In an attempt to draft some preliminary drone rules before Christmas hits and over a million new drones are likely sold, the FAA task force charged with drafting up rules for drone registration has made its final suggestions. The plan? Require registration for every pilot who flies any drone that weighs more than a half a pound. Get caught unregistered and there will probably be penalties, but it's undecided what they should be.

The registration process suggested by the task force is mercifully both free and web-based and would require pilots to provide their name and street address to receive registration electronically and immediately. Along with mandatory name and street address fields, pilots will have the option to include their phone number, email address, and drone serial number though none of that information would be explicitly required. If its serial number has been registered, a drone must display its number on the side. If not, it can display the pilot's registration number instead. Any drone that weighs more than 250 grams at its max takeoff weight and less than 55 pounds will need to be registered.

These are the steps to registration as written in the report:

1) Fill out an electronic registration form through the web or through an application (app).



2) Immediately receive an electronic certificate of registration and a personal universal registration number for use on all sUAS owned by that person.



3) Mark the registration number (or registered serial number) on all applicable sUAS prior to their operation in the NAS.









As for penalties for unregistered flight, the task force doesn't have any specific recommendations though it does mention that current penalties (which can be in excess of $25,000) were initially aimed at deterring drug traffickers and other big-time criminals. That being said, they're probably a liiiiittle too high.

The task force that came up with these rules is made up mostly of drone-makers and other companies with an interest in the future of drones. Members of the group represent everything from Parrot and DJI to Walmart and Amazon to the Academy of Model Aeronautics and the Consumer Electronics Association.

As such, their suggestions aren't necessarily destined to become law. The FAA could make some changes when it finalizes the rules, as could the Department of Transportation. But given that this is the solution that just about every major player in the game was able to settle on, there is a good chance that its framework will make its way into law relatively unchanged.

Source: FAA













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