diff --git a/hyracks-storage-am-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/common/dataflow/IndexDropOperatorDescriptor.java b/hyracks-storage-am-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/common/dataflow/IndexDropOperatorDescriptor.java
index fb74a90..946dd52 100644
--- a/hyracks-storage-am-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/common/dataflow/IndexDropOperatorDescriptor.java
+++ b/hyracks-storage-am-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/storage/am/common/dataflow/IndexDropOperatorDescriptor.java
@@ -17,21 +17,30 @@
 
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.context.IHyracksTaskContext;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.dataflow.IOperatorNodePushable;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.dataflow.value.IBinaryComparatorFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.dataflow.value.IRecordDescriptorProvider;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.dataflow.value.ITypeTraits;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.job.IOperatorDescriptorRegistry;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.data.std.primitive.IntegerPointable;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.std.file.IFileSplitProvider;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.IIndexLifecycleManagerProvider;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.impls.NoOpOperationCallbackProvider;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.common.IStorageManagerInterface;
 
-public class IndexDropOperatorDescriptor extends AbstractIndexOperatorDescriptor {
+public class IndexDropOperatorDescriptor extends AbstractTreeIndexOperatorDescriptor {
 
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
 
     public IndexDropOperatorDescriptor(IOperatorDescriptorRegistry spec, IStorageManagerInterface storageManager,
             IIndexLifecycleManagerProvider lifecycleManagerProvider, IFileSplitProvider fileSplitProvider,
             IIndexDataflowHelperFactory dataflowHelperFactory) {
-        super(spec, 0, 0, null, storageManager, lifecycleManagerProvider, fileSplitProvider, dataflowHelperFactory,
-                null, false, null);
+        // TODO: providing the type traits below is a hack to allow:
+        // 1) Type traits not to be specified when creating the drop operator
+        // 2) The LSMRTreeDataflowHelper to get acceptable type traits
+        // This should eventually not be *hacked*, but I don't know the proper fix yet. -zheilbron
+        super(spec, 0, 0, null, storageManager, lifecycleManagerProvider, fileSplitProvider, new ITypeTraits[] {
+                IntegerPointable.TYPE_TRAITS, IntegerPointable.TYPE_TRAITS }, new IBinaryComparatorFactory[] { null },
+                dataflowHelperFactory, null, false, NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
     }
 
     @Override