John-
Yes you should just ignore this. Dave Brown has gone to some lengths to get this prohibition enacted as covertly as possible, such that it not be derailed or delayed by discussion of inputs from the hoi polloi members that don’t know what is good for them and AMA and the free world. It was in his plans to put AMA in control over terrorists for over a year before being proposed to the assembled EC as an urgent matter, without having been put on the agenda or otherwise giving even the EC representatives an opportunity to consider possible adverse consequences that might arise from it. Surely you can understand how important it must be.

The terrorist threat of model airplanes has been assessed by the intelligence analyst profiled in this article: http://seacoastonline.com/news/03222003/news/19058.htm
While Mr. Lidman demonstrated the danger that model airplanes could be used as weapons by deploying them from his car, the report makes no mention of them having the capability for autonomous flight. Dave Brown drew upon his own extensive expertise in terrorist threat assessment to characterize the danger as more acute with models so equipped.

Neither Lidman nor Brown described the weapons payload that would be delivered by a model airplane cum terrorist cruise missile. I have given this a lot of thought, and the answer finally came to me almost “out of the blue.” Shoes. It’s so obvious I could kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. This isn’t just hypothetical – shoes have actually been employed as the weapons of choice by terrorists, unlike model airplanes whether or not equipped for autonomous flight. If you have flown on a commercial carrier lately, then you know that shoes get special scrutiny by security personnel. A shoe could easily be secreted in the fuselage of a model airplane.

I know that the autonomy prohibition is just a step in Dave’s overall plan. Enforcing that rule over AMA members is only a start. If you have read his columns, you might have seen his proposal that Homeland Security only allow model flying at AMA sites when the threat level is raised. The objective is to get AMA control over ALL model flying via lobbying Homeland Security, FAA et al to require conformance of all model airplane flying to the Official Academy of Model Aeronautics National Safety Code (man that sounds impressive, doesn’t it?). Ruling out autonomy demonstrates to these agencies that AMA is being proactive in the war against terrorism, and should have control over all model airplane operations in the USA. Just think – there are probably millions of model airplane enthusiasts in the country, and all but about 170,000 are outlaws, doubtless including some terrorists. If these terrorists are not deterred by the prospect of having their AMA insurance voided if they break AMA rules, then what’s to stop them?

You have brought to light a concern that might be shared by the officials in the agencies that are being lobbied by AMA. Injecting himself, as the primary representative of the organization, in the limelight of an activity that he is urgently pressing for AMA to prohibit does tend to raise doubts about his sincerity and true motives. Another demonstration of AMA’s commitment to homeland security is clearly needed. I propose that AMA act immediately to ban shoes from AMA flying sites. As there will be some unavoidable delay in implementation of the rule, even by emergency action of the EC as was done for autonomy ban, it should first be enforced at AMA HQ and the National Flying Site. I believe Dave Brown can issue such an edict affecting those facilities without going through the hoops involved in changing the Safety Code. Pictures of AMA officials, staff , and users of the facilities all going barefoot ought to make a suitable impression on all interested parties of AMA’s sincerity in dealing with this matter of national concern.

Abel