Concerns you.

Afternoon, As you may have already seen, earlier today the CAA released their consultation on the charges for their upcoming drone registration scheme. https://consultations.caa.co.uk/finance/drone-registration/ This registration scheme is currently proposed to apply to all of us who fly model aircraft, as well as recreational and commercial drone operators. That means every single person who wants to fly a model aircraft in the UK (including every LMA, BMFA, SAA, FPVUK member) will, before the end of November 2019, have to- Register themselves on the government website Pay £16.50 for the privilege of registering Renew registration and pay £16.50 every year Pass an online test of theoretical competence on the government website (for free) Please read the consultation in the above link, and please respond to the consultation. Again, to be clear, we need your help to communicate how popular this will be with the UK’s modellers, so PLEASE RESPOND TO THE CONSULTATION. I will be responding formally on behalf of the LMA as well as working with the BMFA, SAA & FPV UK to meet with the DfT and the CAA and apply political pressure via the APPG for GA and other routes to get the best possible result for modellers. We need your support though in the form of weight of numbers responding to the consultation. I met yesterday with the developers of the system in Gatwick, and the proposed system is quite straightforward to use, if a bit expensive to use! They are however only providing what the CAA & DfT have asked for. If you have any questions, please ask. I do however know it is overkill, the charge is completely excessive, only the law abiding will comply with it, it will be widely ignored, especially by anyone upto no good and it is a ‘seen to be doing something’ knee jerk reaction to the perceived ‘drone menace’ that lives in some influential people’s heads. Based on the predicted numbers or registrants, modellers will be approximately 25% of the numbers, so PLEASE RESPOND TO THE CONSULTATION to make modellers the largest group making their views known on the questions in the consultation- a) What is your view on the CAA’s proposed charge, in terms of the level and structure of the charge? b) Do you have alternative ideas about how the CAA could cover the costs of running the registration scheme? c) Are the CAA’s estimated volumes appropriate for the make-up of drone operators in the UK, based on existing sources of data and your own observations? Best Regards Rob Buckley Secretary - Large Model Association secretary@largemodelassociation.com