It is still some of their airspace being debated...but I agree that this is going wayyy overboard.
Generally aircraft, other than on approach to land or taking off (I'd assume crashing here is fine too) are supposed to stay above 500'. I say generally, because there's crop dusting, fire suppression, air ambulance's, etc that in order to do their jobs, can't adhere to that. There are no actual rules when it comes to model aviation. There are guidelines, but no actual rules which can be criminally prosecuted. I'm sure at some point criminal negligence will come up though. We're supposed to stay below 400' AGL, (gives us a 100' seperation), and stay away from airports. I think it's three miles. Anything not in those area's, is fair game. You have to be pretty f-ing stupid to not be aware of aircraft in the area anyways.
Looking organizations like the AMYA, I think they've done a pretty good job at keeping things respectfully safe. In their case, though, they're a little more limited in that the model airplanes generally require more open space and some slightly specialized grounds to operate. The drones have really opened the door to use everywhere.
I fly stuff at regatta's all the time. I've flown stuff at work, at the park, in my front yard in town, on the side of the road, all over the place. As has most people in the RC hobby for decades. Drone is just a hot button word that the @ssholes in the media have come up with to get the sheep's attention and sell more advertising.
We do need to respect the fact that these things can bloody somebody if things went wrong. They can also be a threat to aviation in a lot of ways we've barely discovered...I've heard tale of photography helicopters having near misses at regattas (though I'm sure the pilots would be prone to exaggeration in that situation just from the seriousness of it)
Dude, everything can hurt somebody. So can our boats. If we banned everything that could hurt people, we wouldn't be allowed to walk around even. Trust me, nobody wants to see their toy damaged, or cause damage. Unless you're a criminal, then there's nothing that can be done. More regulation doesn't prevent anything.
I've got a cheap hexacopter, and I've still got $2k into what is flying around, it's NOT real robust either. Even a rough landing can break stuff. What I'm getting at, is nobody want's to see that much money go up in smoke. So you tend to be fairly careful with it, but $hit does happen. Just like operating a car, firearm, pencil, toilet seat, spork, or actual airplane. Find some statistics about how many people are killed a year because of RC planes/helicopters, and how many are killed because of manned airplane/helicopter crashes. Or a combination.
I can promise you, at some point, there will be a collision that causes a fatality with a manned aircraft colliding with an RC aircraft. That's a statistical reality. But that can happen with birds too. We aren't banning birds.
I think the answer is an organization that can approach the FAA in a methodical approach. Requiring licensing, or membership, in that organization with different membership level based on skill demonstration might help too. Provide members insurance like the AMYA does would go a long way too.
That organization exists. It's the
AMA. They do not insure their members that are using their widgets commercially though. Which is fine, it can't cost that much to insure it like any other business.
We'll get it fixed - I just hope it doesn't take a bunch of expensive litigation to get the current FAA regulations brought back to earth...but there are drone supporters that are working on it and waiting for the chance to make a legal stand.
Too late. The AMA has pissed away a lot of money on this. At it's very core, all it is, is the gov't wanting something else to tax and control people on to justify adding some more people to the FAA's payroll. I think there needs to be regulation on stuff too, but not when it's a 5 pound toy aircraft with a camera hanging off of it. If you're talking about putting a thousand pounds of something in the air, that's where it needs to have some regulation. But there is no logic in what they are doing.
I just don't see why now this has become an issue. RC has been around for quite a while. I first started when I was eleven, that was twenty three years ago, and I know the hobby was around long before I got into it. Because some mild levels of automation have been introduced, and camera's have gotten cheap and tiny it's now a problem? Drone is also the dumbest word. Drones are for blowing up <insert whomever we're blowing up this week> with no risk to the human pilot. People are raising a stink over less than 25lbs of RC toy.
One more thing. If you screw up flying an RC toy, and kill someone, you should likely be imprisoned. But that is no different than anything else. If you damage someone's property, you should pay for it. But that too is no different than anything else.
