A government task force created for the purpose of developing rules and regulations for the registration of non-commercial drones, wrapped up several days of meetings in Washington.
As noted by the Washington Post, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of drones for commercial and recreational purposes. Further, with projections that over 700,000 drones will be sold this year alone, the FAA is rushing to implement a system to encourage the safe use of drones.
The FAA seeks to provide an improvement over the present situation, "which one task force member described as a wild west." According to multiple members of the task force, it plans to call for owners of drones weighing more than half a pound to register online.
The registration process would take place through web sites or smartphone apps. Responsibility for registering a drone is expected to fall to the owner rather than the manufacturer or retailer.
The registration process will collect a variety of information from drone owners, including the owner's name and address. As reported by the New York Times, U.S. aviation regulators say that such a registry would help authorities combat a surge in "rogue" drone flights near public sites such as airports.
Such rogue flights have "raised concerns about safety and security risks including possible collisions with commercial aircraft." At their option, drone owners can provide email addresses to which they will be provided with updates on drone rules. Although they decided against it, the task force discussed requiring date of birth, social security numbers and other more detailed information.
In addition, drones would be required to display a visible registration number that's easily accessible to its owner, or the person handling the drone. Such rule and regulation recommendations are being kept very general, and do not involve specific suggestions for font size or style. To encourage mass registration, the web-based registry for drone owners would impose no registration fees.
At least one element of the current wild west of drone regulation may be over. The task force has a deadline of November 20 to finalize its recommendations. Expect stricter regulations intended to address the rapid increase in drone popularity for recreational use, and the safety and security risks that come with the widespread use of drones by hobbyists.
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