Originally Posted by
porcia83
It seems to me like you feel this is an some type of everyday occurrence epidemic that must be eradicated immediately, and you have noted your frustration and being ignored in the past. Hopefully that will change for you now. I don't disagree that folks should follow the rules, and if they don't, they should be held accountable. Folks flying with this guy or others in similar situations are at least partially to blame too for not taking some type of action. I can only say I won't be spending my time looking for online videos to report in to people and hope that action gets taken. I deal with the safety issues that I see at the fields I fly at. For example, we had a swap meet this past Sunday and had about 75 people show up. All types of aircraft being sold. Two guys at two different times fired up quads and lifted off the ground. The people around them did nothing, until I headed over to tell them to knock it off. I get it, they figured what's the big deal, we're just testing it. Except it's in the parking lot of the field. 50 feet away is a perfectly good safe spot set aside just for quads. Last week I landed into a tough crosswind and because of the way our field is set up, let the plane wander too far in past one flight station (not the one I was at), and sure enough, someone behind me said "you're not supposed to taxi in the pits", and he was right.
Overall we are a self policing club and organization, not saying it can't get better in some instances, but for me we are all safety officers and have a responsibility to enforce the rules on the books.
I didn't go looking for this, I stumbled over it while looking for a FPV video on something else. With respect to everyone being accountable, what you and Andy both described is an example of a healthy safety culture. What Andy did by checking for waivers and what your fellow club member did with you are called "interventions." While I think many members generally operate safely, there's too many examples like this out there where the opposite is true. Unfortunately, it's not small foamies, but large, heavy, and fast aircraft.
The issue comes down to a matter of urgency. If you believe the hobby could withstand someone like this crashing into buy I-75, then ok. Do it your way. On the other hand, if that's unacceptable or time is not a luxury, then it's time for someone to take the initiative and act.
Perhaps it's my professional development as a Naval officer. I spent my entire commissioned career living under an expectation to take bold and decisive action when confronted with issues like this. Now, in fairness, I'm operating under the presumption that the EC discussion about behavior in this community represents a larger and more pervasive problem. In which case, it seems there's some urgency to change behaviors/culture. Quick change is not with out pain. Sometimes you have to make examples. This seems to be a perfect opportunity - provided it's supported with a communications plan as well.
Mind you, this approach is based on my training and years managing high risk operations, but here's what I'd do if I were Andy. First, find the operator and yank his turbine waiver (crush the offender - cause of the problem). Second, meet with the club and put out word that if this non-compliance w/ AMA rules does not stop immediately, then AMA will work with the land owner to shut down operations (shot across the bow to drive immediate culture change). Third, require mandatory recertification of all other club/pilot group waiver holders with heavy emphasis on rule compliance (realign to rules). Fourth, AVPs and district safety experts make no-notice visits for compliance checks ("trust but verify"). Fifth, write an article for MA and for posting on the AMA website airing the dirty laundry about what happened, actions taken, and how these sort of issues will be handled in the future (send clear signal of expected behavior to rest of community). Sixth, provide talking points for all club officers where turbines are allowed and ask them to discuss in newsletters and meetings (get the word out).