Question Power Armour classification & legal niceties

So, I'd assume that for legal purposes, powered armour and associated technologies (i.e. mini-mecha ) would be classified as a vehicle? Or would it be classified as a weapon? On the same note, would a flight-capable armour (like Iron Man's suit or the power armour from Starship Troopers) need a FAA registration? Would the operator need a pilot's license to use it?

How exactly do you even register a suit of power armour? Do you just clank down to the nearest DMV, walk up to the counter clad in what is essentially a walking weapon, and just get a license plate slapped on your ass? Do power armour operators need to carry a drivers license?

I'd assume the MCO- being a quasi-governmental organisation- get their power suits registered as they come off the line. But do their pilots need to obey road rules if they pursue a target down a public laneway?

If you collide with a pedestrian while walking down the street, could you be sued for running someone over with a vehicle? If you have a weapon-equipped suit, do you need to get yet another license for said weaponised suit as if it's a gun or another lethal item?

Do armours have to have limitations of their construction, simular to how road-legal vehicles have certain restrictions?

What about motorbikes that transform into power armour? Or suitcases that turn into a power suit? Do they need three or four seperate sets of documentation to be legally operable?

These are just some of the questions I could ask about power armour that I'm seeking the answers for.

Oh, MAN have you opened up a can of worms!

Yes, power armor is considered a vehicle, and not only do you have to register it, but you have to have a license to operate it. It is not a weapon. If it is loaded with a weapon or weapons, they are registered as weapons. Whateley tech heads get around a lot of this junk as they are 'prototypes' that are only recognized as either vehicles, weapons or power tools at some arcane point I don't even want to touch on. As for the licensing agency, that is a point of much furious discussion at the Federal, State and Local levels; contact your local DMV for the current state of jurisdiction. Expect much runaround. Do NOT, I repeat NOT go to the DMV in your frame, let alone stand in line with it, DMV security officers have even less sense of humor than the window jockeys do.

As for the sidewalk issue, as in most things, it depends on the particulars. For instance, WHY were you walking down the street in power armor in the first place?

As for the transforming vehicles, you don't need separate registration for the modes, but you do need appropriate license to operate each mode. As for the suitcase mode, you don't need a license, but you should notify the licensing agency (whichever it is this month), of the distinct alternate mode. Especially if it's weaponized.

Bek D Corbin wrote: Yes, power armor is considered a vehicle, and not only do you have to register it, but you have to have a license to operate it. It is not a weapon. If it is loaded with a weapon or weapons, they are registered as weapons. Whateley tech heads get around a lot of this junk as they are 'prototypes'

Florida's Application for Certificate of Title With/Without Registration has a section for "Brands, Usage, and Type". The checkboxed options include some you'd expect, but also "assembled from parts", "rebuilt", "kit car", "glider kit", "replica", "flood", "autonomous","street rod", and "Custom".

In theory, I could park the Jupiter 2 in the parking lot of a FL DMV office for VIN or Engine number verification, walk in with a bill of sale, and eventually fly out with Florida plates. It IS a mobile home AND a vessel (both of which use the same form) after all. Before anyone asks, NASA would go through GSA.

The FAA is understandably twitchy with their licensing requirements.


The important thing to keep in mind is your local zoning. Zoning enforcement doesn't have much oversight, and the penalties for a violation might not be capped.

AND, remember, if it can fly AT ALL, the FAA will be the issuing agency, and they are VERY picky

Also, check one of the early Tennyo stories for her early-morning Flight class, in which much of it is discussed.

CrazyMinh wrote: How exactly do you even register a suit of power armour? Do you just clank down to the nearest DMV, walk up to the counter clad in what is essentially a walking weapon, and just get a license plate slapped on your ass? Do power armour operators need to carry a drivers license?

I don't know how you do things in Australia, but in the USA it is considered terribly uncouth to bring your vehicle inside the DMV. And if the vehicle isn't registered at all yet, you're going to be safer towing or hauling it to the DMV than driving it there. Driving an unregistered vehicle is usually a crime even if you're only driving it to the DMV to get it registered (though I'm sure there are states with exceptions; seems like something Montana would do).

With regards to sidewalks, those will vary by city or even neighborhood, not just by state.

Then add ALL over the above everyone mentioned to this

Registering a MECH in California!

"Does the engine pollute even a tad?" if yes====required smog check and testing!

"does it fly..?" Smog check on that engine!

"Can it pollute?" === state EPA regs will be an issue!

"Is it insured!?"===ohh boy costs!

then add sales taxes you pay at registration a MULTI million dollar MECH

I dont think I'd try registering anything other than a carrot in California.
And it had better be an organic, free-range carrot

Astrodragon wrote: I dont think I'd try registering anything other than a carrot in California.
And it had better be an organic, free-range carrot

Whoops...you are ALREADY IN VAST, DEEP, HUGE, IMMENSE trouble

you pulled the carrot out of the ground and moved it from ITS habitat AND did you even ask it if IT wanted that!

You assaulted that carrot!

Maimed it by ripping it out from ITS roots!

I WAS from California and I know...the above would be true!

I heard this one

In Malibu a man was trying to build a house on the beach for over 10 years, going back and forth over beach set back, road set back, distance from the other homes, height and over 2 years on a color....white! what 'white to use???

well it was down to the wire, the LAST meeting and a new guy on the permit board says this shit

"Well last might I dreamed I was a seagull and flew over your lot and after that dream I think your home should look like sea shell nestled in seaweed...can we see some plans for that?"

well the poor home builder lost it...JUMPED over the boards table and BEAT the shit out of the guy!

after they pulled him off...the board member said "I am not pressing charges...I earned the beating...WHAT was I thinking!" (at least he had honor for a nut!)

"What's this blocking part of my visor?"

"Your safety inspection sticker."

"And the other one?"

"Your annual license tag."

"Then why did you put plates on the front and back?"

"Licensing requirements. Gotta be legible to law enforcement from 70 feet."

"And blinkers? On the shoulders? Where I mount my weapons?"

"Regulations. And you've got 5 working days to mount front and rear bumpers."

"Bumpers?!?!?!?"

"Minimum 6" protrusion, able to absorb a 5 mph impact, between 18 and 24 inches above the ground."

Eye roll. "Screw this! I'll license it as an off-road vehicle."

"Okay, then let's talk about your roll bars and skid plates....."

Some states in Oz, maybe all, allow you to get a permit for an unregistered vehicle, though you can only drive it to and from mechanics and the DMV equilivent.

Also, if you are registering a car that had previously expired they have to sight the vin and engine numbers.

Where I live things like mecha would probably need to carry "oversize" warnings to go on the roads.

Now I'm picturing a Whateley devisor in their last year frantically re-working their design to try and say that their 'augmented superhero costume' technically doesn't meet the definition of power armour and thus doesn't require certification.

Or Jericho moaning about how much extra paperwork is involved in getting a blind man a license to piloting power armour.

I remember a scene (I'm pretty sure it was in Rod Edminston's "Masks" series) where a character had some trouble about flying without filing a plan etc., even though he took pains to fit within the specs of ultralight aircraft, even wearing a jacket with "EXPERIMENTAL" printed in large letters.

In real life, Spirit of Saint Louis had some regulatory issues. Most were easily gotten around simply by declaring it to be an experimental aircraft with no passengers. However, there was one regulation that applied even to experimental aircraft: Any aircraft flying at night had to have lights, and Spirit didn't. The official of the Aeronautics Branch of the Commerce Department dealing with Spirit waived this requirement, on the grounds that where it was flying, it wasn't likely to run into any other aircraft.