Originally Posted by
BobbyMcGee
While I realize the FAA keeps issuing NOTAMs like this, we as R/C pilots are not required to make ourselves aware of such NOTAMs or check the AMA website every day we fly planes. Nor are NOTAMs made available to us. So, in my opinion, the FAA attempt to impose "rules" onto a membership/organization they don't regulate is bogus. Only pilots of full sized aircraft are required to take note of NOTAMs when operating aircraft.
Well, I'll note again what you claimed earlier:
Like R/C pilots read NOTAMS? Or NOTAMS are sent to R/C pilots??? What a joke!
So if you are an AMA member the answer is yes, NOTAMS are in fact sent to R/C pilots. Are you ultimately responsible for complying with this NOTAM? Of course. Claiming you don't get them, or don't have to read them, or comply with them etc etc I don't think is the best affirmative defense should you find yourself at the wrong end of a prosecution. The chances of that happening of course are slim and almost none, but they exist. You do have a duty to know what you are doing, and if it's in compliance with whatever rule/reg/law etc is on the books.
I believe the two guys in Brooklyn (who were flying close to the police chopper) were muttering something about there being no law against what they were were doing as they were cuffed and hauled off to jail. I gotta wonder if it's really worth it to find out if they were right or not. The simple solution of course, read the NOTAM you get, comply with it. Think Trappy would have gotten as far as he did without a free legal defense? Fees for that case are well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. That fact alone may deter some of these people from taking the risks that they do. Civil, criminal, and financial reperructions are the real deal. My hats off to the first person who wants to challenge these NOTAMs and see how serious things are as they saying "I'm not required to do xyz". Ultimately they might be right, but how much are they willing to risk to find out?