McNeal Named To FAA’s Registration Task Force

Dr. Gregory S. McNeal (first on right) stands on stage with Secretary of Transportation Foxx during the announcement of the Drone Registration Task Force.

Dr. Gregory S. McNeal has been named to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Registration Task Force.  The 25-member group will advise the administration on its proposed drone registration rules. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Anthony Foxx has set a deadline of Nov. 20 for the Task Force to complete its recommendations and work is already underway. The group will meet formally from Nov. 3-5 before developing recommendations on a streamlined registration process and minimum requirements on which unmanned aircraft should be registered. Given the urgency of this issue, the DOT and FAA will move expeditiously to consider the Task Force’s recommendations.

The group is composed of experts from drone manufacturers, aviation associations, retailers and others, providing a good variety of perspectives.

The FAA says the group’s co-chairs are Dave Vos of GoogleX and Earl Lawrence, director of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office. Here are the members:

Nancy Egan – 3D Robotics, General Counsel
Richard Hanson – Academy of Model Aeronautics, Government and Regulatory Affairs Director
George Novak – Aerospace Industries Association, Assistant Vice President and Regulatory Counsel
Chuck Hogeman, Aviation Safety Chair, and Randy Kenagy, Manager, Engineering & Operations – Air Line Pilots Association
Jim Coon – Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs & Advocacy
Sean Cassidy – Amazon Prime Air, Director, Strategic Partnerships
Ben Gielow – Amazon Retail, Senior Manager, Public Policy
Justin Towles – American Association of Airport Executives, Staff Vice President
Brian Wynne – Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, President and CEO
Parker Brugge – Best Buy, Senior Director, Government Relations
Douglas Johnson – Consumer Electronics Association, Vice President, Technology Policy
Brendan Schulman – DJI, Vice President of Policy & Legal Affairs
Paul Feldman – General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Vice President, Government Affairs
Dave Vos – GoogleX (Co-Chair)
Tony Bates – GoPro, President
Matt Zuccaro – Helicopter Association International, President
Mike Fergus – International Association of Chiefs of Police, Program Manager
John Perry – Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors
Brandon Declet – Measure, CEO
Randall Burdett – National Association of State Aviation Officials, Board of Directors
Sarah Wolf – National Business Aviation Association, Sr. Manager, Security & Facilitation
Baptiste Tripard – Parrot, Business Development
Tyler Collins – PrecisionHawk, Director of Business Development
Gregory McNeal – Small UAV Coalition, Co-founder of AirMap
Thomas Head – Walmart, Product Safety & Regulatory Compliance Manager