CAA website besieged by angry drone pilots ahead of registration deadline

Thousands of UK drone pilots could face a fine of £1,000 if they fail to register their details with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) by the end of today.

Drone users blasted the regulator on Twitter today, complaining that its website was repeatedly crashing as users rushed to register.

Twitter user Toby Stripp said: “@UK_CAA your drone registration service is down. Hope you won’t be dishing out any £1k fines when people can’t register huh?”

Read more: Gatwick airport remains shut down as Army brought in to deal with drone crisis

Mark Brookfield posted a picture of an error message on the CAA’s website and said: “@UK_CAA ‘You must register your drone by the end of 29 November, or else’

“Also CAA: ‘we’re so bloody incompetent we can’t run a decent IT system'”. 

Rob Mynott said: “@UK_CAA I have just tried to register my drone, but having both taken and passed the test the website crashed as I was trying to make payment. What do you suggest I do?”

A spokesperson for the CAA said: “We are trying to establish what the problem is.”

Anyone with a drone which weighs more than 250g must register it with the CAA by midnight tonight.

Read more: Passenger jet ‘narrowly avoided’ hitting drone at Gatwick airport in April

The operator must be over 18, take an online multiple choice test and pay a £9 fee.

The new regulation follows scares such as the disruption of Gatwick Airport last December.

Last year thousands of passengers faced delays and the army was called in after multiple drone sightings near Gatwick Airport. 

In April, an Airbus passenger jet carrying as many as 186 passengers was forced to take evasive action to avoid a drone as it approached Gatwick airport.

The airliner was flying at 518 metres towards the West Sussex airport on 28 April when the pilot saw a dark-coloured drone and made a banking turn to the right of up to eight degrees to avoid the device, according to the UK Airprox Board (UKAB).