We knew it was coming as it is finally here. The government has finally regulated the use of commercial unmanned aerial drones, effective yesterday. So if you own a drone, you’re gonna have to register it w/ the FAA.
You will have 30 days to register your drone online for free, it will cost you a $5 fee afterwards. For those of you who fly your unregistered drone after February 19th, 2016 can face civil & criminal penalties from a $27,500 fine to 3 years in prison. Yikes! Now this doesn’t apply to every single type of drone out there on the market. Anything over 0.55lbs and up to 55lbs needs to be registered and marked w/ an ID number. Anything over 55lbs has a new set of rules that apply.
Interesting timing as many folks will be getting a drone for the holidays, hopefully. For those of you who pick up a bigger one like the Yuneec Typhoon, DJI Phantom or Inspire 1, and others.