Consumer drone registration in US poses a challenge for FAA
Earlier this week, we announced the Registration Task Force (RTF) delivered its recommendations for a consumer drone registration process to the US Transportation Secretary. However, the next challenge is to ensure drone owners actually sign up. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, roughly 700,000 drones are expected to ship in the US alone this year, a 63% rise from last year. In order to tackle the registration issue, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it will conduct "extensive outreach" to provide people with information about the registration process once the rules are implemented. Outreach methods may include manufacturers sending emails to previous customers or including registration information packages.

Regulators this week released an industry task force's recommendations on how to register consumer drones. Now they face a new challenge: getting owners to sign up. The Federal Aviation Administration has looked to set up a registry of consumer unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, amid some unwelcome flights around federal airspace and public events. The recommendations — given by both private and public sector industry experts — come amid a possible flurry of holiday drone sales.

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The FAA will now take public comments on the suggestions, but it has not set a timeline for when a final rule will take effect. In the meantime, gift-givers could buy thousands of drones, and questions remain about how the agency will get existing owners to register. "It's a real challenge in the fact that most of these will be bought prior to any final rule," said David Swindell, director of the Center for Urban Innovation at Arizona State University and a drone policy expert.

Under the recommendations, all drones between 0.55 of a pound and 55 pounds operated outdoors would need to be registered. Owners would register for free online and receive one identification number for all of the UAVs they own. If individuals fly unregistered drones, they would face punishment from warnings to fines. By the time the registry goes into effect, the FAA may need a huge public information campaign to reach existing owners. Roughly 700,000 drones are expected to ship in the U.S. alone this year, a 63 percent increase from last year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. A chunk of those UAVs could sell in the coming shopping flurry of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as some producers and retailers are offering discounts.

But without having a registry in effect at the time those drones are sold, it would largely fall on the owners themselves to sign up.

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