You might be owed a refund if you registered your drone with the FAA

A few weeks ago, it was announced that the Federal Aviation Administration no longer requires registration for personal drones. The federal appeals court in Washington D.C. decided that the FAA simply has no right to require hobbyists to register their drones and model aircraft. Well, now the FAA have are offering to de-list drone hobbyists from their system and issue refunds.

The refund is basically down to the fact that they weren’t legally allowed to charge you in the first place. But you do have to file for it, you don’t just receive it. According to AINonline, the FAA have made available a “registration deletion and self-certification” form. Registrants must complete it and then mail it to the FAA Civil Aviation Registry.

In short, the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act provides that the FAA ‘may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft,’ yet the FAA’s 2015 registration rule is a ‘rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft.’ Statutory interpretation does not get much simpler.

Washington DC District Court

You can find out more information about registration deletion on the FAA website, and you can download the self-certification form here. Completed forms should be mailed to the FAA Civil Aviation Registry.

FAA Civil Aviation Registry
PO Box 25504
Oklahoma City OK, 73125

The FAA say that it “continues to encourage voluntary registration for all owners of small unmanned aircraft”.

[Ainonline via Fstoppers]