Originally Posted by R_Strowe

Hydro,

Your equipment will be obsoleted without a FRIA period. The way the FAA has worded things there is no way to fly it legally with either Limited or Standard RID. And it seems to me that the FAA really didn’t want to do the FRIA scheme, given that they expect to phase them out over several years. So the fact that the AMA was able to help secure FRIAs as an option is not a bad compromise. And I would agree, if the powers that be had negotiated honestly with the FAA and Congress. Instead, they made a power grab and it failed. The AMA wants the money that new members would have to pay just to use the FRIA sites, no more and no less. If I have to wait until I can get new FAA compliant equipment, so be it. I figure that will be available within the next couple of years

Honestly I’m pretty sure you’ll see other groups apply for and get CBO status, it is just now that the AMA is the only game in town. And when that happens, we may see the same thing that happened last time, the AMA forced the other group to close down. I'm not holding my breath on that one

My other hobby is sports car racing, specifically SPEC Miata. If I want to run not only do I need either an SCCA or NASA license, but also need to be a member or pay higher entry fees. I realize that a track is not a public road, but in actual application is it really any different? Yes it is. SCCA and NASA are not holding a monopoly like the AMA. The sky also isn't owned by someone like the tracks you race cars on or the lakes I race my boats on. Every square foot of land and fresh water is owned by someone or a state, making it subject to rules. The sky, on the other hand, isn't owned by anyone. The only rules that apply to it is altitude limits to prevent collisions. Some would say that recording through someone's window would also apply but, in actuality, that would be breaking privacy laws that could be broken just as easily while standing on the ground

I’ve also asked others this question before; What did people expect of the AMA, a group without effectively unlimited funds, that actually has its hand tied by tax law (due to their 501(c)3 status, to be able to accomplish? It seems too many expect groups to go to Washington and get their way. I can tell you that, as a union-represented airline pilot, that my union (ALPA) loses more than they win, and they spend way more than what AMA does. What many of us expected was for the AMA to represent the modelers, no more and no less. What they got was an organization more determined to protect itself by trying to get legislation that benefits the AMA FIRST and the members later. A union works(in theory anyway) in a similar manner as what the people should be able to expect from the AMA. Members pay dues, the union lobbies and negotiates on the members behalf and the members approve or reject the results. The AMA doesn't do that as the members have no real say as to whether or not what the legal team does is acceptable or not, they are told what to think and what they will get.

R_Strowe