back to article Drones Bill said to be ready for world+dog's crayons 'this summer'

The UK's long-awaited Drones Bill will be out for public consultation "this summer" - though sources tell The Register that it has been stripped down in order to guarantee a smooth passage through Parliament. The summer pledge, while not new, came from a Department for Transport delegate during a panel session at this week's …

  1. Blockchain commentard

    £43 billion to include the broken drones littering the Welsh countryside?

    1. msknight
      Joke

      What are you implying? That we're bad pilots, or good shots? ;-)

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    £43 billion... Even if you're buying completely blinged out top of the range consumer drones, that's a couple of full beehives worth.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      "£43 billion... Even if you're buying completely blinged out top of the range consumer drones, that's a couple of full beehives worth."

      I suspect they mean a little more than just the consumer market. They are probably adding in large chunks of revenue already in existence but which will move into the "drone market". All sorts of inspection jobs, aerial photography, etc., ie revenue that already exists but may, possibly, be generated more efficiently at lower cost and more than likely higher profits rather than savings for the end users.

  3. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

    Does anyone else worry about this?

    ...We understand that industry bodies expect the bill to be skeletal, in policy terms, with the precise details filled in at a later date by secondary legislation and binding guidance from regulators....

    'Secondary legislation' means Orders in Council, which means directives from Ministers, which actually means whatever their department wants to do.

    Binding Guidance from Regulators is similar.

    This means that suddenly a new hobbyist area can be closed down on the whim of a few uneected officials. Haven't we had enough with sugar being banned?

    1. Martin Gregorie

      Re: Does anyone else worry about this?

      Does anybody know just who invented the concept of Secondary Legislation and promoted it as a way of bypassing Parliamentary scrutiny?

      Whoever it was, one thing is certain: they were not a democrat.

  4. Johndoe888

    The 400 foot rule comes in on July 30th, until then only those weighing less than 7kg have no height restriction.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Has to be in line of sight...

      Under 7Kg has no upper weight limit but it has to be in visual range.

      I can only just see the Phantom at 400ft anyway, and I lose visual sight of the spark before that so dont fly it that far away from me..

      Of course the people breaking current rules and currently flying out of visual range will continue to do so regardless.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    £42 Billion worth of business?

    That last bit in the article - PwC's Elaine Whyte said that the £42bn

    '... is not necessarily limited to the drones themselves but how you analyse the data that comes out, the data analytics, AI.'

    So are they seeing a future where drones are freely able to gather data for analytics purposes, and indeed that this would be the primary purpose of much of the use of drones?

    Can't they just settle for spying on us on-line and leave is to fuck alone in real life?

    Or have I misunderstood?

    1. Wellyboot Silver badge
      Childcatcher

      Re: £42 Billion worth of business?

      PwC could just spreading more BS with the £42bn but you're probably right with the spying.

      Unless of course we are all getting allocated personal guardian drones to follow us about.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "...personal guardian drones "

        To protect us from harm? Or to guard against non-conformity?

        I'd like to think the former, but I'm sure it would be the latter.

  6. NomadUK

    I guess I've been out of the loop for awhile. What does 'world+dog' mean?

    1. Piscivore

      world+dog = anyone

      crayons = corrective writing implements used to make amendments

  7. M. Poolman
    Holmes

    "the bill has been noticeably absent from Parliamentary schedules – ****perhaps because of the ongoing Brexit kerfuffles**** that are tying up the Lords and Commons."

    By George, you might be onto something there!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Droning on and on about Brexit

    But.

    Will I be able to fly my drone over and across the Irish/Northern Irish (hard-soft) border?

  9. Johndoe888

    Exemption from Article 94A (the 400 foot rule)

    The latest meeting between the Department for Transport (DfT), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and representatives from the UK Model Flying Associations took place yesterday afternoon at the DfT offices in London.

    The most urgent matter to address was the recent change to the Air Navigation Order (ANO) which introduced (in Article 94A) a 400ft height limit on the operation of all Small Unmanned Aircraft (SUA) which will come into effect on the 30th July 2018. Whilst the changes to the ANO are largely aimed at regulating 'drones', the 400ft restriction will also apply to model aircraft below 7Kg.

    However, we are pleased to report that agreement was reached that the Model Flying Associations will collectively apply for an exemption from Article 94A to allow their members to continue operating model aircraft below 7Kg above 400ft as they do under the current ANO. The DfT and CAA were supportive of this course of action and did not foresee any reason why the exemption would not be in place in time for the 30th July.

    Negotiations on the other changes introduced in the ANO, namely operator registration and online testing of pilots remain ongoing, but for now it is business as usual for members of the BMFA, LMA, SAA & FPVUK.

    1. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

      Re: Exemption from Article 94A (the 400 foot rule)

      ...the Model Flying Associations will collectively apply for an exemption from Article 94A to allow their members to continue operating model aircraft below 7Kg above 400ft as they do under the current ANO....

      So.... only club members? If you aren't a member of a club your flying is limited?

      This is very like people claiming that hitting golf balls is dangerous, so people wil only be allowed to drive a golf ball 400ft - but golf club members can drive further.

      The average amateur can drive a ball about 600ft. 400 ft is a good height for small models, but it will be regularly exceeded by thermal soarers. or slope soarers on a good day...

  10. MachDiamond Silver badge

    Make it easy

    Canada initially came out with some very rational regulations that the USA should have adopted straight away, but himmed and hawed for a couple of more years before finally mostly Xeroxing what Canada did under an FAA seal.

    The UK could make life easy on themselves and just make a xerox of a xerox and get on with it. The US system has a mechanism for getting a waiver to go higher or exceeding other regulations on a case by case basis since there will always be outlying applications that are useful. More complex regulations and licensing is under consideration for larger craft and for applications such as crop dusting where the UAS will be out of sight. Simple qualifications for 7kg and under will cover a huge majority of commercial applications and define a clear set of flight rules so idiots will have their toys taken away for doing what idiots always do.

  11. rskurat

    I love how the term AI has become the new "Amen" and analytics is now the new "In the name of the Lord." These MBA types must get an email every January 1st titled Glib Gibberish Word Of The Year.

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