Capgains
Posts: 275
Score: 100
Joined: 2/27/2002
Last Login: 5/27/2012
From: Klamath Falls,
OR, USA
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The poll isn't written well. Too many of the options are saying the same thing. It should just be a simple Yes, No or Don't know.
I watched the 6 part talk. This is typical GVT getting ready to muscle in on another area. They have mucked up general aviation so much that not many people can enter into becoming a private pilot anymore. Rules, regulations, licenses, required testing, equipment inspections, required renewals, certifications... etc etc etc. $$$$$$$$
Listen to what the FAA officials are saying during the discussion. They want a set of standards that we fly by so that they can use that as regulation.
The AMA thinks this is great because we already have a set of standards that we fly by, and if the FAA accepts our standards, then that will make membership soar, or as Rich Hanson put it, we can sell our standard to someone to use since it is our property. So I'm a little worried that AMA is jumping into bed with the FED because they will have an opportunity to benefit.
I don't think the two FAA officials in the discussion have any idea what is going on either past their mission which is to develop a set of standards to which all modelers must be held accountable to. Its what happens after that is the real problem.
Once this set of standards is created, then comes the part that nobody thinks about. Say they create a set of standards that become law. How do you enforce these new rules? You need to hire people to represent the FAA who will have the sole purpose of enforcing the new rules. Like these two officials that said they would like to be the one that has that job, they are going to need one heck of a lot of people to cover all of the USA. So that's bigger Government. In order to fund all these new jobs, the FAA is going to have to raise capital somehow. That will be by creating a fee to fly, or a license. Now they gesture that if you have AMA then you will be good to go, however, there is a good chance that the FAA will be talking to the AMA about a "standards fee". If we as members pay the AMA for standards use, then you can bet the FAA will want some of that fee to cover their enforcement services. More government will need money from somewhere.
Then there is the economic impact. How many American airplane companies were there 40 years ago? Many more than there are now. General Aviation has become so expensive due to GVT regulation that people quit doing it. And when people quit doing it, then the suppliers of aviation goods quit making them. No demand, no supply, no business.
Look at model aviation today. Look at the selection of materials, planes, kits, motors, batteries, technology etc. Huge amounts of items. Think about how many of those people that buy the items from all of these manufacturers and aren't AMA members. AMA members aren't the majority of hobby buyers. They might be the largest organized group, but not the majority of the entire modeler universe. If you suddenly tell everyone that has intent to fly a plane, heli, EDF, parkflyer, Jet, 3d, that they will need to pay a licensing fee to use it, (be it AMA or FAA fee) then a good amount of people won't. And the youth that we hold so important to our future of modeling will be the first. Regulation can only cause damage, it can't possibly improve things when it comes to supply and demand. It sounds like a little thing but when you spread it over a large group, the effect is exponential.
We recreational hobbyists do not need to be regulated. Common sense is not something that can be dictated buy a government agency that has decimated the industry it has regulated, and is now looking to expand to have something else to do. Stick to the ones that fly people, and leave us the hell alone.
Remember last year when Congress decided that the FAA has no jurisdiction over modeling, and we thought that was the end of that? What changed?
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> AMA Discussions >> RE: Do you think the FAA should be sticking its nose into our hobby? 
RE: Do you think the FAA should be sticking its nose in... - 
) but maybe at a certain weight there could be mandatory insurance or a waiver, like current turbine models, or some of the really "giant" scalers. I get the anti-AMA types wouldn't like to hear that, but why not? The cost per year is like eating out one night at Swiss Chalet - and if anything goes wrong, you are protected. Unless damage to yourself, someone's property, or someone else isn't worth a hundred bucks to you.
