DJI to Require Drone Registration to Activate Drones

WASHINGTON-Last week's court ruling vacating the federal drone registration requirement drew a mixed response from industry parties around the world. The world's largest drone manufacturer instituted its own registration program, restricting access to full activation.

If this activation process is not performed Live camera streaming will be disabled, and flight will be limited to a 50-meter (164-foot) radius up to 30 meters (98 feet) high, DJI announced over the weekend.

The drone-maker's decision came two days after the ruling by U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit striking down the FAA's registration requirement. DJI did not respond immediately to the ruling, but shared a statement from Drone Manufacturers Alliance Executive Director Kara Calvert:

DMA is studying the implications of today's registration-related court ruling, but believes the existing system has worked well to protect the interests of safe and responsible pilots as well as the interests of society at large.

Model aircraft got swept up in the Federal Aviation Administration's drone registration requirement process. The FAA made registration statutory in December, 2015, for all unmanned aircraft between 0.55 and 55 pounds, including model aircraft. It was a model aircraft enthusiast who challenged the statute and won.

The model aircraft lobby in Muncie, Ind., said its own registration program was working just fine.

AMA is encouraged to see the court affirm the strength of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft, otherwise known as Section 336, under which our members operate, said Rich Hanson, president of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. For decades, AMA members have registered their aircraft with AMA and have followed our community-based safety programming. It is our belief that a community-based program works better than a federally mandated program to manage the recreational community.

More than 626,000 hobby drones were registered with the FAA at the end of last year. The agency estimated that there were another 474,000 that were not registered. Based on registrations and available data, the FAA forecast that the hobbyist fleet will likely-base scenario-more than triple in size over the next five years, from 1.1 million units in 2016 to over 3.5 million units by 2021, or as many as 4.5 million on the high side.

Drones registered for commercial operations numbered 44,000-around 1,000 per week since registration for those opened in April of 2016. The commercial fleet is expected to reach 420,000 by 2021. FAA UAS Forecast

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