David

Ludington

, Alamogordo

, New Mexico

, United States

Posted on
2020-02-23 0:00:07
“I’ve been flying F-16s in the Air Force for 11 years, and radio control (RC) aircraft off and on for 20 years. I’ve built my own aircraft, both planes and quadcopters, and flown them at club airfields, as well as around my own home and neighborhood (safely, and with no incidents). Designing, building, and flying RC aircraft is an important part of my life, and I’ve always ensured that my actions are in accordance with all laws I’m aware of. The new regulation would prevent me from flying the aircraft I’ve built over the last several years. It would prevent me from flying around my own home, and around the other sites I commonly fly in. Furthermore, I live in a small town in New Mexico with abysmal cell phone coverage, so even if I had a remote ID compliant aircraft it would probably not be able to connect properly with the data network. I agree that remote ID is a useful tool, and probably something that would be required in the near future. But the current implementation would destroy my hobby, and many others’. A WIFI, bluetooth, or other radio broadcast system, to me, makes much more sense. Even a phone app that I could use to broadcast my location would be usable in some locations. But requiring all SUAS to essentially be approved by the FAA completely eliminates the home-built RC hobby. Requiring a cell phone connection eliminates many of the sites I currently fly out of. And the FRIA system, with its time limit and lack of flying sites, would eventually lock me out entirely.”