Originally Posted by
astrohog
No, I do not work in the same industry as you do. Please refrain from twisting my words the way you do (Porcia, is that you?). Please try to follow along. Let's say a lawn care company is growing and needs another person to
Says who? YOU?
Use your common sense, man! This SHOULD have been a SLAM DUNK for the AMA!! Before they tried to pull the old end-around on the FAA, they had a stellar reputation and over 80 years of near-perfect safety record (pre-romancing the drones, of course!). AMA Modelers had (in 80+ YEARS) rarely, if EVER, caused any significant issues in the NAS. How in the world do you figure that this should have been a difficult "battle"?
Astro
I'm sure Speed is capable of responding on his own and I look forward to his thoughts. But I'm going to address this too because you've said it twice that the FAA shouldn't be worried about us due to our past successes.
The truth is the situation has changed. Flight controllers, autonomous and otherwise, have made BLOS flying possible. That isn't going away. The media is also different- always looking for the next sensation headline regardless of the repercussions. I'll also mention that there have been documented incidences of RC vehicles (the public and the FAA don't differentiate) being flown around airports and other sensitive areas. The FAA was under pressure to do something about it.
Technology has made it possible for RC aircraft to be more dangerous than they used to be and much easier to weaponize. That's not any of our faults, but it is our problem. The FAA had to move, and it's is just silly to think that all the AMA had to do was show up and say, "We've never caused a problem before, You shouldn't regulate us until we do." The hobby's stellar safety record was a major talking point with the FAA, and it did earn us some concessions. But there was no way some kind of regulations weren't going to happen. There was just too much momentum going in that direction for the AMA to stop it. And no, distancing itself from drones wouldn't have helped. The better flight controllers can be set up in fixed wing airplanes too, so they are just as big a perceived threat.