Federal Aviation Administration Announces New Drone Marking Rule

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the US has released an immediate change to its rules with regards to required markings for small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) or ‘drones’. Since 2016, all drones flown in the US must be registered and marked with a FAA-issued registration number. In response to concerns over aesthetics of the drone and the inconvenience of having to place exterior markings on a very small aircraft, the FAA allowed operators to place these markings in an internal compartment of the drone where it could be accessed easily without tools. However, the FAA has suddenly reversed this decision, stipulating that from February 25th 2019, all drones will be required to have their registration number displayed and visible on the outside of the aircraft. This key but relatively minor regulation change has been announced in response to concerns that malicious operators could booby-trap a drone to catch investigators as they opened it in search of a registration