barr*@*ail.com

, Michigan

, United States

Posted on
2020-02-19 12:05:22
“I first became aware of RC flying at about age 10. Was unable to participate due to ‘no money’ as a kid, but managed to do some small free-flight & static models! First job at age 16, and RC was able to became a reality. 40 years later, still at it! I have made many life-long friendships thru my RC hobby. It is ‘a community’. I have learned many skills thru my RC hobby that have also transitioned into my professional career. It would be extremely sad to see a potential ‘end’ to this hobby due to over-regulation and basically making it impossible to participate. We have been flying safely for decades as ‘traditional RC flying’ and see no reason that that needs to change… the saying “we’re not the problem” comes to mind. If we need to ‘click on an app’ on our phones when we go out to fly, then fine, we can do that. But much beyond that is absolutely not necessary and would in fact likely be detrimental. And as far as FAA registration – seems like being an AMA member and having your AMA number in/on your aircraft as per AMA regulation, that should be adequate. But fine, we can (and I have) registered with the FAA. But registering EACH aircraft is unfairly burdensome, and frankly not practical — RC planes come & go too regularly to be practical to keep up to date with the FAA. Seems like the “register the owner” and have that one number on all of your aircraft more than accomplishes the ‘registration/identification’ goal. Bottom line – I love my hobby. We have been flying ‘traditional RC’ for many decades safely, and introducing countless young people to model aviation with a path to full-scale aviation & engineering. Please don’t take that away from us by making too much of a hassle to bother getting involved.”