Drone Makers Skeptical of Obama Plans to Register the Aircraft

  • Transportation Department to announce plans for registry
  • Task force will craft plan for commercial and hobbyist drones

A drone flies in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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The drone industry is reacting skeptically to plans by the Obama administration to combat a growing safety threat by requiring buyers of drones to register them with the government.

The U.S. Transportation Department has scheduled “an important safety announcement” about drone use for 12:30 p.m., according to an e-mail from the agency. A task force of government and industry officials will craft a plan to create a registry, said a person familiar with the plans, who wasn’t authorized to disclose the information and spoke on the condition of anonymity.