The analogy fits better than any other. When used outdoors, drones share airspace like cars share the road and like boats share the waterways. Unregistered vehicles like ATVs can't be used on public roads. Same with RC cars. If you want to fly your drone indoors, you don't need to register. Outdoors, no matter where in the US you are, you are in the national airspace which is shared and thus requires rules and accountability.
It may be a "better" analogy but it still stinks. Too many flaws which make for ridiculous arguments.Comparing the roads to airspace is another bad analogy in the context of this discussion. If you are diving down the highway and all of a sudden the lanes are blocked, you either stop or crash. In the air, there are no defined roads - in open county you have virtually unlimited room to avoid. In all three dimensions. The outdoors part is another problem - you don't need to register many types of vehicles when used on private property. Including outdoors. As has already been shown, the airspace above your property is yours up to some "usable" altitude.
That toy can fly several thousand feet up. That toy can fly 8 miles horizontally. That toy can travel at up to 40MPH. That toy can fracture the windscreen of a helicopter or small plane. That toy can be fitted with carbon fiber blades that can cause deep lacerations. That toy can be programmed to fly an autonomous route. If it's a toy, it's a very powerful one.
Powerful and dangerous, yes. That was my point of the "Tonka" story. There are plenty of toys that are as, or more, dangerous than a drone. We don't regulate them. We don't force registration on them. We simply set reasonable rules - "you can't use them to cause harm" and punish those who do.
And when I am not flying drones, I am occasionally a "real pilot" flying Cessnas on the weekends. My biggest fear is YOUR drone.
I took a flight lesson about a year ago. With all that could potentially go wrong in a small aircraft, I am amazed that your "biggest" fear is the astronomically small chance of a drone collision. I am guessing by "YOUR" you mean anyone's. If you mean mine specifically (implied by the caps) then I am worried. It would mean you plan to fly over my private property at a highly unsafe, low altitude (and trespassing into my private airspace). Licensing and registration do not guarantee safety or compliance with the rules.
400,000 drones will be sitting under US xmas trees this season. That's almost a doubling of the existing amount. If it doesn't get regulated now, it will be mayhem later. Many people will be responsible. Many will not.
As will BB guns, baseball bats and many other "scary" items. Some people will always be irresponsible. Unfortunately, those are the types of people who registration will not fix.
The real irony is that this topic is about registration. There are NO NEW RULES which address ANY safety issue. Registration is a completely different topic than safety or rules. You could triple or quadruple the amount of drones under the Christmas tree and register all of them twice. That does not add or remove a single operator rule or restriction to what is in place.
I realize i don't "get it." To me, make some rules, assign penalties and enforce. Instead, it is "we are thinking about the rules" -meanwhile, give us $5 and let us put you name on a list while were figure it out. Complete insanity.
