ORIGINAL: vertical grimmace
I would like to know how your AMA chartered club is handling the appearance of these types of aircraft at your field? Are they welcome, not allowed etc? We have had a rouge flyer appear in our area flying autonomous aircraft and is clearly not abiding by the AMA guidelines for such aircraft. Obviously we do not want him as a member, but are these types of aircraft a threat to our existence as more conventional aircraft are our focus? We certainly do not want a news report of an out of control UAV or FPV aircraft originating from our club field.
Being that this is a new area of model aviation, it seems the clubs need to address how we handle these types of aircraft. I am wondering if the FAA is even going to allow them in the near future. I am sure they will be taxed or regulated heavily.
At one club site in my locality, the issue was considered quite recently. A number of proposed restraints on their operation were brought up, but ultimately the decision was reached to allow them to fly with only compliance with AMA FPV Ops Doc 550 required. At another club's site, there has been no overt attempt to either accept or limit their operation, but compliance with AMA SC is expected, as for any other types. At latter club site, test flights of a commercial sUAS have been permitted by the site owning public entity. Though not required to by the site owner, the club has been generous with allowing the operators of the system and other developer personnel to use club facilities, and members have been cordial to them and clearly interested in observing.