Originally Posted by ECHO24

In addition whatever final fine from the FAA, it cost Mikey his YouTube following. It also got the attention of the other FPV influencers on YouTube. Even if Mikey is broke some of those guys do have money, and getting YouTube ad revenue they are considered commercial operators subject to Part 107 penalties. That's part of what jacked up that fine to $182,000, at $1,5000 per offense. Encouraging others to break the law is also an enhancement. So at least in this case there's some deterrent. Going forward the FAA is going to make examples of a few of these jerks and the rest will fall in line. The drone free-for-all has gone on for a long time so it might take a while, but these so called FPV outlaws are a bunch of cowards who've just gotten away with it thanks to AMA. That's who's to blame not the FAA. It's AMA who invited these jerks into the hobby under Section 336.

As the defacto authority under 336, AMA could have said they did not consider drones or other aircraft with GPS navigation to be "model aircraft" under the 336 exemption. Let the droners to deal with the FAA on their own. Instead, AMA invited this lawless FPV faction into the hobby with documents 550 and 560, giving illegal FPV the veneer of legitimacy under Section 336. AMA didn't care that the percentage of droners who follow those rules was statistically zero, or that AMA had no control over these people. It took the droners only a few years to completely destroy the hobby. The drone "free-for-all" is even cited in the RDQ US Court of Appeals decision. It's insane when you think about it.