAA’s NPRM for Remote ID for drones is exactly the kind of top-down, command and control policy that the Secretary states in this interview that the U.S. government is not into.
The FAA’s NPRM for Remote ID for drones is a classic example of top-down policy-making as it has been developed without any input from hobbyist- or recreational drone pilots, and even small commercial operators were almost completely left out.
The FAA’s proposed rules for Remote ID are also about command and control because it requires all drones over 0.55 pounds to communicate their location and identification to the government through a network connection, at all times. If your drone cannot do that you will be severely restricted in how and where you can enjoy your drone hobby or drone business.
DroneDJ’s take
DroneDJ is pro Remote ID for drones BUT not in the way it is currently proposed by the Department of Transportation and the FAA. The FAA’s NPRM for Remote ID for drones is overly restrictive, expensive, and invades the privacy of the drone pilot.
If you want to learn more about the FAA’s NPRM for Remote ID for drones be sure to read these articles here as well as this Drone Advocacy Kit that has been developed by the Drone U and FPV FC.
And lastly please be sure to submit your own original comments to the FAA on the Federal Register’s website. Explain to them how these new rules negatively impact your drone hobby and or drone business before or on March 2nd, 2020 at the latest!
What do you think about Secretary Chao as she fails to understand how the FAA’s NPRM for Remote ID practically kills the consumer drone hobby? Let us know in the comments below.
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