Mike

Brown

, Magna

, Utah

, United States

Posted on
2020-02-14 13:39:31
“To whom it may concern. I am writing you today in response to the NPRM. I am deeply concerned about the implications from the proposals contained there in. I have enjoyed the RC hobby for 30+ years in some form starting when my father, who was a manned aircraft pilot, introduced me to control line models. I fell in love with flight. Life’s path took me on a different road for a career, my dreams of flying manned aircraft, were never realized. Recently, (the past 2 years), I have fallen in love all over again in the form of FPV (first person view) RC quadcopters and airplanes. If the rules go through as proposed, it will, in essence, kill the hobby completely. I have a son of 8 years old, that loves flight as well. I had planned for him, the same joy and learning experience this hobby brings with it. If implemented as stated, it will affect me negatively in the following ways. 1. It will become a monetary hardship for my family. Cost of parts, driving to a boring, designated fixed flying site. Fees for club memberships, connectivity to internet, and other unforseen costs. 2. Not being able to build, and fly my own aircraft, will take much of the joy away from the experience. 3. I won’t be able to teach my son the many, many things that come along with RC, including building, soldering, programming, electrical theory, characteristics of flight, and much more. 4. The thousands of dollars I already have invested, will be lost. 5. I’ve gained a lot of friendships that never would have happened if not for the hobby, meeting new people, and helping them enjoy it also will be lost. 6. I will lose something that drives me, and I love to do. Here are some of my ideas for sharing the sky. 1. Leave 0-200 ft agl for recreational/hobby use, while keeping in place the rule for buildings, mountains etc, that you can fly up to that altitude, plus the height of the structure/object. 2. Streamline the laanc system and make it mandatory to use before hobby flight. 3. Make a drone delivery “highway” above 300 ft Agl (100 ft buffer between hobby and delivery), and a website hobbyists must go to, to find information about where other traffic is in the sky, landing zones, and any other pertinent information fitting to be there. 4. Make a test for hobbyists to pass before they can fly legally. 5. Make an ads-b like system that only gives out an aircrafts position in the sky. (please keep in mind, weight is everything in an aircraft), and it must be able to be fitted by me. I have access to over 3 acres of my family property. I should absolutely be able to fly there.”