A large drone dealer in Florida can no longer fly drones over 55 pounds after allegedly violating multiple FAA regulations. Here’s what reportedly happened — FAA officials showed up at a training session hosted by the dealer and learned the pilot in command allegedly didn’t have registration for the drone, and he was flying it too close to a non-participating farmer. For some perspective, we reached out to Adam Gittins, president of Harlan, Iowa-based drone dealer HTS Ag. Gittins says this case serves as a harsh reminder for dealers to make sure all their boxes are checked before operating dron

“Let me make an analogy here about what was happening. This person was driving a vehicle with no license plates on it. But not only did it not have license plates on it, it had never been registered. And when they got pulled over, they also did not have their driver’s license with them. They did not have proof of insurance. They did not have their registration. And they were driving on the wrong side of the road.”

“There was a whole bunch of small things that should be fairly simple and fairly easy to do that led to the action that the FAA took on it. My experience in working with the FAA, I’ve done that a few times, their heart, their goal and their desire is to educate people. They don’t want to take action against people. I’ve seen them offer a tremendous amount of grace to people that just didn’t know. But as large as a company as this was, these were things they should’ve known.” 

Click here for more information on the case and more key takeaways from Gittins.