Originally Posted by
fliers1
Forget about BVLOS. Forget about RID. This has to be the most ridiculous thing the FAA could expect from a hobbyist.
In a webinar presented today by the FAA this question came up. The answer will shock you.
Excerpts from emails to the webinar host.
My question:
I would like clarification on one of the points in the webinar. It wasn’t clear about the requirements of an instructor. Did I understand that if an unpaid club member is volunteering to teach a new club member how to fly a model airplane that instructor should have a Part 107 cert?
Jim
The answer:
Hi Jim: Yes, anyone who is instructing, even if unpaid, needs a Part 107 cert because even unpaid instruction is considered a level above a hobbyist even though both parties involved are hobbyists.
Best,
Laura
Actually Laura, it's not all that surprising when you consider what the FAA is tasked to do by Congress.
When you consider that a full sized instructor pilot has to have a license to teach others, it could be expected that, with the way things have been going between the FAA and AMA that the FAA would require an R/C instructor to have a "license" to teach that as well. Way back when, while in high school, I took a class that covered the ground school to get a pilot's license. When I completed it, I received a math credit for it and only needed to take my FAA exam and get in my flight time to get my license. To be allowed to teach the class, the teacher had to have an instructor certificate with the FAA, even though no one was actually going to be flying anything with him as an "in plane" instructor as part of the class