Unregistered Drones

Unregistered Drones

     About 370,000 drones have been registered. Last year, 700,000 drones were estimated to have been shipped. This shows, even without drones from earlier years, that not all drones have been registered. On Saturday, any people flying drones without registering them will be fined with $27,500 for civil penalty and either $250,000 or three years in jail as a criminal fine. All this money and/or time is a waste when you could have just paid $5 to register your drone or registered your drone when it was free. Michael Huerta (FAA Administrator) says that the registration of your drone is for the owners safety. That it is an opportunity to educate you, the people. But some people think of the $5 fee as a "drone tax". People already pay taxes and most likely don't want to pay more, even if it is just $5. This might be why some people haven't registered. Another reason may be that some people just don't use there drones, so they don't think that it is worth it to sign up\register.

Drones and Prisons

Drones and Prisons

     People are using drones to help/assist criminals in prison. In Maryland, Ohio and Oklahoma this has happened. In Illinois, lawmakers want to pass a law that doesn't allow drones to be flown over prisons. It is called Bivins' bill because a Republican named Bill Bivins is sponsoring it. In Wisconsin, there is already a bill that says if you fly a drone over a prison, then you have to pay a fine of up to $5,000.

            In Maryland, two people were already arrested for planning to use a drone to drop off a phone and drugs in a prison. People are trying to figure out how to stop drones from flying over prisons over all. They have come up with using radio waves to mess with the waves that control drones. This would be smart,but however this might also end up blocking cell phone reception in and around the prison (including neighborhoods).

Anit-Drone "Devive" Rebellion?

Drone-v.s.-Animal 2

      

     Eagles have strong talons, great eyesight, and can be trained. These features make eagles a target for a new anti-drone device. The Dutch police want to use eagles to take down rouge drones instead of using bigger drones with nets or radio wave guns. But some people don't think that this is a very good idea.      

     Some people are questioning weather or not the eagles were obtained legally or not. They say that the birds are illegal to own in America without a permit and not native in Europe, which is were the company Guard from Above (the company that trains eagles in the Netherlands) trains them. Other people think that if they have been training eagles for 25 years, then is it really there best interest to train them for this purpose?

     Some people are bringing up a good point that the blades on a drone can hurt animals like eagles. Mythbusters proved that carbon fiber blades on a drone damage animals, so if an eagles were to hit the blade, then bye bye eagle. Once again, I ask, is this a good idea or not?  

New Anti-Drone "Device?"

Drone-v.s.-Animal

     Drones are causing trouble everywhere and not many things can stop them. Anti-drone technology includes radio jammer and other drones, but one more thing might be added to this list, birds. A company called Guard From Above is training eagles and hawks to swoop down and catch drones in their talons. They can easily crush drones because their talons are 10 times stronger than the human hand at 400 pounds per square inch. With this strength they can crush mammal bones! 

     There are lots of worries about this too. For instance, will the blades on the drone hurt the birds talon? The answer is no. The talons on a bird are able to hold a struggling piece of prey alive and have scales that protect their feet and legs. Scientists also are trying to add another layer of protection. 

     Who will buy these birds? Well, right now the Dutch  police have been looking for a way to get rid of unwanted drones, so they will most likely but this. A police men also told Dutch News.nl that the birds are still in testing but is a "real possibility". These birds are a low tech answer for a high tech problem.  

Registration for Drones

300,000 Drones Registered in 30 Days 

     The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has told use that over 300,000 drones were registered within the first 30 days. The registration started on December 21, 2015 and covered remote controlled flying toys and cameras. Any unmanned aircraft (drones) that weighed between 250g - 25kg had to be registered and the pilots had to be 13 and up.

     Registering your drone coasts $5 unless you registered it before January 21, 2016. Another exception to this $5 payment was if you owned a drone before December 21, then you have until February 19, 2016 to register it. Once you register your drone, you have to mark it with your registration number and every three years you must register your drone again.

    

     Registering your drone is for a good reason. It allows the government to track your drone so that they know if you did anything illegal with it and also so that they know, if something happens, that you didn't do it. For instance, in December a drone almost hit a skier, so if you registered your drone, the police would know that that drone wasn't yours.

 

     Another part of registering your drone is giving the FAA information about the owner of the drone. You need to give them your name, address, and email address. This, the FAA says, will help them even further to track drones back to there owners.

 

     Over 1 million drones were expected to be sold in December, which means that only 1/3 of them have been registered.

Amazon Drones

Drones For Amazon

Amazon is still developing drones for its Amazon Prime program. They have multiple prototypes because there is a lot of different weather in America. For instance, rainy Florida weather to hot, dry Arizona weather, and snowy weather in multiple other states. These drones will also have a "sense-and-avoid" technology which means that the drone can avoid obstacles like trees, power lines, and other houses. The drones will deliver your package, if you are not home, on your lawn/front yard but Amazon hasn't found a way to do this if you live in an apartment.

    

     Another thing is, what if someone try's to stop the drone with the package? Well, Misener (Amazons Vice President) says that he isn't worried about that and hopes that drones carrying packages will be as common as a delivery truck.

Lily the Selfie Drone

$34 million in Pre-Order for a Drone

     Lily is the name of a new drone planned to come out in the summer. The most interesting thing about this drone is that it follows you around video taping you in full 1080p (HD) and taking 12-megapixel pictures. It doesn't have a remote control either, you just throw it into the air and it starts flying around on its own. It will stay 5-50 feet away from you and keep the camera aimed on you the whole time. It knows were you are because you will have a tracking device on you that can also stop the drone and make it hover if you think that it will crash into something. It has a battery life of 20 minutes, weighs 2.8 pounds, can fly 25mph, and is about as thick as a textbook. The pre-order price is $799 and the price when it comes out will be $999.