Drones and the U.S. Economy

[Thomas B]

Check it out, well over a million registered drones and over 8% of the U.S. population own at least one. Here are some statistics that are interesting:

16 Eye-Opening Drone Stats 📈 [2024 Update]

Get the latest up-to-date stats and facts on drone usage, drone ownership, commercial vs recreational drone usage, and more.

www.phillybyair.com

 

[Meta4]

well over a million registered drones and over 8% of the U.S. population own at least one.

Not sure where that 8% comes from but it would mean 26 million drones.

 

[Thomas B]

Not sure where that 8% comes from but it would mean 26 million drones.

Me either on the 8%... but yea, 26 million
Current US population as of end April X 0.08 =
328780039 X 0.08 = 26302403.1 = the number of drones owned in the US.

 

[zocalo]

Me either on the 8%... but yea, 26 million
Current US population as of end April X 0.08 =
328780039 X 0.08 = 26302403.1 = the number of drones owned in the US.

I'm more inclined to believe the 1.2m drones figure than the 8% of the population one, but still take it with a large pinch of salt. As an additional data point the CAA's consultation used some figures from the FAA's drone registration scheme to support bits of its own proposal and cited 770,000 pilot registrations over 18 months for the US, which would seem to align fairly well with 1.2m drones, allowing for some operators owning more than one drone. Problem is, that would then exclude all the smaller drones that don't have to be registered and all the pilots that didn't bother to register in the first place. For comparison, according to the same document Ireland has just 9,000 registered pilots after running its registration scheme for three years.

They might be getting popular, especially the smaller models that would be exempt from registration, but 8% of the population seems awfully high given the number of people you actually see flying them.

 

[Meta4]

I'm more inclined to believe the 1.2m drones figure than the 8% of the population one, but still take it with a large pinch of salt.

The most recent official numbers I've found show ...
There are nearly 1.3 million registered drones in the United States and more than 116,000 registered drone operators. Officials say there are hundreds of thousands of additional drones that are not registered.
(That's actually 1.3 million recreational users rather than individual drones).

U.S. agency requires drones to list ID number on exterior

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Tuesday it is requiring small drones to display registration numbers on the exterior to address concerns raised by U.S. security officials and to make it easier to identify owners.

www.reuters.com

 

[zocalo]

The most recent official numbers I've found show ...
There are nearly 1.3 million registered drones in the United States and more than 116,000 registered drone operators. Officials say there are hundreds of thousands of additional drones that are not registered.
(That's actually 1.3 million recreational users rather than individual drones).

U.S. agency requires drones to list ID number on exterior

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Tuesday it is requiring small drones to display registration numbers on the exterior to address concerns raised by U.S. security officials and to make it easier to identify owners.

www.reuters.com

Yeah, while clearly in the same ballpark I suspect the CAA's figures would be a few months old at least, and there's clearly some confusion in the media between registered operators and actual drones as well to further muddy the waters. My guess would be that the 116,000 figure specifically refers to commercial operators, including individuals doing photoshoots/surveying that operate under Part 107, as well as larger commericial bodies with scores of drones, e.g. excludes the other ~1.2m registered pilots who are purely doing it for fun. It seems a plausible enough ratio, anyway.

Obviously it's anyone's guess as to how many drones there are that don't need to be registered (yet?) or how many pilots have not signed up to the scheme for whatever reason, but the actual figures are going to be considerably larger if you include all the models that fall below the weight limits where registration is necessary.

 

[BigAl07]

My "inventory" skews those results and I'm sure there are many more that are "Old School" and still have a fleet of sUAS. I have 3 "Commercial" drones and probably 5X that are strictly"Hobby". Keep in mind that all of my Hobby aircraft use the single hobby (operator) registration number. So on paper I would look to have only 4 aircraft but in reality I have more than 4x that many.

 

[Drone on]

My "inventory" skews those results and I'm sure there are many more that are "Old School" and still have a fleet of sUAS. I have 3 "Commercial" drones and probably 5X that are strictly"Hobby". Keep in mind that all of my Hobby aircraft use the single hobby (operator) registration number. So on paper I would look to have only 4 aircraft but in reality I have more than 4x that many.

You win!

Do you still fly them all, or are some 'antiques'?

 

[Clipper707]

Certainly a percentage of drones end up on closet shelves next to Thighmasters.

 

[BigAl07]

You win!

Do you still fly them all, or are some 'antiques'?

All of the ones that are in my "inventory" mentioned above are in "current" flying condition. I have a few that are "Hangar Queens" that are stripped of electronics etc and just make for cool conversations. I also have some multirotors (MR) that are no longer flight worthy and are permanently attached to a Display Board we use to show different sizes and designs of MR when we teach and demonstrate for schools and churches. None of those are part of the "inventory" as they are just static models now.

It's important to note that all of my sUAS/Drones are not just MR.. I have planes(aka planks), a couple of heli, and of course the MRs.