At DOT Headquarters
October 19, 2015

Hello, everyone. It is great to be with you. And I want to acknowledge our FAA Administrator, Michael Huerta, who is also here with me for this announcement.

I want to thank the organizations standing here with us, demonstrating their shared commitment to improve the safe use of unmanned aircraft:

• The Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International;
• The Academy of Model Aeronautics;
• The Air Line Pilots Association International;
• The American Association of Airport Executives;
• The Helicopter Association International;
• PrecisionHawk; and
• Airmap

The USDOT is bullish about technology in transportation.

The rate of change driven by technology in other sectors of our lives has now reached the transportation sector – and it requires this agency to be agile enough to adapt and integrate innovation into our national transportation system.  

Whether we're talking about driverless cars or unmanned aircraft, we are committed as an agency to recognizing the potential of these innovations while we establish the ground rules to ensure their safe integration into our national transportation system.

We fully appreciate the potential of unmanned aircraft to transform transportation, commerce, and quality of life.

In fact, unmanned aircraft are already doing some really important things like inspecting infrastructure and crops and aiding wildlife monitoring. They are also being used in the movie industry and by entrepreneurs to promote all kinds of businesses.

But we've also seen unmanned aircraft interfere - not help - with our lives. Most recently in California, during wildfire operations.

Some have come too close to airplanes and airports.

At the U.S. Open tennis tournament in September, an unmanned aircraft flying in a densely populated area near LaGuardia Airport crashed inside Arthur Ashe stadium during a match.

As we continue to work on protocols and procedures for the integration of unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system, we must work ever harder to ensure a strong culture of safety, accountability and responsibility.  

This year, pilots have reported seeing unmanned aircraft twice more frequently than they did in 2014. And the number of unmanned aircraft in our airspace continues to grow at astounding rates.

So today I want to share with you some additional measures we're taking to ensure unmanned aircraft are safely integrated into the national airspace.

We are going to require all operators of drones to register their aircraft – just like commercial drone operators do currently.

Think of it this way.  It may be okay to operate an off-road vehicle without registering it if you are using it on your own property.  But if you intend to take it onto local streets or the highway, you are expected to register it and operate it safely to protect the public.

The details of this new registration system will be developed by a task force consisting of government and a diverse grou of stakeholders who will be working on a tight deadline to get this done.

First, registration will reinforce the need for unmanned aircraft users, including consumers and hobbyists, to operate their drones safely.   

It is hard to follow safety rules if you don't know what they are or that they apply to you.  

Registration gives operators the opportunity to learn the airspace rules before they fly and enjoy their devices safely.

Second, registration will help us enforce the rules against those who operate unsafely by allowing the FAA to identify the operators of unmanned aircraft.

We can take enforcement action as necessary to protect the airspace for everyone.  

If unmanned aircraft operators break the rules, there should be consequences. But there can be no accountability if a person breaking the rules can't be identified.

Registration will allow us to identify them.

We have done a lot with education and with outreach to inform new users of the airspace and will continue those efforts.

We partnered with members of industry and the modeling community to initiate the “Know Before You Fly” outreach campaign, providing recreational operators with the information they need to fly safely and responsibly.

Several unmanned aircraft manufacturers now voluntarily include educational materials in their packaging.

The San Francisco 49ers football team partnered with us to record a short commercial to discourage people from flying drones over their stadium.  

We also are working with many of the nation's major airports on a similar campaign to spread the message that flying around airports and runways is unsafe and will result in stiff penalties and fines.

Additionally the FAA has a national “No Drone Zone” campaign.

The FAA is currently beta-testing an app that helps unmanned aircraft operators determine whether there are any restrictions or requirements in effect where they want to fly.

This step we are taking today has an added benefit as an additional education tool. People registering their drones will be exposed to the rules and the reasons for them, and we believe this will help reduce some of the incidents I described earlier.

But we will also be able to ramp up enforcement.

We’ll be able to instill the accountability for safety that is generally ubiquitous among responsible model aircraft users and users of the National AirSpace System.

Now I will state the obvious point here: there is still a lot of work to do. This is not the whole solution.   The task force will be charged with answering a number of critical questions.  

But clarifying that federal law requires the registration of all aircraft – including unmanned aircraft – is essential to ensuring accountability and is an important part of our ongoing vigilance on this issue.

This is a positive step forward for safety in our skies.  By taking this measure, we will create a streamlined registration process for all small drone users and will continue to protect and encourage innovation in our airspace.  

I also want to assure you that the FAA’s ongoing work to quickly and efficiently integrate unmanned aircraft into the National Airspace System will continue.  

Earlier this year we took an important step forward by releasing a proposed rule. This laid out a flexible framework for allowing the routine commercial use of small unmanned aircraft.

The FAA received more than 4,500 public comments on the proposal.

They are working to address them so the rule can be finalized by June 2016.

We are accommodating requests for some commercial operations under our Section 333 exemption process.

To date I have signed off on roughly 2,000 exemptions that allow unmanned aircraft to be used for a variety of purposes.

So the registration requirement that we are announcing today will not delay any of this ongoing work – especially the completion of our small UAS rule.  

And with that I want to conclude by thanking all of our stakeholders for their continued input to ensure the successful integration of unmanned aircraft technology and for their unflagging commitment to safety.

And I want to invite up Brian Wynne of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.