Sometimes it can be a wonderful case of schadenfreude when two pieces of legislation act to cancel each other out.
Case in point, the recent 211 page FCC document: 14 CFR Parts 1, 45, 47, 48, 91, and 375 - Registration and Marking Requirements for Small Unmanned Aircraft specifically tailored to address the registration of privately owned drone aircraft of 250 grams or more in weight (a bit over a half pound)
I wrote about this earlier here when I found that the person's name and address would be made public.
OK - segue back to February of 2012 and this 300 page document: FAA MODERNIZATION AND REFORM ACT OF 2012
Specifically Page 72:
Subtitle B—Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Sec. 336. Special rule for model aircraft.
To whit:
SEC. 336. SPECIAL RULE FOR MODEL AIRCRAFT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law relating to the incorporation of unmanned aircraft systems into Federal Aviation Administration plans and policies, including this subtitle, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft, if—
(1) the aircraft is flown strictly for hobby or recreational use;
(2) the aircraft is operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization;
(3) the aircraft is limited to not more than 55 pounds unless otherwise certified through a design, construction, inspection, flight test, and operational safety program administered by a community-based organization;
(4) the aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned aircraft; and
(5) when flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the aircraft provides the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the airport) with prior notice of the operation (model aircraft operators flying from a permanent location within 5 miles of an airport should establish a mutually-agreed upon operating procedure with the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the airport)).
Italic emphasis mine. This 2012 Act specifically addressed model aircraft under 55 pounds and told the FAA to keep their grubby little mitts off as long as some basic and simple rules and self-policing were being followed.
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