China will require real-name registration of drones starting June after completing the preliminary development of the registration system, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced Tuesday.
The CAAC said that the new registration system will be put into operation on Thursday, and drones weighing over 250 grams will have to be registered starting June 1, the Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday, adding that the drone data sharing and checking mechanism is also underway.
In April, more than 10,000 travelers were stranded at the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in Southwest China's Sichuan Province after four drones were spotted flying illegally over the protected zone of the airport runway.
In a separate incident in April, Chengdu police detained two 21-year-old men who illegally flew drones at the same airport, and a 33-year-old man was detained on Wednesday for a similar act. Chengdu police also found drones being flown illegally on April 14, 17 and 18.
Feng Zhenglin, head of the CAAC, said in March that his agency would introduce a real-name registration system to regulate the drone industry, as unregulated flights have threatened China's air safety, The Beijing News reported.
Wang Song, an employee at the Chongqing branch of the National Robot Test and Assessment Center, told the Global Times that, although the government has published regulations on the drone industry, many drone pilots are unaware of them due to lax supervision.
"Many pilots don't register their drones or apply for flight approval to avoid responsibility for accidents, such as an explosion," Wang said, adding that a real-name system would help.
