CTA, Others Pan FAA $5 Drone Registration Fee As Discouraging Compliance

But despite the 30-day waiver, CTA disagrees with the FAA's decision to impose a permanent $5 registration fee, Doug Johnson, vice president-technology policy, said in a Monday statement. The fee amounts to a “drone tax” that will “hamper registration and discourage compliance,” Johnson said. CTA had asked the FAA recently to impose a “simple, easy and free” registration system on small drones to promote “widespread compliance,” heeding the recommendations of an FAA task force of which CTA was one of two dozen members (see 1512110001).

The FAA must now work toward informing consumers about the registration program and “avoiding unnecessary and duplicative registration proposals at the state and local levels,” Johnson said. CTA worries that "the myriad of misaligned and conflicting local rules now emerging across the country threatens to throttle this nascent technology,” Johnson said of consumer drones. Local governments "are rightly addressing the importance of safe drone usage and dangers of flying drones carelessly," he said. But the U.S. "must avoid a sloppy patchwork of rules that confuses casual hobbyists and commercial operators alike," and "undercuts" federal and industry "safety initiatives," he said.

Technically speaking, though the FAA is calling the 30-day freebie a fee waiver, it’s actually a refund program. During the first 30 days, “you must pay $5 with a credit card and a $5 credit will appear shortly afterwards,” the agency says on its FAQs page. “The credit card transaction helps authenticate the user,” it says. “You will see a credit for the $5 shortly after the charge appears.”

The FAA's hands were tied on the question of registration fees for small drones, the agency said in its rule. The “vast majority” of comments the FAA received “objected to the imposition of any registration fee,” the agency said. But the FAA “is required by statute to charge a fee for registration services,” it said. The FAA charges a $5 fee to register any private aircraft and “has not updated this fee since it was initially established in 1966,” it said.

However, In contrast to charging private pilots a $5 fee for each plane they register, the agency will permit drone owners to pay only a single $5 registration fee for all drones they want to fly, “provided those aircraft are all used exclusively as model aircraft,” it said. The registrations will be good for three years, it said. Owners who have flown existing drones as model aircraft have until Feb. 19 to register them, it said. Owners of any drones bought for use after Dec. 21 must register them before the first flight outdoors, it said. Registration is through the "paper-based process or the new streamlined, web-based system," it said.

Others weighed in Monday with reactions that were largely critical of the FAA for imposing the $5 registration fee. The Small UAV Coalition, which has Amazon, Google and GoPro among its dozen members, “applauds” the FAA’s outreach to industry, but worries the $5 registration fee “may prevent users from registering for both convenience and cost,” especially when it comes to “small toy-like” drones, it said in a Monday statement. The coalition also thinks the 0.55-pound minimum-weight registration threshold is too stringent, compared with the 2.2-pound minimum threshold on the books in other countries, it said.

Though industry is “entirely on board” with the FAA creating an environment for recreational and commercial drone operators to fly their craft safely, the $5 registration fee “would absolutely be a deterrent” to registering, said Michael Drobac, senior policy adviser at Akin Gump, which represents drone manufacturers, retailers and others. Operators who are required to register their drones may not want to provide their email addresses and credit card information and other personally identifiable information to the government, Drobac said.

Recalling that the FAA task force opposed drone registration fees in its late-November recommendations (see 1511230034), Drobac questioned in hindsight whether the “robust discussion” the task force conducted about those fees was all for naught if the FAA in the end decided it had no choice but to levy them by statute. Drobac also is unsure how the government will spread public awareness about the requirement to register drones and worries that the onus will fall on retailers to fulfill that responsibility, he said. He’s not aware of any public relations campaign in the works at the FAA, but expects industry will help out, he said. CTA, in its Monday statement, said its members “stand ready to help get the federal registration message to consumers across the country, and advocate for safe drone use” through the ongoing “Know Before You Fly” consumer campaign.

At retailer Drones Plus, customers were weighing in positively and negatively on the registration process even before the FAA rule came out, Chief Technology Officer Bryan Micon told us Monday. He described Drones Plus as the largest dedicated U.S. retailer of consumer drones, with 13 stores nationally spanning from Miami to Seattle. Consumer sentiment on the FAA rule is "a mixed bag,” Micon said. Some long-time drone owners are angry about the registration requirement and worry about giving personal data to the federal government, he said. But other more safety-minded operators “wouldn’t mind if there’s accountability,” especially as drones proliferate, he said. He hasn’t heard any specific complaints about the $5 registration fee, but thinks the FAA rule “will affect a very high percentage of our customers,” he said. Though Drones Plus is under no specific legal obligation to make customers aware of the FAA registration process or other federal, state and local laws governing consumer drone use, it customarily imparts that kind of information through regular training and seminars it runs, he said.