Slashdot: UK To Require Drone Registration And Safety Exams

UK To Require Drone Registration And Safety Exams
Published on July 23, 2017 at 03:10PM
An anonymous reader quotes Bloomberg:
Drones will have to be registered and their users required to pass safety tests under new rules to be announced by the U.K.’s Department for Transport… Registration will be mandated for owners of drones 250 grams (8.8 ounces) or larger after research found that drones as small as 400 grams (14 ounces) could damage the windscreens of helicopters. Other security measures like “geo-fencing” — GPS-based technology programmed into drones to prevent them from flying into sensitive areas such as prisons and airports — are also under consideration, according to a statement from the department.
The BBC points out that “There is no time frame or firm plans as to how the new rules will be enforced and the Department of Transport admitted that ‘the nuts and bolts still have to be ironed out.'”

“The UK government says 22 incidents involving commercial airliners and drones were investigated between January and April of this year,” adds TechRadar, “with police unable to trace the owners of the drones — one of the reasons for the new legislation.”