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Indiana Groups Selected For FAA Drone Registration Task Force

Last updated on Thursday, October 22, 2015

(INDIANAPOLIS) - Two groups with ties to Indiana - the Academy of Model Aeronautics and Precisionhawk - have been selected to take part in a federal task force aimed at increasing safety and determining how drones could be registered to their owners.

The Academy of Model Aeronautics - based in Muncie, Ind. and Precisionhawk, a North-Carolina based drone company that has offices in Noblesville, Ind. - were among a handful of groups selected to take part in the task force. The group's report, which is expected to include both safety recommendations and steps to complete a drone registration process - is due Nov. 20.

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta made that announcement Monday, adding that the task force will advise the department on which aircraft should be exempt from registration because they pose a low safety risk. In addition, the task force is being asked to come up with ways that would make registration less burdensome for commercial drone operators.

During a news conference Monday, Foxx praised the commercial benefits that unmanned aircraft could provide but warned that unmanned aircraft have also 'interfered' with our lives, citing examples in which a drone crashed during the U.S. Open tennis tournament this summer and impeded progress during the California wildfires.

The FAA also reported that pilots have seen unmanned aircraft twice as frequently this years as they did in 2014.

"We are going to require all operators of drones to register their aircraft - just like commercial drone operators do currently," Foxx told reporters Monday.

Thomas Haun, the vice president of strategy for Precisionhawk, told WISH-TV's sister station WNCN that "there are potentially three-quarters of a million drones going to be sold over the Christmas season this year and making sure they identified and that the user is linked to that drone is really important."

The AMA, which represents more than 175,000 model aircraft enthusiasts, released a statement that read in part that drone "registration... makes sense, but it should not become a prohibitive burden for recreational users..."

The AMA also released a report in August of its analysis of the FAA's own data on "near misses" between aircraft and drones.

"Without a doubt, some drones are flying too close to manned aircraft, airports, wildfires, critical infrastructure and in restricted airspace," the report states, "AMA has encouraged the FAA to more aggressively enforce existing rules against careless and reckless behavior..."

But the report later calls into question the FAA's own data that suggests the 764 close calls between aircrafts and drones may include more sightings than true emergencies. The AMA contends that its analysis found only 27 of the 764 reported cases involved "true near misses." And of those, 10 required evasive manuevers by the pilots.

Ron Huffman, Henry County's EMA director, is also the man responsible for the county's drone. While Huffman has applied for and received a training certificate of authorization to operate a drone, he says federal bureaucracy within the FAA has delayed the county from being assigned a tail number, which he says is another requirement for commercial use.

"They are holding the paperwork right now because we are in the middle of this other mess. People doing silly things with their aircrafts," Huffman said. "It's a problem because we'd like to get this piece of equipment out there and use it as it was intended. We have had fires, fatalities and the aerial photos would have been helpful."

The FAA has not yet finalized its own set of rules for the commercial use of drones. So far, it has only hinted at some of the restrictions, including requiring drones under 55 pounds to be flown in daylight and within line-of-sight. The FAA's final rules are expected to be finished by June of 2016.

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