Starting from Friday, February 19th all hobby drone owners in the US above 13 years old who own a device weighting*between 0.55-50 pounds (0.25-22.5 kg)*must be registered with the FAA.*You haven’t done it yet and you’re wondering what problems you might face?
In theory the rules are quite strict. The civil penalties for not registering your device include a fine of up to $27,500. Criminal penalties include a fine of up to $250,000 and up to three years in jail. In practice*you probably don’t have to worry about the FAA tracking down drown owners without*a*registration number. But if your drone gets caught up in some sort of incident and you are not registered you might face some stiff penalties.
You can compare it to driving without a valid driving licence. When you have it nothing will happen to you. One time you forget it you will surely be stopped by a police patrol. In fact there is*no reason not to register your drone, and in the likelihood that something goes wrong, it’s definitely better to be safe than sorry.
FAA said*that*342,000*drone owners*have been registered to the database until the end of last week which is a half of estimated 1 million aircrafts sold in the US last year. So if you haven’t done it yet it is worth so spend $5 and register.
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