The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) drone registration system marked its one year anniversary on December 21, 2016. Since then, 616,000 drone owners have registered their drones. The FAA sees this as a great achievement in safety; upon registration each applicant receives “basic safety information” so over 600,000 drone owners now have “basic aviation knowledge to keep themselves and their friends and neighbors safe when they fly.” U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, said, “It’s really hard to follow rules if you don’t know what the rules are. Registration gives operators the opportunity to lean the airspace rules before they fly and enjoy their devices safely.” The FAA saw the registration process as a was to give drone owners a sense of responsibility and accountability for their actions. Now, after one year of an open registration system, the FAA reports that the system is a “unqualified success,” and there are twice as many drones as manned aircraft in the U.S. airspace.
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