HOUSTON (CN) - The Federal Aviation Administration's new rule requiring drone and model aircraft flyers to register them has stirred up two lawsuits, but serious hobbyists see the mandate as a mere annoyance.
It's easy for Houstonians to imagine themselves as pilots driving on Westheimer Road, weaving through five lanes of heavy traffic, racing to keep pace with the synched green lights, passing median denizens, panhandlers and tax-service advertisers gyrating in Statue of Liberty garb.
Toward the western edge of town the road splits. Westheimer Parkway doglegs right and narrows to two lanes. The concrete gives way to a 7,800-acre park of sun-scorched grass, sprinkled with oaks and stands of heavy brush.
The fishermen shoulder their poles, tackle boxes in hand, and stroll across the flatland toward a shallow tree-lined pond. A young father holds up a large blanket, lets the wind spread it out for his family picnic, burgers cooking on a grill, kids skipping rocks in the pond.
As you wonder if you've driven through a wormhole to the Texas back country, objects appear in the sky to the right. This is Dick Scobee Memorial Airfield, named after a NASA astronaut who died piloting the Space Shuttle Challenger in January 1986.
The field is home to the Bayou City Flyers, a club with 266 members that serves as gatekeeper, regulator and caretakers of the property.
As of Dec. 21, 2015, the FAA requires all recreational flyers of model aircraft and drones that weigh from 0.55 to 55 lbs. to register with the agency, which gives them an FAA number they must affix to all their aircraft.
February 19 was the registration deadline for people who owned their aircraft before Dec. 21. Anyone who bought after that date must register before their maiden flight.
More than 300,000 people have registered, according to the FAA.
Two lawsuits are pending against the FAA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The plaintiffs claim the new rule violates the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 , which states that the agency "may not promulgate any rule or may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft" if it's "flown strictly for hobby or recreational use," is "operated in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines," weighs less than 55 lbs., and does not interfere with manned aircraft.
The D.C. Court of Appeals, which hears challenges to federal agency rules, denied Maryland resident John Taylor's request for a stay of the FAA registration program in December. His motion for summary disposition is pending.
"Like injunctive relief, those motions are rarely granted, but I'm giving it my best shot," Taylor said in an email.
His case will likely be consolidated with a similar lawsuit that TechFreedom, a Washington D.C. think tank, filed last week.
The FAA said in court filings in Taylor's case that the 2012 law does not preclude the registration regime.