ORIGINAL: ilikeplanes
I also agree that it's unreasonable to expect that a person must have the wherewithal to afford the liability of causing damage to a multi-thousand dollar model. I think a court would also find that expectation unreasonable.
Maybe another way of thinking about this is that you assume the liability for your own airplane regardless of who may cause damage to it. The argument could be made that operating a valuable model with radio equipment that's susceptible to being !QUOT!shot down!QUOT! is assuming an unreasonable property risk. And, as such, you would take full responsibility for damages that may occur to that model.
Come on, would you really expect someone who can barely afford a park flier to be liable for damages to a giant scale jet?
Wow! This a great way to put it. You're absolutely correct in your assertion that we, as modelers that fly multi-thousand dollar aircraft need to assume the liability for damage, or destruction to the aircraft regardless of the source, be it an equipment failure, a dumb thumb, or an accidental shoot-down.......
[8D]