In my comments to the docket, I suggested that the AMA and other community-based groups such as the EAA and the AOPA could act as registrars for their members. Should the task force and the FAA conclude that it has to be a government run registration (putting Oklahoma City into a panic mode), AND that all model aircraft over one pound must be registered (because you can't write a definition of a drone - the source of the hysteria to do something - without including many versions of conventional model aircraft), then the AMA would likely want to block the rule. If the decision is to make the manufacturers handle the registration - an additional burden on them - then they may want to form a group to block the rule. If the decision is made to force the retailers to perform the registration then sellers like Amazon, B&H and other high-volume/low margin sellers would have reason to protest.
There is the problem of making an emergency rule (SFAR) to implement this registry in less than two months, bypassing the normal NPRM process. 14 CFR §91.139 - 'Emergency air traffic rules' gives the administrator the authority to make up rules "Whenever the Administrator determines that an emergency condition exists, or will exist, ". I am pretty confident that someone will challenge the validity of the emergency rule on the ground that it was issued in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act's (“APA”) notice and comment provision, 5 U.S.C. § 553(c) because no evidence of an emergency exists.
49 USC §44101(a) does require that all aircraft be registered. The FAA has never followed the statute with model aircraft for decades, so they had plenty of time to promulgate rules through the normal NTSB process. In other words, what emergency?
The FAA wants to be able to find the owner of a drone that is caught flying irresponsibly. They should be able to do this. They could accomplish this just as effectively by requiring all operators to have their contact info printed on the model. This can be an FAA registration number, an AMA, EAA or AOPA member number, or simply their name and phone number.
When the FAA hears the word "aircraft" their brain goes into tunnel vision that only sees Cessnas to 747s. I don't think the administrator conceives that there are an estimated two to three million model aircraft in the US.
Again, I have no objection to making operators of model aircraft responsible for their actions, but anything the government does on this magnitude and in this short a timeframe is bound to only make matters worse and not do anything to solve the "problem".
