Go here, read, and then follow the link. My not so brief but very disturbing comments below...
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/faa-issues-notice-clarifying-legal-model-aircraft-use http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/faa-issues-notice-clarifying-legal-model-aircraft-use
This is an egregious overreach which if actually enforced is the end of all forms of outdoor FF. Things to note:
"any contrivance invented, used, or designed to navigate, or fly in, the air."
Yup, apparently the FAA thinks it can regulate paper airplanes. Fun, fun...
"when flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the aircraft provides the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower … with prior notice of the operation…"
Oh joy, I so can be arrested for flying a paper airplane, or HLG, or rubber model, in my front yard if I don't call the nearby airport first. Brilliant.
And the best part:
"the aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned aircraft"
That would exclude FF models from being the domain the AMA. The FAA has right there reserved the right to ban them if they see fit. As a further restriction in general, the FAA's current states policy is that you may not operate any unmanned aircraft that is not "flown within visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft"
Enjoy folks. They aren't necessarily coming for you tomorrow, but they now have the stated policy that what we do is illegal. One false step and you get the visit from the men in dark suits, and if you don't think I'm kidding, those of us who fly full scale know that you can get that visit for the most minor of violations.
I personally have had my fill of the FAA. I can honestly say that they haven't done anything during my years of flying that makes me feel safer as a pilot or as a ground based citizen. I've watched them do the most stupid, ridiculous garbage imaginable, hand off search and rescue to incompetents at the CAP (A friend of mine died because of their inability to track an ELT from less than half a mile away). I've dealt with the insane garbage on regulating commercial flight to miles of paperwork just to give a basic paid plane ride just so they can protect the airlines, and so on. I know some on this list have worked in and for the airlines and the FAA, and I mean no disrespect to y'all. I've had some good friends in the FAA, but the FAA's behavior during my lifetime has made it my enemy. I am totally fed up and disgusted with this endless attack against personal freedom on the most basic levels. Regardless of whether it is enforced, the moment a government agency claims that it has the right to tell me whether and how I can fly a paper airplane in my front yard, that agency has forfeited its right to exist.
Absolutely fed up I tell you!
-Joshua Finn
Received on Tue Jun 24 2014 - 06:09:25 CEST