Get Ready To Stand In Line At The Department of Drone

Vehicles
If you operate a drone, Uncle Sam wants to know your name. The Department of Transportation and
the Federal Aviation Administrationannounced a speedy new plan to require all dronesto be
registered by their operators, whether they're used for commercial, media, research, aid or
recreational purposes.
Monday'snewsfrom Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta
follows an increasein reports of near-misses involving drones aroundairports and of interference
with public safety workers.
It also sets an aggressive schedule:The plan is to have the registry in place by the holidays, when the
FCC expectsover 1million drones to be sold.
Originally, the registry was part of anotice of proposed rule-making that was published in the
Federal Register this spring. Those rules arestill on track to be finalized by June of next year.
In Monday's press conference, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx compared the
droneregistryto regulation of off-road vehicles. "It may be OKto operate an off-road vehicle without
registering it if you are using it on your own property," he said. "But if you intend to take it onto
local streets or the highway, you are expected to register it and operate it safely to protect the
public."
The new planclarifiesthat unmanned aircraft, like manned aircraft, must be registered with the
federal government. Foxx said this is "essential to ensuring accountability and is an important part
of our ongoing vigilance," as it willhelp the government enforce safetyrules by identifying the
operators who breakthem.

Public officials and other experts suggested that Monday'sannouncement wasdriven by therising
number of civilian drone interactions withcommercial aviation and with local government agencies
responding to emergencies-- in California, Texas and New York, among other states.
One such example occurred in Wimberley, Texas, where drones were used in searches related to
Memorial Day flooding. Gene Robinson, the owner of Texas-based drone manufacturer RP Flight
Systems,whichworks with law enforcement and emergency response agencies, said there were also
"a lot of people out flying in our area, in temporary flight restriction zones, that were not authorized.
That's a problem if you need to bring in a Lifeline helicopter or a plane to dump water. You just can't
have that."
Demby said that "drone protocol 1" was to "defer to manned aircraft no matter what, to the point of
ditching the craft. Unfortunately, a lot of people who are not educated in operations of emergency
flights and first responders don't understand this."
Drones are also interfering with first responders on the ground -- as seen in this video, in which a
fire department uses its hose to get a droneto back away from a burning residence in New York
(about the 12-minute mark).

As more people buy and use drones, the incidence of drone sightingsandclose encountersappears to
be growing.
"A lot of people don't recognize that they're not just buying a toy," said Lisa Ellman, co-chair of the
unmanned aircraft systems practice at theinternationallaw firm Hogan Lovells."It is very hard to
enforce law if you don't know who is flying. It is not OK to fly if you are recklessly endangering the
public."
The planned nationalregistry will likely hit some turbulence before Christmas. Drone operators,
members of the fast-growing drone industry and legal advocateswill surely raise concerns about
feasibility, privacy and civil liberties.Foxx said a task force of government regulators and industry
stakeholders is being established to work out the details.
It will need to figure out which drones truly are toys and which ones need to be registered. It will
have to determine how to createthe registry: Since people can build drones at home, requiring
registration at the point of sale won't be enough.
Online communities like DIYDrones.com and improvements in 3D printers have rapidly advanced the
ability of hundreds of thousands of peopleto build their own drones, instead of buying them off the
shelf.
"The only way to regulate this is to regulate the parts," said E.J. Duarte, the owner of ThurstUAV, a
small drone manufacturer. But even then, he suggested, "It's almost impossible. Tons of people are
building the [mother]boards at their houses."
The feds also plan torequire retroactive registration bypeople who already have drones.
Meanwhile, the FAA and the Transportation Departmenthave received more than 4,500 public
comments on the broader rule-making, which they are readingthrough, Foxx said. Theplan isto issue
a final version of those rules inJune 2016. He notedthat he had already signed off on roughly 2,000
exemptions for some commercial operations.
The proposed ruleswillnot require a license fordrone operators, but besides registering the
drone,operatorswill have to pay for and take a knowledge test to receive a certificate, be vetted by
the Transportation Security Administration, and obey some basic operating limitations, including
adhering to national no-fly zones.
The federal government does not always issue rules in a timely fashion. ButEllman, who previously
served in the White House Office of Management and Budget between 2011 and 2013, expects this
regulatory process to move alongquickly because theperceived need is so strong.
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