The number of drones registered has now hit a new milestone, according to a new report released recently. The Federal Aviation Administration has now registered over one million drones. The registration process has been running for two years, a period that has witnessed tremendous growth. The report that was released during the Annual Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas reveals that the bulk of the registrations were done by hobbyists. With 878,000 registrations, hobbyists have dominated the registrations.

The number of drones is however estimated to be much higher as every registration can include multiple drones. Business registrations stand at 122,000, with regulations requiring every commercial and public drone to be registered separately.

The numbers were released by Elaine Chao, the US Department of Transportation Secretary and have indicated tremendous growth of drone usage both for personal and commercial purposes. In her statement, Elaine recognized the increased uses of drones from just mere commerce and trade tools to saving lives, detecting hazardous situations and assisting with disaster recovery. In recent years, drones have become accepted by more people with their applications increasing by the day.

Ranging from aerial photography to scientific studies, drones have revolutionized many industries and continue to grow every day. The drone industry could however benefit greatly from the elimination of unnecessary hurdles which will pave the way for safe testing, as noted by Elaine. The registration process is the first step in achieving this as it helps enlighten the novice owners on the accepted practices. It only costs $5 for hobbyists, with the registration being valid for three years. The current law stipulates that any drone weighing more than 0.55 pounds must be registered through the FAA.

Having begun in December 2015, the drone registration system was put into effect by the federal government to bring order into the drone industry after concerns about safety and security were raised. While the intent was good, it was faced with a lot of opposition from hobbyist drone owners leading to the overturning of this law by a Washington D.C court. The court ruled that the FAA had no oversight over drones which previous legislation considered as model aircraft. This ruling only affected the hobbyist owners with business owners still being required to register their drones.

In December 2017, this legislation was upheld once more by President Trump’s administration with the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act. The regulation and development of drones have been an area of focus for the Trump administration. It formulated a plan earlier last year that would have the FAA working together with local governments and other stakeholders to lay the groundwork for rules and regulations that would expand the applications of drones by businesses.

Currently, the law does not allow drone operators to fly their drones beyond their line of sight. This has greatly limited the application of drones for commercial uses such as the delivery of goods by retail companies. As the government continues to put in place better regulations for the drone industry, the industry will become better for hobbyists as well as commercial operators. This will greatly enhance the applications of drones as more companies expand their research and improve drone technology.

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