Originally Posted by kdunlap

Just found this in USATODAY.

"The Academy of Model Aeronautics, which represents 180,000 hobbyists nationwide and participated in the task force, wanted to file a dissenting opinion and was prevented from doing so, executive director Dave Mathewson said. Mathewson said factors other than weight should trigger the registration requirement, such as whether it could fly higher than the current 400-foot FAA limit.“Unfortunately the task force recommendations may ultimately prove untenable by requiring the registration of smaller devices that are essentially toys and do not represent safety concerns,” Mathewson said.


"http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/11/23/faa-gets-recommendations-register-all-drones/76253444/"

Here are my questions.
Why was AMA prevented from filing a dissenting opinion?
I would say the goal here was to reach a consensus, which is hard with 5 people, 10 people etc, but given the size of this group the task was even more difficult. With this many people involved there was no way they were going to allow each party to state their dissenting opinion. They know that's going to happen when the groups release their own statements.
Since it can't be filed... could the AMA post the dissent please?

http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/med...-registration/

They seem frustrated.

What is preventing AMA from sending a letter to the Administrator?

Nothing at this point, not sure that it would matter, seems like it's been decided already. They can send a letter, or I suppose they could challenge this somehow. Probably not a cost effective way of doing so though.

My understanding is that the report was unanimous. They specifically said no dissents. FAA announced this morning.

Here is what the report said specifically:




5. CONCLUSION

These recommendations were agreed upon in a spirit of cooperation and compromise.

Many TaskForce members approached the proceeding with strong convictions, derived both from their

personal experience and from knowledgeable input from their organizations and users.

In such a time-limited tasking, many of these convictions were necessarily set aside in order to reach a general

consensus among the group and to provide the FAA with a workable solution that met its safety and

policy requirements while not unduly burdening the nascent UAS industry and its enthusiasticowners and users of all ages.




Just wondering. Simple questions. Simple answers.