Originally Posted by
phlpsfrnk
I guess I’m confused as to what the issue is here. What is so different between the two statements below that is causing all this debate?
The operator of a radio-controlled model aircraft shall control it during the entire flight, maintaining visual contact …
In this section, the term ‘‘model aircraft’’ means an unmanned aircraft that is flown within visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft.
In the context of what this is all about it seems pretty clear to me where congress got the idea. Discussing the definition of words used out of context is a useless exercise.
Frank
Yes, it is obvious that the congress and FAA are using a definition created by the AMA and not civil engineers. But, my thought, which may be flawed, was that if congress read doc 550, the only place where VLOS is used and defined, then congress must have approved of the AMA's safety guidelines for FPV (at least tacitly). And therefore (maybe this is too bit a leap) the FAA has misunderstood the whole VLOS thing by insisting that the pilot operating the aircraft must have unobstructed VLOS. I think!