Apparently commercial drones must be registered.The US Court of Appeals for D.C. issued a ruling that drone hobbyists are rejoicing over. The 2015 FAA emergency regulation that required all drone and model aircraft users to register their glorified toys was struck down last week. Now hobbyists can fly their drones, and RC planes, without fear of being excessively fined or criminally prosecuted for failing to register.
The appellate court found that the FAA overstepped their authority in promulgating rules that cover model aircrafts flown for recreation or as a hobby. Though the court acknowledged that the FAA had an important purpose in creating the registration requirement, it also explained that a law passed in 2012 should have prohibited the 2015 rules from being approved. This case was brought by a drone hobbyist who challenged the new rules affecting his pastime.
About the only good argument I can see for a registration requirement would be trying to track down someone who flew their drone in restricted airspace and caused a collision with an aircraft.
