More Than 180,000 Drone Users Registered in F.A.A. Database.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday said that about 181,000 drone users had registered in the two and half weeks since the agency began requiring registration of the popular machines.
The database, for recreational users of drones weighing between a half pound and 55 pounds, is intended keep owners accountable for their use of the remote-controlled flying robots that have prompted safety and privacy complaints. It was announced in November and opened days before Christmas. The database, which will cost $5 per user starting in two weeks, tracks the names, home addresses and email addresses of users. Drone operators are required to mark drones with a registration number given by the F.A.A. for law enforcement.
The agency had estimated that more than 700,000 drones would be sold around Christmas. It did not give updated estimates on drone sales on Wednesday, nor did it say how many users may not be registered yet.
But at a news conference at the International CES in Las Vegas, Michael Huerta, the agency’s administrator, indicated that many users had not registered their drones and said he recognized the difficulty in informing the public about the requirement. The Consumer Technology Association said at the news conference that it expected 1 million recreational drones to be sold in 2016.