4,518 Comments Posted on Drone Registry

4,518 comments from the public have been posted to the FAA regarding the proposed drone registry, roughly the same volume as were received on drone regulations as a whole, tweets task force member Brendan Schulman.

Ranging from the humorous (“Mr. Hardy and Mr. Laurel!  This proposal is NUTS!” ) to serious suggestions about simplifying the process and enhancing training programs, the comments provide an interesting insight on drone operator viewpoints.

The comments were received from a range of drone operators: commercial operators, hobbyists, and airplane pilots were all represented.  While a few agreed with the concept of drone registration, most were critical of the idea and the implementation.  As some task force members leaked the information last week that all drones over 9 ounces were to be included in the registration process, later comments reacted to that news, asking overwhelmingly that “park fliers” be exempt.  A sampling of the comments demonstrates the majority viewpoint:

While I believe that some sort of regulation may be necessary, the hurried and therefore secretive nature of the current rulemaking is inappropriate …I therefore urge the rejection of these regulations at this time in favor or the ordinary rulemaking process.

these are toys and pose no greater threat than a large bird.

The definitions as given are astoundingly vague and broad. Note that a baseball on a line drive qualifies for regulation as a UAV!

I believe the vast number of hobbiests in the USA are safe, careful, and responsible when flying their radio control models especially under the supervision of the community based organizations…

The FAA missed the September 30 deadline for publishing clear drone regulations, claiming that reviewing all of the public comments was taking longer than anticipated.  If these comments are reviewed as carefully it seems unlikely that the FAA will have a registration program in place by Christmas this year, as they hope.  The Drone Registration Task Force will submit their final recommendations by November 20.

You can view all of the comments posted about drone regulations here.