Santa Clara

FAA Reminds Drone Owners to Get Registered

Call it "Game of Drones."

Will new drone owners – and there are about a million of them who found unmanned flying devices under the Christmas tree this year – register them in time?

The Federal Aviation Administration says about 45,000 drones have been registered since December 25th. A decent clip, but still, a small percentage of new drone owners.

"There was some resistance at first," said Armin Monajemi, manager of Santa Clara's Drones Plus, "but it only takes five minutes, and $5."

Drones Plus is all but empty today; cleared out by last-minute Christmas shoppers. But they'll get more soon, as demand for drones seems strong.

Meanwhile, the FAA is actually making registering easy, and for a short time, free. But fines can reach up to $250,000 for unregistered flying, so best to register before you launch.

Scott flies on Twitter: @scottbudman

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