Everything costs money Scott, innovation and stagnation. What is the first rule of economics? There is no such thing as a free lunch.

I have such a small budget for my hobby that if escalation does happen, as I have seen in other hobbies over the years, pattern will nothing but memory for me. If for no other reason the is why I am so opposed to this unless we institute anther constraint. If the crux of the argument is truly to make things more affordable then we institute a price cap on the airframe/power plant combo and everyone is happy as well as having a little more pocket pocketchange. $2000 all up cost for a RX ready pattern ship as a cap and we are all happy, except the manufacturers.

This is very much a pay to play hobby, they all are. As I indicated above I do not have the monetary resources to buy a top of the line ARF and outfit with the best stuff out there, nor do I have the time to go and fly my face off to be the best I possibly can be. I can however build, use a scale and research my equipment to make sure I meet the rules. You may not be of the if I can do it you can too mindset, but if a person would rather relax the rules instead of work to meet them that falls under the the we are all winners mindset so why are we competing?

Unfortunately the airspace argument does not relate to this issue, the preservation and safety of human life and toy airplanes are nowhere near being on the same level in my view of the world.

Final point and then I will go back to lurking and just abide by the rules. If all these other countries have adopted a higher limit, what was the reasoning and the final impact on cost? I am curious what data has been gleaned from this that directly impacts this discussion.