The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's drone registration website underwent a few hours of scheduled maintenance last Wednesday and Thursday in anticipation of the customer influx after Christmas day.
Based on industry estimates, 400,000 units of Unmanned Aircraft Systems could be purchased during the holiday season. That is on top of more than 45,000 registrations that were completed throughout the first two days of the implementation that started on Dec. 21.
"While an overwhelming number of people have successfully registered, a small number of users reported performance issues," says the agency. "The FAA instructed its contractor, CSRA, to address these issues and to complete other maintenance in advance of the post-holiday demand."
All aircraft weighing between 0.55 pounds and 55 pounds, including payloads such as cameras, are required to be registered with the agency.
It is worth mentioning that the $5 fee will be refunded to those who will complete the registration before Jan. 21. Therefore, rebates will not be given anymore after that period.
However, owners who had their drones before Dec. 21 are given until Feb. 19 to sign up.
The agency hopes that through the registration, UAS users will be in the know about the rules of flying safely in the National Airspace System. Furthermore, this will make it easier to trace the owners of a drone should an incident take place.
Flying an unregistered drone will be penalized with charges of no less than $27,500. Moreover, criminal violations utilizing an unmanned aircraft could face fines of up to $250,000 and three years of imprisonment.
Back in September, a black drone hovered over the Louis Armstrong stadium in New York then crashed into the seats during the second-round U.S. Open match of Monica Niculescu and Flavia Pennetta.
This compelled security officials and the New York Police Department to stop the match and conduct an investigation. Fortunately, no one was harmed when the drone smashed into pieces in an empty area of the stadium.
Need help registering your drone? Find answers to your questions: https://t.co/3GSVkFqZnU #drones #FlySafe pic.twitter.com/6GwVKPhaK1
— The FAA (@FAANews) December 26, 2015
Was a #drone waiting for you under the tree? Register before you fly. https://t.co/gECND0BQf9 #drones #FlySafe pic.twitter.com/YMNJcw5xpe — The FAA (@FAANews) December 26, 2015
