Originally Posted by
RCFlyerDan
Yes, I understand that Mr. Gibson has only been with this position for the past 3 or 4 months; is what I thought I heard him say. But, this oversight, that seems small to the FAA, is a huge detriment to model aviation, should one of those many managers make 400' as a hard limit. Mr. Gibson is finding out kind of late if he is in charge of the UAS system and the representative to the AMA. So, at a pen stroke between these different managers, 400' becomes a hard limit. Then, again, the problem becomes enforcement and how to accurately measure 400 agl at every model flying field.
I went through 5 or 6 years of heated arguing with every new Club President that came to the power at fields that I flew. Ruins a good day at the field. AS you said, each new person comes in with a new interpretation of the 400'. I spent $10k of thousands this past summer to move from that field, only to possibly have the FAA come in and accidently "hard pen the 400' agl rule". In reality, it shouldn't even be mentioned anywhere as a "Safety Guideline.". And, yes, Bob, I understand it isn't a FAR Reg. or rule. But, as others have said, if something happens, that pilot will be hung out to dry, and possibly in a jail cell. Will JPO or the AMA come and help that pilot with legal cost? No. And, as I have said on other post, those who "swear" they don't fly above 400' are lying........period.
Dan,
I will respond to you directly because you seem like a reasonable person and you are a JPO member.
If a modeler was to have a collision with a manned aircraft, then the modeler would have an issue to deal with, and yes, lawyers would be involved - regardless of what altitude it occurred, because as the FAR Part 91 says (you know this) and others have pointed out here, 500' is not a hard deck for manned aviation. That is why, as modelers, we need to be good citizens and users of the NAS and not let it happen. "see and avoid"
Let's be clear, NOTHING as far as safety is concerned has changed here, so we need to continue to conduct ourselves safely, as we have for the past 80 years before registration with the FAA was mandated. Just because all of these "discussions" are happening on RCU, does not mean that what we did safely before is now unsafe.
The question is purely a legal one - does pushing a radio button on a website indicating agreement with a "guideline" trump many past years of precedent and a law passed by Congress. Only the courts can make the final call on that, but the AMA says it doesn't, lawyers will tell you it doesn't, and even the FAA themselves have indicated, in many of the documents that they've posted, that it doesn't.
I am perfectly comfortable in my ability to go out and exercise my ability to
legally fly within the AMA safety code at my AMA field, or at an AMA sanctioned event, just as I did before I registered with the FAA. However for some people, they may not feel that way, and that is their right - be it right or wrong.
Thank you for your support of the JPO - we will be rolling out some new (or at least re-vamped) stuff this year...
Bob