Drone owners will soon have to register their unmanned flying vehicles with the federal government. As they become more popular in agriculture, will there be an economic burden on farmers?
Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx says a task force has until November 20th to come up with registration guidelines for drones. He said by registering, it will help educate operators about airspace issues. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says it is going to cause a lot of red tape for people.
?The extent to individual farmers by their own drones then it is not a problem. A lot of farmers contract with companies to fly drones over their fields. Those companies will go through that red tape and there might be some costs passed on to the farmer for it. I don?t have any doubt the FAA has the authority to regulate safety and airspace,? Grassley said.
Grassley said even though he feels it is legitimate to register a drone for safety, he doesn?t want the government to go further.
?Now the extent to which they require registration is one thing. The extent to which there is regulations come after the registration is quite another thing. I don?t question it for airspace. I question it from the standpoint of Fourth Amendment privacy and also from the authority of the federal government to even do it,? Grassley said.
Grassley adds we also have to know how high drones fly before regulating what airspace they can fly in. The government plans to issue regulations by mid-December.
