http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40684581

Hmm... I'm not inherently against the idea, but the devil's in the details. If it's £100 for a course, test and registration then a lot of people just won't bother, especially for a 300g /£500 Spark...

Just not enough information at the moment but agreed some compulsory course at a physical 'centre' for a 300g/£500 spark seems like it could be a hassle to far for many. i hope they see sense and make it an e-learning course and test.

Taken from the linked report...
"There is no time frame or firm plans as to how the new rules will be enforced and the Department of Transport admitted that "the nuts and bolts still have to be ironed out".

Nothing has changed, no new changes in the regulations !

We can all speculate on what the future holds, but its just that, speculation....

PyramidHead76 Posted at 2017-7-22 02:46
Hmm... I'm not inherently against the idea, but the devil's in the details. If it's £100 for a course, test and registration then a lot of people just won't bother, especially for a 300g /£500 Spark...

It is a good thing I believe, I don't think registration will be expensive, I also think for hobbyists test may very well be done online.
This move will be more about users being aware of safety privacy and general dos and don'ts , and when test is done you will probably be in some sort of category of user.
I think it's overall positive, usually Ireland will follow closely to what uk is doing although we have already registration I think test will come here as well.

Harbourside Posted at 2017-7-22 03:31
Taken from the linked report...
"There is no time frame or firm plans as to how the new rules will be enforced and the Department of Transport admitted that "the nuts and bolts still have to be ironed out".

In order to get people to register you may see restrictions on those who don't, so maybe certain limits of distance or height until test is done.

I think in the future we might see commercial drones for commercial users and same drone but with restrictions for hobbyists.
So if your using a commercial Mavic you will need a commercial licence, and hobbyists Mavic a different form of license or approved test. We shall see.