drone

The task force, formed to develop a registration process for small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) owners, has submitted its report to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

With the submission of the report, most of the UAV owners, except the smallest toy drones are expected to register themselves with the registry.

The report, mentioned by Bloomberg, said that drone registration should be free, online and an owner should be able to register multiple devices under one application.

Federal Aviation Administration chief Michael Huerta said: "I will work with my team at the FAA to review their recommendations, as well as public comments we received, as we present the recommendations to secretary Foxx.

"We will work quickly and flexibly to move toward the next steps for registration."

"Registration will instill a sense of accountability and responsibility among UAS pilots, and also will prompt them to become educated about safe flying in the National Airspace system (NAS).

"FAA receives reports on a daily basis about instances in which small unmanned aircraft fly too close to manned aircraft."

"For those who choose to ignore the rules and fly unsafely, registration is a tool that will assist us and our law enforcement partners in finding them."

The taskforce has a group of 25 experts from across the UAS and manned aviation communities, including hobbyists, retailers, manufacturers, law enforcement, airports and commercial and general aviation.

The departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Interior, and State along with the Office of Management and Budget and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration also advised the taskforce.

Huerta said: "FAA receives reports on a daily basis about instances in which small unmanned aircraft fly too close to manned aircraft, often near airports and sometimes at altitudes of up to 10,000ft, much higher than they should be.

"This is an unnecessary threat to safety that demands the attention of the entire aviation community."

Before receiving the task force report, FAA warned UAV owners not to work with drone registration firms for registering their vehicles.

The federal agency asked drone owners to wait for the formulation of a concrete drone registration process after obtaining the task force report.

Image: A drone spacecraft in the cloud. Photo: courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.