p510851

My Feedback: (60)

Hi H5487 I do consider all drones, Quads, toys. they area not modeled after any real aircraft like scale modeling, they apeal to kids and are certainly easy to obtain from any department store or camera store. I saw B&H electronics in NY selling a bunch of the high priced ones. when I asked them if there were any rules or restrictions with them they said nope! so anyway I think the kids will become tired of them eventually and move on therefore only leaving the pure drone lovers that hopefully will abide bo some rules. Look what happened to the CB? everyone got cell phones. :-)
Tony

H5487

Tony, I just hope we're able to survive the mess they might create for the rest of us before they move on. How many more flights over the White House fence or attempted formation flights with Delta will the feds take before they pull the plug on ALL of us? (And before all of the naysayers scramble to their keyboards, let me remind them what happened to ALL of general aviation in the weeks following 9/11)!

CB? Wasn't that the dating website for truckers back in the Olden Days?

Harvey

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Not sure what you mean when you say are there any rules or restrictions that are sold with the drones. Do you mean from the shop, or the manufacturer? They all come with instruction books that have warnings about usage, just like models made in the likeness of scale aircraft. Some are better than others in terms of what they say, those translators don't always work to well. The fact is no matter what rules or restrictions are noted or suggested, you'll always have folks who ignore them for a number of reasons, none of which are usually good. I gree with you though on the fad part, eventually something new will come along. CB's....now that took me back. Breaker Breaker!

H5487

For example, the 50 year old warnings on cigarette packs.

Harvey

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

yup...

Neverlost1

My Feedback: (1)

It's only a matter of time before it happens. Here is possibly the first one:
http://www.suasnews.com/2015/08/3813...dentified-rpa/

rcmiket

While I agree that it's coming sooner or later there's really no proof a "drone" did that damage. Not saying it's a bogus report but there's no evidence to support that it was a "drone'

"AIRCRAFT STRUCK AN UNKNOWN OBJECT WHILE IN FLIGHT, ROMEOVILLE, IL."

Mike

H5487

Since the Piper Apache is a twin, it would be tough for a drone (or whatever) to get past the port engine and propeller to impact the horizontal stabilizer where it did.

It'll be interesting to hear what the NTSB and FAA have to say about this.

Harvey

smithcreek

My Feedback: (25)

Good to see more people are starting to understand the predicament that drones and the AMA are putting us in. I posted about this well over a year ago and was told to pound sand, "we're all brothers in the R/C world whether you fly traditional or drones!" Yeah, right! The AMA spent a lot of our dues money to get Congress to pass a law that banned the FAA from regulating us under the guise that we were just a bunch of nerdy guys who have been hanging out in some field, far from civilization, not causing anyone any problems for the last 50 years. Congress bought into it, but as soon as the legislation was passed the AMA did the old bait and switch and said, "oh, by the way, we meant drones also." Unfortunately the FAA has no intention of letting the AMA get away with that, and now the AMA is spending into the millions to become the CBO for drones instead of just taking the victory and going home.

The AMA sees the writing on the wall, traditional r/c is dying and dying fast. I'm the president of my club and new membership has dropped like a rock the past two years. Guys that thought trying r/c might be fun tally up the cost of flying (plane, radio, supplies, AMA, club dues, etc) and actually learning to fly, vs. buying a drone, charging it and flying and guess which one the go with? Unfortunately the AMA will never capture enough drone flyers to even recoup it's investment. Why would anyone with a drone join the AMA? To get lessons they don't need? To drive 1/2 hour and fly at the same corn field every time instead of just going to a park or beach or forest or.........

fliers1

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/ama-...l#post12092300

H5487

Now where did I hear that before?

Harvey

fliers1

Did you click on the link?

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Hope he does...brings him to a great post, # 33 specifically.

Granpooba

My Feedback: (5)

DITTO !

