On the 26th April, the CAA released the Charge proposal for the UK Drone Registration Scheme through the CAP 1775.
Within the document outlines the proposal to charge £16.50 annually to register their aircraft with the CAA.
In 2018 the UK government decided to mandate a drone registration and education scheme in the UK to strengthen the accountability of drone users and their awareness of how to fly their drone safely.
All operators flying drones between 250 grams and 20 kilograms will have to register by the end of 2019 and remote pilots will be required to take an online safety test.
The CAA is planning to open the registration scheme from 1st October 2019, enabling all those that need to register to do so by the 30th November 2019 as required under the UK Navigation Order.
The CAA consultation is about the proposed charge on all drone users and model aircraft flyers to cover the costs of the service proposed.
Because the CAA is a statutory body, it has to recover its costs from those it regulates and it is the same funding model used for other aviation regulation functions such as pilots, engineers, general aviation, airlines and airports.
The CAA is proposing an annual charge of £16.50 for each operator. They have stipulated that is is to cover the costs of running the regularisation scheme including the IT hosting and security costs.
The have based their costs on an assumption of 170000 assumed registrations over an initial 18 month period.
The CAA is welcoming feedback on the proposals and is open to alternative ideas about how they could cover the costs of running the registration scheme.
You can use the CAA Drone Registration Scheme Consultation online submission form link below to give your opinion, which we encourage all operators to do so.
https://consultations.caa.co.uk/finance/drone-registration/
The consultation will close on 7 June 2019.
