BTW, I think the 150MPH rule is absurd....
But you are not flying turbines yet so how can you truly say it is absurd? My Turbine planes all routinely fly in excess of 150 mph average speed (verified with jetcat speed sensors) with tops speeds measured the same way in the 230 mph range. How can you believe that being able to fly a 70-100 mph airplane will prepare you for these kind of speeds?
JPO may not "rule" (not sure how you define that), but they are well respected and we would do well to be unified in our voice.....
I do agree with you here. And as a matter of fact one of the biggest complaints that the AMA has voiced to JPO is that jet pilots are not unified. Some people in the past made JPO a political "arena" some of the same people when they did not get "their" way within the orginization decided that JPO was not worth working with. It's a shame, jet modellers are a small portion of the population of modellers and need the strength of numbers more than any other group.
My opinion..... allow the waiver flights with a 100 mph airplane, but with restrictions placed on the first turbine airframe. Most guys have enough common sense to know they don't need to try and go from a 100 mph airplane to a 250 mph airplane. But mandate that for at least the first 20 flights that they have an expereinced turbine pilot at their side. This in effect is what the new JPO proposal is designed to accomplish. All of us want to see more jet modellers, but I also believe the majority of us that attend a lot of events, and fly jets almost exclusively also appreciate the fact that there a re a few minor hurdles to jump that at least insure that an individual has the basic skills necessary to fly a high performance airplane.
David Reid