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Having flown everything from kites to model rockets to model airplanes since I was a young man nearly 30 years ago, I found i both strange and disappointing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would now find it a pressing matter to now regulate so-called “drones”. As a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) for over a decade, I am disappointed with the new rule for UAS registration and quite frankly puzzled regarding its scope and timing.
I am a long time model aircraft flyer, who has operated under the guidance of the largest community-based organization (CBO) in the world for many years. The FAA’s instant interim regulation appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to the popularization of model aircraft. Thirty years ago, there was little in the way of frequency coordination, automated safety features, programmable no-fly zones, GPS navigation, ultra-safe fuel systems, training simulation software, and the list goes on. If anything, regulations for RC aircraft — so-called unmanned aerial systems (UAS), which is simply the same thing that has been flown safely by me and my colleagues for many years should be lessened, not increased as technology has afforded a myriad of safety measures.
Even before this amazing new technology afforded such safety measure, the AMA published safety standards and offered training programs its members beginning in 1936 – more than 20 years before the FAA was even created! The AMA’s National Model Aircraft Safety Code has been recognized by Congress as well as by state legislatures as a safe and effective means of managing model aircraft enthusiasts like me.
The FAA’s registration requirement is particularly bizarre. The AMA’s safety program already instructs me to place my AMA number or name and address on or within my model aircraft, effectively accomplishing the safety and accountability objectives of the interim rule. It would be more prudent to require the registration of all rocks thrown over 0.55 pounds than to burden the safe-flying members of the AMA with such an ineffective, inefficient, and duplicative obligation.
Moreover, the FAA’s rule is contrary to the intent of Congress. In Section 336 of the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act. Section 336, also referred to as the “Special Rule for Model Aircraft,” clearly prohibits the FAA from promulgating any new rules for recreational users operating within the safety guidelines of a community based organization. In addition, the FAA’s contention that model aircraft should be considered aircraft and are subject to existing regulation is currently the subject of pending litigation.
As an AMA member I should be exempt from federal registration. The registration process is an unnecessary burden for me and the more than 185,000 other AMA members. AMA’s membership program should be deemed an acceptable means of compliance and AMA members should be exempt from registering with the FAA.
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