Just saw the above post, as I was re-reading the thread to determine what caused you to believe what made my post from last night "off topic". (FWIW, I didn't see anything to denote this only a "build thread")


Anyway, a few observations...

First, I think your dig of my screen-name is a bit odd because I have been only respectful in my posts here and while extremely doubtful of the merits of the 150, have not, in any way, shape, or form sought to insult or malign it's champions. Must you insult me personally because my opinion differs?

Second, I can tell you without reservation that the ability to build or modify a model is NOT what's being judged when obtaining a waiver. Many waivers have been issued to flyers, I say again, FLYERS, who've obtained their waivers FLYING a turn-key jet. Sometimes a jet they don't even own! To assume that a waiver holder, ESPECIALLY in this "era of the ARF's" is an experienced and competent/safe builder is just whistling past the graveyard and dangerous. A perfect lead-in to my next point...

Third, I don't want to see anyone's rights removed either. THAT is EXACTLY where I'm coming from so I'm happy that we are in total agreement there! The right to fly jets under the umbrella of the AMA is NOT a given. It is a hard-won right brought to you and me by a few tenacious pioneers and icons in the hobby. Much of the establishment was (and still is) against jets on the grounds of safety, and as, you said, liability.While not seeking to detract in any way from those with the skill (emphasis on skill) and ambition to fly the 150 as a turbine, my worry is that this kit is a ticking time bomb...that someone who's not as skilled and experienced as most who are reading this thread will put a 150 into the air and damage persons, property, and the hobby.

In fact, more than just a worry, I see it as an inevitability that someone out there, devoid of the knowledge of the STOCK kit's shortcomings (remember please that just because you and I are avid readers and researchers here at RCU, many, MANY are not) will marry a "bargain" 150 to an engine off of ebay and then BANG. Some ambulance chasing MF will, as is all too common, sue EVERYONE involved, and some that aren't. Futaba, JR, Jetcat, Wren, Nitro, Dreamworks,the AMA...are all at risk here. And you know who suffers most? You and me. The everyday hobbyist who'll lose the AMA umbrella and a couple of manufacturers/suppliers to boot when, as you've already alluded to, the liability insurance costs strangle the life out of the jet corner of this hobby we love so much. And do you know who gets off completely? The Chinese.

Lest you think I'm an alarmist, I refer you please to this current and active thread [link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7118682/tm.htm[/link]. Tam is looking down the barrel of this liability gun even as I type. And who, of all possible morons, filed the insurance claim that now threatens the very food on Tams table? THE BUILDER.[:@][X(][:@][X(]

Let me put this one more way and then I'm done (and I thank you all for reading this far already).

Most of us have seen emotional and heartfelt opinions warning against using even one cheap SERVO in a jet, right? Yet here is an instance where the entire airframe, top to bottom and front to back, is suspect. Individual MODDERS' skills aside, the introduction of THIS Chinese kit is bad for us all.

Flame if you must. But IF you must I propose then that the true merits of your argument are inversely proportional to the emotion and heat of the flame.

Respectful regards, Don.