ira d

There is no question that jets will become a larger part of the AMA and its member's interest. I will assume from your location that you were at Prado a few weeks for the jet event held there. The event where there were three crashes, one of them in the pits.

Nothing in the waiver process prevents you from seeking out a mentor after you have your waiver. If you want to spend time on a buddy box, which sounds like a wise plan, nothing prohibits you from doing so.

Perhaps these words make a case better than I can:

"There simply must be some correlation between pilot experience and proficiency and the performance capability of the model he/she intends to operate.

Commercial and military aviation have found this necessary and it makes sense that we should show responsibility in this regard as well. It is also interesting that their efforts to prevent a fire-upon-crash have produced little results. Pilot/maintenance training and proficiency checks are the answers to minimizing operational losses in the real aviation world.

Model flying proficiency must also be coupled with radio controlled model building experience to safely operate a high performance jet. When this combination is limited, so to should be the performance potential of the vehicle. This concept makes sense to most of us but, unfortunately, to some unaware "newbies," the connection is not made and the results can be threatening.
This hobby is very important to those of us who have made the "investment," so hopefully, we can work through our Jet Pilot's Organization to guide the AMA toward addressing the real issue and come up with a realistic solution. A simple "walk before you run" and a training syllabus program would accomplish the goal of minimizing the crashes.

Manufacturers and distributors of turbojet equipment should also be involved in disseminating the safety message."

These are the words of Bob Violet, taken from his website.

JR