From the FAA website, they claim they have about 28,000 licensed 107 pilots as of December 9, 2016. They also claim the number of drones registered overall to be around 550,000 as of then too. Ratio would be 1 licensed 107 pilot to every 20 unlicensed ones.
More interesting was my large city shows 862 licensed 107 pilots too given all the zip code areas within it ( http://www.faa.gov/foia/electronic_reading_room/media/reg-by-city-state-zip-14feb2017.xlsx ). Most owners are in the affluent part of the zip code areas, and quite a few in the rural outskirts. If their ratio 1:20 ratio holds true, then there should be around 17,240 drones registered with the FAA in my town, which amounts to a drone per every 22 people. Seems a lot of drones are being sold and around here, but who knows. More odd is I've yet to see one flying around other than mine.
Fwiw, I'm using this as fodder to go fight with the city council on their knee-jerk anti-drone ordinances.
More interesting was my large city shows 862 licensed 107 pilots too given all the zip code areas within it ( http://www.faa.gov/foia/electronic_reading_room/media/reg-by-city-state-zip-14feb2017.xlsx ). Most owners are in the affluent part of the zip code areas, and quite a few in the rural outskirts. If their ratio 1:20 ratio holds true, then there should be around 17,240 drones registered with the FAA in my town, which amounts to a drone per every 22 people. Seems a lot of drones are being sold and around here, but who knows. More odd is I've yet to see one flying around other than mine.
Fwiw, I'm using this as fodder to go fight with the city council on their knee-jerk anti-drone ordinances.
