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Comment by tomkinstinch | Hacker News Reader

The proposed rules seem prudent and well-considered. I'm an amateur radio operator, and there are similar licensure, testing, and regulatory requirements in order to ensure the best use of a shared and finite resource. Where radios have restrictions on frequency, aircraft have restrictions on location, where transmitters are prohibited from causing interference, aircraft are controled for safety. Where radio power is limited (to the the minimum necessary for communication), aircraft use is limited to line-of-sight. Most of the populace is unlikely to be an operator (of radio, or aircraft) so it is important that those who are are respectful of everyone else such that their use does not endanger or interfere with ordinary activity.

Just as no one wants an unlicensed transmitter blocking the ability for a cell phone to call 911, no one wants a quad copter falling on his or her head.

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I thought a while ago that ham radio regulations might be a useful conceptual template and, as you say, that's what seems to be happening.

I imagine we'll see some pushback on the requirements for getting certified (e.g. background check) but that's quibbling at the margins.

I also imagine that some won't like the prohibition on autonomous operation outside line of sight. But that seems a reasonable restriction to me if we're heading toward a spot where there are potentially lots of drones flying around.

I heard some of the information that came out of the rule making committee about this time last year. The FAA has the idea that they need to control this as fast as possible, while doing what they can to slow the explosion so that it remains under constant control.

Part of me wonders if the background check (TSA Screen) is just something to weed out people who are on the fence about getting the certificate.

I do applaud some of what they're doing except for the weight classes they have assigned. The 55 lb and under is a huge range. They are making safety rules based on a contraption between the weight of a desktop computer or a toaster. I'm not sure a toaster falling on your head from 500 feet would kill you, but a computer falling from that height surely would.

Well, a tape measure that dropped 500feet killed a man[1], so I wouldn't be too confident about something the size of a toaster not killing someone when being dropped 500ft.

Granted a tape measure does weigh less than 2lb (~toaster), but anything dropping from 500feet is still cause for concern.

[1]http://www.krmg.com/news/news/national/tape-measure-dropped-...

I wasn't confident and said I wasn't sure.

Maybe the rules according to those weights aren't wrong.

I wonder what the terminal velocity is for a drone that's lost power. It seems like anything that's able to climb to and hover at 500 feet probably won't drop quite like a brick unless things go wrong in a very particular way.

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