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

Not sure how you arrived at your figures of millions of dollars being spent for the AMA to become a CBO, I haven't seen that noted anywhere. But anyway, on the other issue you brought up. "traditional r/c isn't dying, but then again who says what is "traditional". To vague there, the hobby overall has changed, as it should. Again not sure where you are arriving at a point where the hobby is dying and the AMA is trying to save itself by attracting drone pilots, or trying to recoup some perceived investment funds by getting them to join. Would you feel better about them going after the "drone" pilot segment if no dues had been spend on the issue? I've seen the following narrative creep into discussions, that somehow drone pilots and their possible membership were going to save the AMA and the hobby, that logic escapes me. The hobby continues to grow, and overall the past 4 years so has the AMA membership. Now, there might be less only from scratch built nitro/gas pilots than before, but again, that's a shift in the membership profile. Times change.

As to your clubs new membership dropping....I don't know the club or it's history, but the first place I think you need to look at is your leadership team, and then talk to the members in your club. You can't say the ones who aren't joining are the problem, or it's the cost, unless you speak with those particular people who didn't join.

Do you have events, do you engage your membership, do you invite the public to your events? Do you partner with other clubs in your area for anything, like fly ins, swap meets, etc? Did you participate in Model Aviation Day, and do anything that day? How is your field, is it kept up? Did you ban anything recently like Helis or quads? Any big disagreements between cliques in the club. Word travels between clubs, sometimes people talk. Are you actively searching out new members, or just letting them come to you? Have you looked to the AMA for help at all? Might be competition in your area. If it's a cost factor, would you club "sponsor" a family membership with waived fees, and maybe even a trainer? Lot's of reasons why the club might not be getting new members, gotta look at it from different angles.

H5487

Yep.

Harvey

rcmiket

Districts 2,4.6,8 and 10 council seats are up for re-election next year. Those seeking re-election or those challenging for the seat will be sending out their campaign statements soon. Might get interesting.

Mike

fliers1

Sorry, I didn't know if you were saying you seen that title of the link or post #33
Porcia 83 considers with the self righting electronics offered in some trainers, there is not much, if any need for flight instruction.

H5487

Fliers1, oops, my bad. I didn't understand what you were telling me.

If you change the statement to no perceived need for flight instruction, I'll agree. If the purchaser can fly it right out of the box, why should they think that there's anything else to it? It's a toy that anyone can buy at any Target, Wal-mart, or Toys-R-Us so who would think that there might be laws regarding its use? (And since attorneys have turned instruction manuals into 96 pages in 37 languages of insipid warnings such as "Do not use your newly-purchased 2 horsepower electric drill to brush your teeth", who bothers to read the manuals any more?)

My Sep issue of MA arrived yesterday and it looks like HobbyZone has found a way to bring the increasingly popular No-Flying-Skills-Required technology to the fixed wing segment as well (via their new Sportsman S+ RTF). So, let me see... No building, or even assembly skills required and you don't even have to learn how to fly it. What's the use in buying it??? We are rapidly becoming a society of idiots who happily jump up and down in our chairs laughing and clapping while endlessly watching a plastic bird that repeatedly hinges down to peck a drink out of a cup of water! What happened to the notion of actually LIVING a life??? (And I used to foolishly believe that our society's eventual downfall would be from a hostile foreign government!)

Harvey

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

+1. Elections are always interesting to watch. I'm interested to see who runs unopposed, and what the voting turn out is collectively for those districts. I didn't go back to see how those districts voted for the Suas funding though. Those can be tough jobs at times, I'd say people who are in those spots or going for them sure aren't doing it for fame or riches, but for the love of the hobby and a genuine desire to improve the AMA, regardless of their positions. Well, they do get some fancy shirts and hats, so there is some swag.

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

That's the spirit of what I said, for the most part. Some of these out of box planes come with self righting programs, gryos, panic buttons, and now even the latest tech, the virtually automatic pilot landing. I'd say that with minimal training, someone could fly those, but at the end of the day, those planes are going to be destroyed eventually.