The FAA Rushes Recommendations Ahead of Christmas Shopping Season
On November 21, an FAA task force made up of representatives of manufacturers, pilots, government officials, and other technologists released its recommendations for how to monitor recreational use of drones—as distinguished from commercial users. The FAA had given the task force only four weeks to prepare its recommendations, hoping to act on them in time to apply to what is anticipated to be a huge Christmas drone-shopping season.
The recommendations include a registration process for all recreational users, with the resulting creation of a national database of drones. Such a database could be key in efforts to link a drone to its operator. Enforcing drone restrictions now is very difficult as it can be impossible to find the operator when an anonymous drone is mis-used. The registration requirements would be augmented by a requirement that each drone display its registration number. In a controversial move objected to by some toy manufacturers, the task force recommended that the registration rule apply to any drone weighing over 250 grams (a little more than half a pound). This would include most drones used by hobbyists. The task force did not recommend measures suggested by privacy advocates that all drones broadcast registration information by way of a transponder
Next steps are for the FAA to consider and adopt/modify/reject the recommendations. A key decision for the FAA will be how to enforce the registration requirement. The task force recommended a “reasonable and proportionate penalty schedule” less than the $25,000 maximum that presently applies to aircraft registration violations. In order for the registration requirement to have any teeth, a sizable penalty will be necessary to achieve any kind of deterrent effect.