Jim,

You are coming into this discussion four years after I was involved in doing a great deal of work on the last two JPO turbine waiver proposals. So don't tell me I need to do more work. Every time we (the turbine community) propose workable solutions they get tabled. Some of us don't feel that speed is the issue that causes the most problems. This was addressed with the latest document form the TRC, it attempts to shift the emphasis away from the airframe and onto the pilot. Ultimately it is the mass of meat between the pilot's ears that is there to prevent any type of accident. Accidents happen in full scale all the time, every day you can follow the list of crashes on the NTSB website they range from minor accidents where someone departs the runway to impacts causing loss of life. It is ludicrous to have the opinion that just because they are models we should not be crashing them. I contend that the safety awareness level has increased sufficiently that the incident rate of crashes has decreased in the turbine community. I also belive that the airframes, and all the systems on our airplanes are far better maintained than the aircraft in most other facets of this hobby.

You sound like you want turbines excluded from the AMA "umbrella". Specifically why? Forget about the powerplant for a minute and consider this, and if you can truthfully answer it, What would YOUR reaction be if the type of airplane YOU currently fly was the one that was catching all the heat right now?