Motivated by several reports on the flying of drones around jets and airports, the federal government wants the aircraft to be registered for easy identification of the owners and training of amateur aviators.
The decision by the Federal Aviation Administration comes at a time when the agency is getting more than 100 reports a month about drones flying close to manned aircraft. The FAA bans the flying of drones and model airplanes higher than 400 feet or within five miles of an airport.
Drones have become more and more popular with hobbyists. The FAA estimates that 1.6 million small, unmanned airplanes will be sold this year, with half during the last quarter of the year.
The drones have to be marked with the unique registration number of the owner. “This would facilitate authorities tracking owners if they violate the rules,” the FAA said.
The requirement covers aircraft weighing from more than half a pound to 55 pounds, including other loads, such as a camera. Drone owners aged 13 and older will have to register on an FAA website that will be available beginning Dec 21. The FAA expects guardians to register for their younger children.
The registration fee is kept at $5 and has to be renewed every three years, but the registration fee will be waived for the first 30 days. Owners will have to label aircraft with an identification number. Recreational aviators can register as many aircraft as they desire on one registration number.
Most people flying drones and model airplanes have little experience with aviation rules, but they turn into pilots as soon as they start flying, said Michael Whitaker, Deputy FAA Administrator. “They have to take the responsibility to fly safely, and there are certain rules and regulations that apply to them,” he said.
Drones that have been purchased before Dec. 21 must be registered by Feb. 19. People who want to buy them later have to register prior to their first outdoor flight.
Owners will have to provide their name, address, and email, and, afterward, their identity will be verified by FAA. Payments should be made by credit card.
The FAA informed that it used some of the recommendations of the task force appointed by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, but the initiative disappointed a large group of model airplane users.
Indiana-based Academy of Model Aeronautics in Muncie said registration is an “unwanted burden for our more than 185,000 members who have been flying safely for a long time.”
The group maintains that Congress in 2012 restricted the FAA from new rules against model aircraft users who are part of a community-based association.
But Whitaker said while the law rules out new rules, the FAA has the right to register the aircraft.
Most model aircraft and even some flying toys may weigh more than half a pound and they need to be registered, the academy said.
The decision got support from others, including the Air Line Pilots Association, which said it will help make sure drone owners keep the skies safe with airplanes.
Government and industry representatives have expressed concern that drones, like birds, could hit an aircraft engine, shatter a cockpit windshield, or damage an aircraft surface area and even cause a crash.
According to an FAA report by Bard College’s Center for the Study of the Drone in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., drones are responsible for at least 28 recent instances where pilots veered off course to avoid a collision.
Manufacturers of aircraft engines currently test the ability of engines to resist bird strikes by firing dead birds at the aircraft engines at high velocities. The FAA hasn’t yet informed when it will have need for engine makers to perform tests with drones, but officials have acknowledged unofficially they are working on the issue, the report said.
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