Yahoo – AFP,
19 Oct 2015
Drones fly
at the 2015 International Consumer Eletronics Show at the Las
Vegas Convention
Center on January 8, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ethan Miller)
|
Washington
(AFP) - Owners of recreational drones in the United States will soon have to
register them with authorities, the government said Monday, as the popular
devices are increasingly seen as a hazard in the skies.
Transportation
Secretary Anthony Foxx and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) head Michael
Huerta told a joint news conference they were setting up a task force to move
ahead with the plans.
"We do
intend to move very quickly," Foxx said.
"It is
my hope that the task force will complete its recommendations in the middle
part of November, with the goal of having some rules in place by the middle
part of December."
"This
year pilots have reported seeing unmanned aircraft twice as frequently as they
did in 2014," he told reporters in explaining the decision.
The risk of
collision with aircraft is a key concern, but the proliferation of drones has
also raised fears over security and privacy.
Earlier
this month, a man was fined for flying a small drone over Washington's National
Mall and landing it near the White House, thought to be the third such incident
this year.
Firefighters
combatting wildfires in California this summer urged people to stop flying
drones to film the blazes, saying they were getting in the way of their
helicopters and planes.
A drone
also crashed into empty seats in a stadium at the US Open tennis tournament in
New York in September.
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