....but writing the law is going to be a real bear. People were saying, "Why are drivers on the Golden Gate Bridge concerned about running into drones?" Would you want to hit a three pound drone with your windshield going 55 mph?
Anyway, drones need to be controlled like ham and CB radio transmitters USED to be. There was licensing and if somebody was out of compliance they would be contacted by the FCC. But nowadays people can do whatever they want, even if it endangers other people, and nobody monitors anything.
Just as an aside, there was a guy in a neighborhood that had this immense linear amplifier on his radio transmitter and whenever he would send, everybody's TVs would snow out. He avoided trouble by giving out filters that stopped the problem, but I'll bet there were people that didn't know what was causing the problem. But that was about the time they quit enforcing the rules.
the restrictions are already here and enacted.
the drone operator is to have a transponder on his craft, traceable to him any time he is operating outside a designated FRIA.
Inside or outside a designated FRIA, operators are limited to 400 feet AGL and clear of all aircraft.
All drones above .55 Lbs must have an FAA registration number.
The FCC side of the problem is also regulated.
I have some FPV gear that requires me to have a ham ticket to operate. these TX's are still under a single watt.
I'd say 15% or less operate FPV in compliance (live video feed system) Despite this, they cause more problems for each other at drone race events than they do anyone else. I've never heard of interference outside said events.
the control side is no longer the old single freq like ham or cb,. It's spread spectrum hopping all over the entire allocated band, avoiding interference
in the days of 72 mhz, frequency conflict was common and only a handful of pilots could operate at any given time.
today FliteTest hosts FliteFest where literally hundreds of pilots operate all manor of flying contraption at the same time with FCC compliant equipment.
