What constitutes a drone?

[Decal Dennis]

Seeing the proposed FAA rules on registering your "drone"........what constitutes a drone?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my definition of a drone is an aircraft (multi rotor/airplane) that flies autonomously(pre programmed flight paths out of sight of the pilot) and an aircraft(multi rotor/airplane) that is flown via line of site controlled only by a transmitter and is not capable of pre programmed flights is NOT a drone

Input please

 

[Bartman]

Dennis,

"Drone" has become the go-to word for just about everyone to explain an unmanned aircraft. The media started it with their news coverage of military unmanned aircraft but with all of the civilian activity the word was quickly adopted to include that too.

Ask someone that doesn't know any better about RC planes and helicopters and they too might call them "Drones" at this point.

I always thought a "Drone" was something that flew without a plot but wasn't necessarily guided throughout its flight. An unmanned 1st generation jet fighter being used for target practice comes to mind. Maybe they were guided to some degree, I'm not sure.

So it seems we're stuck with it but that doesn't mean we can't use the words we know better represent what it is that we're doing. Multi-Rotor Helicopter, quadcopter, RC plane, RC helicopter, sUAS (small Unmanned Aerial System), UAV, etc.

 

[Krzy4RC]

This is the million dollar question!

As I understand it, the original "drones" were non-guided targets for military practice.

Now, I think it would be reasonable to classify it as something flown remotely beyond LOS. But, I would like to argue, that if you fly FPV, but kept the aircraft within what would be LOS it would still be classified as non-drone. I argued this point when the original FAA interpretations came out...didn't go over well. My argument is something can me line of site, without you actually looking at it. Line of Site is a point unubstructed from another point. But, I digress.

My big fear is they just put a weight limit and call everything RC or free flight a "Drone".

 

[Old Man]

Too late, that's already been done, but they excluded the weight limit. If it flies unmanned, it's a "drone". The only question is how they define what "drones" have to be registered.