An FPV Pilot's take on the New Jersey drone scare

SUMMARY: RID requirments for recreational drones are bureaucratic overreach.

FROM VIDEO COMMENTS:

As far as I've been able to determine, no American has ever been seriously injured by a hobby drone. By contrast, thousands have been killed by personal watercraft and ATVs - other vehicles that are used for hobby and recreational purposes.

The paranoia about drones clearly runs high, and the recent incidents have greatly exacerbated it.

In 2017, a federal court ruled that the registration regulation exceeded the FAA's statutory authority and was therefore unlawful (Taylor v. Huerta). A few months later, Congress slipped a sentence into the Defense Reauthorization Act that reinstated the regulation.

In response to a FOIA request more than a year after the regulation was adopted, the FAA acknowledged it had no record of registration ever being used to identify a drone operator acting unlawfully.

The remote ID regulation was also challenged in federal court, including based on the privacy issues. At oral argument, the court seemed inclined to side with hobbyists about the privacy concerns, but the decision ultimately supported the FAA.

The FAA regulations make little sense and are largely feel-good measures