i.e. RCU

Yes, the kettle is black.

Went very well. Done that right after flying in a parking lot between two buildings...LOL

Now for the rest of the story...It was all very safely done as we were flying very small foam models. My point is that things are infinite, situationally speaking. It's really difficult to have a set of rules that cannot impact unintended circumstances. That is the problem the FAA is having now and why it is so hard for them to come through with the regs..."unintended consequences" abound... I personally have no problem with certain money making ventures like some FPVers might do. Matter of fact I support true free enterprise and feel the government should get out of the way. The only thing I would like to see is those that actually cause harm to another be made to pay to a degree that would serve as a real deterrent for others that can't practice due diligence. For myself I have made one promise to myself, if I were ever to hurt anyone while doing my hobby, I must quit the hobby for good. Since I never want to lose my passion I put a good safety margin on the flying I do...Some may see my flying and say otherwise...but their subjectivity is lacking the understanding that is necessary to make that call...

The real irony to me is nobody has mentioned that this guy "Trappy" is not even an American citizen or legal resident here. He came in, kicked over the hornet's nest and now lives in China (Hong Kong).

I agree with LCS to a point and I think safety should be the number one concern not if someone is making a buck, IMO if someone wants to hire a rc
operator to do areial photos of his property and the rc plane is only overflying the property where its taking the pics nobody should care unless it
can be shown he is doing something unsafe.

That makes a little more sense. So you see, us psychopaths do have safety in mind. It's also better to make some money while having some fun, rather than out of the sweat of our brow, digging ditches, for example. Wouldn't it be better viewing the ground from above with a video cam instead of washing dishes at a Pizza Hut at 3:00am? What's wrong with a little free enterprise with a park foamie as long as the IRS gets their piece of the pie? Now I guess I'm Beelzebub's first-born son. Oh well. I saw a friend wearing a T-shirt at a party one night. It said: "He who sins, grins!"

The judge said there were no rules. But according to you if I play pro sports the FAA can rule that I recklessly kicked the football into the stands and injured a fan.

I'll provide the milk.

I guess all is well with the AMA and FPV (drone) flying ............ I just got an email from the AMA inviting me to a webinar on "FPV for Beginners" put on by the Roswell Flight Test Crew and moderated by Rich Hansen.

http://view.exacttarget.com/?j=fe501...077b701773&r=0

I am glad that went well for you. Putting on demonstrations is always fun and more fun when you are doing something challenging that many shy away from.

As for your attitude about the hobby, I share it. If I were ever to hurt someone I would be out of this hobby almost instantly. That being said, I also know that most of the folks who have accidents that injure others depend on insurance to make the hurt party 'whole'. The unfortunate part of that is two fold.

First it changes the attitude, frequently for the worse - see some of the other posters in this thread for examples of folks that might not be fun to fly with because of the potential of being put at risk "for fun". There used to be an FAA turd who was a member of my club who took that approach to model flying. I stopped by the field in a suit one afternoon and he insisted on buzzing me. If I had a broomstick his plane would have been rekitted. His approach was "anything for fun" without regard to potential danger. His standard response was "if something happens, I have AMA insurance". Last time I checked that did not put the blood back in or unbreak the bones or make folks feel better.

The second part of that is all to frequently those kind of (bad) actors don't even HAVE insurance and mostly have no real assets that can be converted into payment to even cover doctor bills of someone they hurt.

That last sentence is why I disagree about government intervention and prefer to let the FAA treat money making modelers taking pictures, videos, or spraying fields from RC stuff with the regulations other commercial aviation ventures have lived with for several generations. Look at this case as very perfect example of that last sentence. How much insurance did he have and was it in effect 'overseas' since he was from across the pond? I'll bet you a Colt 45 he did not have anything giving him any kind of coverage in the US. While I am not sure how much damage his craft might have caused, to say it wouldn't hurt anyone is clearly bogus. If you disagree please report when anyone hit you in the eye with a 30+ ounce object moving at 20+ mph. To say that could not have happened is kind of like a high school kid saying the girl can't get pregnant because he was careful.

This incident was reported to the FAA by someone who feels it was wrong. So rather than try to attack the FAA try to explain how what this guy did is within his rights as a visitor to my country, I challenge any of you to do the exact same thing in his country and tell us how well received it is by the authorities there.

Excuse me? Shouldn't you be fitted for as tinfoil cap. Your analogy is in the wrong sports arena. I think that this is much closer to Quiddich. LOL

A ball is still a flying object, that travels through the air. The FAA INSISTS that they have control of the airspace, from the GROUND up. So, I would assume they want to license anything that FLYS. I bet they would regulate a Frisbee if they could get away with it. How about a $10,000.00 fine for recklessly flying a Frisbee when your dog pounces on someone's model airplane while you're playing fetch? If the government doesn't get enough tax revenue, they gotta make money somehow. It's just an idea.:p

;'

You are definitely straying from reality. You need to be fitted for a tin foil hat.

Beware of The Blob, it creeps
And leaps and glides and slides
Across the floor
Right through the door
And all around the wall
A splotch, a blotch
Be careful of The Blob

One of the best horror movies ever. (The original with Steve McQueen, not the remake) totally under-appreciated. It was a metaphor for the paranoid and utterly unjustified fears of creeping communism.

Saw a documentary today on cocaine smuggling. Guess what they're using now on the US-Mexican boarder - that's right, R/C airplanes. If we get our hobby screwed up by the government, we have the Mexican cartels to thank for it.

No surprise here, a drone is an R/C aircraft. That's what this thread is all about.

Hardly, the FAA is probably the most onerous government out their. To the point that flying is not as safe as it could be, especially for small aircraft. Ever wonder why they don't have sholder straps on small aircraft seat belts? Or why they don't hold to 40g as they do with large aircraft? Or why they refuse to use data links so that small aircraft can fly in electonic highways in the sky? The former because of money from aircraft manufactures and the latter because they would have to fire controllers and have less of an empire. These reckless model flyers are better handled by the local law anyway, the FAA will never have enough people to police this and the local police will take a hands off approach if they understand that the FAA is responsible. The FAA will be impossible for them to deal with if they turn it over to them so they will do nothing. BTW I don't think anybody turned this guy in. I believe that the FAA saw the vidio and thought it was made with a full scale aircraft and when they found that it was not they pressed ahead anyway instead of admitting they were wrong.

Not unjustified at all. In fact it is here and you totally imbrace it. You seem to have blob bits all over you and it even spews from your mouth.

Ok guys, let's step back from the person insults. We don't have to resort to attacking each other to discuss this matter. If we can't do that, then I'll start putting people into some time out's. It's definitely your choice about how we deal with this. But we're not going to keep going on with the attacks on each other.

Ken

Does this mean that I can fly over my neighbors house and see his nice naked wife laying by the pool !!!

Te AMA is trying to track all of the state an local governments that are writing privacy protection laws to either prevent you from doing that or punishing you if they catch you. As far as the AMA is concerned, they are carefully looking out for language that is so broad that it may interfere with R/C aircraft operations. Oyther than that, we as AMA members support legitimate privacy protection legislation.

Depends. Only CBO members have that privilege.

Which CBO?

All of them that FAA recognizes.

lol!