There are so many variables involved in fitting out and flying jets safely that it will always be very difficult to legislate appropriately to cover all possibilities. The value of appropriate human judgement then comes to the fore. None of us want to be over-regulated but by the same token, the "cowboy element" exists everywhere and those people whose ego dominates their decision making/ judgement need to be reeled in. The problem with those sort of people is that they exhibit a lack of self-discipline and their selfish behaviour potentially endangers our hobby. There are areas in Australia where jet flying has now been banned at certain times of year. Overzealous bureaucrats don't need much justification to shut things down and the cowboy element don't seem to get that.

The solution exists at club level. You must have the right people in the safety officer role.....those that are educated enough to make a call on what is appropriate and what is not and that means they need to have a grasp on both the building/ flying side of things but also the legal ramifications of the risks at hand. Furthermore, they need a pair of bollocks to be able to put their foot down if necessary AND most importantly, they need the unwavering backup of the club executive in the event that a club member needs to be pulled into line.

Our club is suffering from a lack of the latter atm; a lack of leadership as mentioned above and I fear the consequences. You have to really sit back and ask what the hell is going on when a guy doing a 3D routine with his jet flies into the ground and then continues on doing his routine!!! Like I said.....his ego is making decisions and that is never a good thing. The leadership should have tapped him on the shoulder and told him to land immediately until the airframe was checked for damage.

It is up to the clubs to cultivate the appropriate safety culture according to the intent of bodies like the AMA and in our case the MAAA.

The heroes amongst us need to be reminded from a personal perspective they are flying toy aeroplanes (so they need to calm down and define themselves in more significant ways) but from a legal/ safety perspective they are flying models that could easily kill a person. If you can't conduct yourself appropriately you should be told to pack up and go home so the rest of us are able to continue to fly safely and enjoy our great hobby. Period.