Drone operators might not be happy with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a number of reasons, but the agency is actually looking to help you avoid one needless step when it comes to drone registration.
Apparently there are companies offering to help register your drone for a $25 fee. The FAA posted on its website that you “probably won’t need help registering their drones when the system is in place.”
From the FAA:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) wants unmanned aircraft owners to know that there’s no need to work with a “drone registration” company to help them file an application for a registration number.
Owners should wait until additional details about the forthcoming drone registration system are announced later this month before paying anyone to do the work for them.
The Task Force assigned to provide FAA Administrator Michael Huerta with recommendations on the registration process is still days away from delivering this information. But at least one company is already offering to help people register their drones for a fee.
Speaking to the Task Force two weeks ago, Administrator Huerta told the group to provide guidance on a streamlined unmanned aircraft registration process that will be simple and easy to complete, and which types of UAS would need to be registered and which would not. The Task Force agreed and is working on recommendations for a system that is similar to registering any newly purchased product with its manufacturer as well as a minimum weight for unmanned aircraft that must be registered.
The 25-member drone registration task force recommended mandatory drone registration be “simple and free” and be required for all drones that weigh more than nine ounces.The task force also recommended users register by entering their name and address into a government-run website or mobile application. Users also will have to attach a “legible” registration number to their drone.
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For the anti-registration folks, and there’s a lot of you, here are 10 drones you won’t have to register.
The recommendations reportedly are a “compromise” as drone manufacturers and hobbyists wanted only heavier drones to require registration. However, users would have had to follow a more cumbersome registration process designed by the FAA. So the two sides met in the middle – lower weight threshold with an easier registration process.
The FAA hopes to have drone registration in place by the holiday season, so surely more companies will be popping up looking to help you with drone registration.
