5 Things To Know: FAA Task Force Recommends A Drone Registry

The Consumer Technology Association forecasts that 400,000 drones will be sold in the United States this holiday season. That's not to mention the commercial drones being developed by Google (now known as Alphabet), Amazon, Wal-Mart and others.

In the face of this drone proliferation, the Federal Aviation Administration called a special task force to develop a way to get a grip on all the drones in the sky. The task force is now recommending that the government set up a simple registration system for anyone who owns an unmanned aircraft heavier than 250 grams, which is about half a pound.

Here are a few key things about the recommendations and recreational drone flying:

1. These aren't the rules yet.

The recommendations came from the FAA's task force, co-chaired by FAA drone chief Earl Lawrence and the head of Google's drone project, Dave Vos. It also included 24 other drone, aeronautics and aviation experts from Amazon, Best Buy, GoPro, Walmart and numerous industry groups and associations.

The FAA will now take the task force's recommendations, combine them with public comments it has been collecting on the subject and eventually propose formal rules. Some reports have suggested that the rules were expected before Christmas, but the FAA on Monday said it didn't have a specific timeline.

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