I just started this hobby last year.

My question is, during the tradgedy of 9/11/2001 when all air traffic was grounded for a couple of weeks, were RC planes allowed to fly?

Your right that is a silly question.

The answer is of course. RC not governed by any agency like the FAA and would not have been effected.

Not too silly, I am certain that if someone decides to load up a RC plane and airdrop nerve gas or something similar over a large event (and is successful), it won't matter who's authority RC is under, we won't be flying.

I work at TSA as part of the Dept of Homeland Security, and believe me, we've been looking long and hard at this.

IMHO, you're not going to see much change with RC anytime soon (other than POSSIBLE restrictions on flying near certain high-risk venues).

What is TSA?

The reason I ask is because some RC planes are rather large and can fly rather high. When all the planes in the US are gounded, it may be alarming to the officials when something shows up on the radar.


Wings

Transportation Safety Administration..... I think.

Transportation Security Administration. I think you'd have a heckuva time tracking any of our planes on radar, even the big ones (except for that turbine B-52, but that is in England...).

Yea, There were a lot of rumors flying about it though.

I actually was in the air on the 3rd day in the company plane. I got permission from the white house. The second controller didn't think too highly of it. I was the only civilian bird allowed to fly. He turned me around and chewed me out. The next day, we were back, had permission again, and when he got ticked, I gave him the number and name I was given and I never had any more trouble. They started letting airlines and air taxies fly within the next few days. It was actually quite strange being the only bird in the air. I kept waiting for the F-16 to come get me. We were doing time sensitive gov't contract work and they wanted to keep us in the air. Was quite an interesting period.

..a missle up the tailpipe would sure ruin your day!

Manks7747,
No that was not a silly question! If you kept track of what AMA is doing for our benefit you would know they are in constant communication with the FEDERAL Aviation Administration (FAA) and the FEDERAL Communications Administration (FCC).
Just because we aren't required to be licensed does not mean we aren't controlled.
Also, due to the emergency of the situation many normal control avenues were circumvented.
We were lucky, our hobby has been closely looked at since then, when the next attack happens we might not be so lucky!
KW_Counter

I am all for safety! We should take all previsions to prevent these attacks. However, we can NOT let these EVIL people take away our rights. This is America! It will be a sad day when our rights to enjoy our hobbies are taken away.

Not saying it won't happen, just saying it is not what America is all about.

Wings,
I agree that we should not let evil people take away our rights. However, as things progress we need to be able to accept change that comes with it - both good and bad. In the early days of RC you had to have a HAM radio license to fly. That is gone! But with the change in technology the cost of this hobby has come down significantly, both for radios and planes (ARFs). Add to that the growing population and we will soon need more stringent rules to maintain the safety of the hobby - both for us and the people around us. Along with more rules comes more methods to police these rules. Now we must be careful that well intentioned people don't take away are rights. Gun laws are a good example here. One idiot, or small group of idiots, does something stupid and all of the do-gooders get on the band wagon to prevent it from happening again - and my rights go right out the door. I'm not an idiot and I didn't do anything wrong and I got punished. I live in a very rural part of America. Most laws come from populated areas. Do I need to expand on this scenario? We have to face the fact that we are going to come under more scrutiny in the future. Let's make sure it is well intentioned and intelligent.
KW_Counter

...well said...

It would be nice. Too bad it can't happen. Well intentioned government rules, laws, and regulations are rarely intelligent.

Ya,

I like the law about in order to have a Casino it must be on water...

What the hell does water have to do with gambling?????

I give up.

I just saw a story on foxnews a couple of days ago about the gov making a push to regulate model rockets.
I don't remember exactly which agency or how serious they seemed to be about it, I just caught the tail end of the story.

I love Fox News.


O'Reilly is the best! He tells it like it is.

hehe
Indeed he does.