Good news for drone owners! If you are flying your drone for personal purposes only, there is no longer a requirement to register your drone with the FAA. If you are flying a drone for commercial purposes, registration with the FAA is still a requirement.
On May 19, 2017 a federal court in Washington D.C. ruled that the regulation to register drones was in violation of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. The FAA is not allowed to regulate model aircraft operation, and drones are considered to fall into that category per the court ruling.
The case was brought to court in January 2016 by a man named John Taylor who argued that the FAA didn’t have the authority to define ‘model aircraft.’
This is good news for drone hobbyists, at least for now, because the FAA registration did have a small fee that can be saved. However, this could lead to other laws regarding drones in the future, either passed directly by congress or through an appeal by the FAA.
HT: Recode
