Drone & Model Aircraft Registration Scheme

Late yesterday afternoon the CAA announced that the Drone and Model Aircraft Registration and Education Scheme will go live on 5 November 2019. The fee to register with the CAA will be £9.

Registration for FPV UK members

FPV UK members will not need to register directly with the government scheme. Our members will be exempt until the end of January 2020 and between now and then we will contact you for your permission to register your details with the government scheme – for a fee of £9.

Education/ Competency for FPV UK members

FPV UK members who have done the FPV UK ‘A’ certificate will not need to do the government competency test. If you haven’t done so already, why not do the free ‘A’ certificate today? Just login to your FPVUK.org account and click on the ‘Do ‘A’ Certificate now (multiple choice)‘ link. The test takes only a few minutes and shows immediately on your membership certificate and your next membership card.

How did we get to this?
Until very recently the CAA’s price to register was £16.50, and association members would have had to register and do the CAA competency test like everyone else. It is down to a combined and sustained effort by the UK model flying associations (including special advisers Cliff Whitaker, and Roger Hopkinson MBE) that we were able to secure the above concessions.The (fairly new) Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, should be commended for his decisive input on this (it was absolutely crucial). Special thanks go to David Phipps who represented all of the UK RC flying associations in the final negotiations after Grant Shapps got involved.

The CAA’s complete announcement is available here and is reproduced below: https://www.caa.co.uk/Consumers/Unmanned-aircraft/Our-role/Drone-and-model-aircraft-registration/

Drone and model aircraft registration and education service

Update 21 October 2019

Registration mandatory from: 30 November 2019

The UK’s new Drone and Model Aircraft Registration and Education Scheme will go live on 5 November 2019 (please note that you cannot register before this date).

There will be two elements to the online system.

Anyone responsible for a drone or unmanned aircraft (including model aircraft) weighing between 250g and 20kg will need to register as an operator. The cost for this will be £9 renewable annually.

Anyone flying a drone or unmanned aircraft (including model aircraft) weighing between 250g and 20kg will need to take and pass an online education package. This is free and renewable every three years.

Both of these requirements become law on 30 November 2019.

From 5 November 2019 the system will be available at Register-drones.caa.co.uk.

For holders of current CAA permissions or exemptions for drone operations (e.g. such as the permission related to commercial operations as required in ANO article 94(5)) and model flyers holding an achievement certificate issued by a UK model aircraft association with a CAA reviewed achievement scheme:

Remote pilots flying in accordance with a permission, exemption or operational authorisation (e.g. such as the permission related to commercial operations as required in ANO article 94(5)) that has been issued to a named UAS operator by the CAA will be exempt from having to undertake the online education training and test.

Similarly, where a UK model aircraft association already has an established and CAA reviewed ‘competency scheme’, members who hold an appropriate achievement certificate or award (such as the BMFA ‘A’ certificate) will also be exempt from having to undertake the online education training and test.

Any operators who are not covered under the conditions of a permission/exemption or do not hold a recognised association competency will need to complete the free online course.

To allow operators to demonstrate competence if challenged (for example by the police) the CAA will be issuing a formal exemption that can be used alongside existing permissions / achievements and any other relevant documents. This exemption will be in place until 30 June 2020, when new regulations are expected. We will be working with stakeholders in 2020 to put these into place.

For members of ARPAS-UK, British Model Flying Association (BMFA), Scottish Aeromodellers’ Association (SAA), Large Model Association (LMA) and FPV UK

Members will not need to register as an operator with the CAA system if they are a current member of these associations. With permission, the associations will collect the registration fee from members directly and supply their data to the CAA. This will take place initially by 31 January 2020 and an exemption from the need to register will be put in place by 30 November to cover association members until then.

The associations will issue further detailed guidance to their members in due course.

Please see the following websites for more details:

Control line model aircraft flying

The CAA will be issuing an exemption meaning those flying control line model aircraft will not need to comply with the registration or education regulations.