“I don’t know a time in my life when I wasn’t involved in model aviation. My father’s love for flight got me interested at a young age and the time we spent building and flying models are some of my happiest memories. I credit my love for model aviation as one of the main reasons I became a successful mechanical engineer. I now fly (fix winged) planes I’ve built from scratch, bought or found at a flea market and have restored (what can I say, I love to tinker). I started with multi-rotors and helicopters but have since moved on to fixed wings. I currently love to fly gliders and warbirds at the local AMA sponsored RC flying clubs I belong to. One flying site is located several miles from my house in Bucks County PA while the other is about 45 minutes away in Burlington County NJ. I cannot tell you how much I look forward to the weekends I spend there flying with my friends. We hold special events like Jet Rallies, Warbird Events, Swap Meets, BBQs and we welcome all newcomers. Both clubs abide by the AMA rules for safe flight and have never had a major incident. We make sure all of our members have valid AMA IDs as well as registration with the FAA. We typically fly Line Of Sight (LOS) and when flying FPV there is always a dedicated spotter. We don’t fly around crowds, near buildings, or anywhere near passenger aircraft. In other words, we follow the rules. The need for registering each and every aircraft we fly is not a bad idea. Needing to pay some kind of fee for each registration would be rather large financial burden. I currently have 45 aircraft! Why not retain the current system of registering under one FAA ID? The current regulations call that we mark all of our models clearly with this number and I have done so. Additionally, the need for a subscription service to transmit the id and the cost of the transponder itself would impose a huge financial burden for someone who just wants to fly a model airplane on the weekends. I understand that the current ruling has provisions for allowing operation of model aircraft (without transponders) in designated areas. But from what I have read, trying to register a new site after the ruling is approved would be almost impossible. As urban sprawl happens, we periodically lose our flying sites and have to look for new ones. If we lose our flying site to a new housing development or strip mall, we would most likely not be able to get approval for a new one in a reasonable time frame, or perhaps never at all. Not having somewhere to experience the hobby I love would be a crushing blow myself and others in this hobby.”