WASHINGTON– The FAA will begin requiring registration on all drones.
On Monday, officials from the Federal Aviation Administration said drone owners can begin registering the aircrafts online on December 21. Drones bought before that date must be registered by February 19, and drones bought after that date will have to be registered before being flown.
Any drone weighing more than .55 pounds and less than 55 pounds, including on-board cameras or other items attached, will have to be registered.
“Make no mistake: unmanned aircraft enthusiast are aviators, and with that title comes a great deal of responsibility,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
To register, users will have to enter their name, address and email address. Users will then get a certificate of aircraft registration/proof of ownership with a unique ID number, which must be marked on the drone. Registration will be valid for three years. Click here to register.
The FAA will charge $5 per registration — the same price to register a large commercial jet. The fee will be refunded for anyone who registers in the first 30 days after December 21. Registration is good for three years, and $5 allows an owner to register multiple drones.
FAA officials are hoping registration will make operators use the devices more safely, and that it will help track down anyone involved in a crash or incident.
“When they don’t fly safely, they’ll know there will be consequences,” FAA administrator Michael Huerta said in October.
But even Foxx conceded that registration isn’t full-proof. The “bad guys” won’t register their drones, he said.
The responsibility for registering will be with consumers, not manufacturers or retailers. But the FAA said it is working with stores to provide registration at the register in the future, which is important considering consumers are expected to buy about 400,000 drones this holiday season.
“We expect hundreds of thousands of model unmanned aircraft will be purchased this holiday season,” said Huerta. “Registration gives us the opportunity to educate these new airspace users before they fly so they know the airspace rules and understand they are accountable to the public for flying responsibly.”
For now, the registration tool will only work to register recreational drones, but by the spring the FAA hopes to be able to register drones used for businesses.
The registration requirement was developed in response to many incidents related to drones. In the last two years, there have been 921 near-collisions between drones and manned aircraft, according to a report Friday from the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College. Most of those drone operators were violating existing rules that prohibit flights above 400 feet or within five miles of an airport.
“We believe is largely due to people not understanding the rules,” said FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker. He said registration will make the skies safer.
Additional reporting from CNN.
