MJ

, Vermont

, United States

Posted on
2020-02-14 9:21:23
“I grew up with aviation in my blood. One grandfather owned and flew an Aeronca Chief and the other a Moonie. Even my father always had some aviation tie with ultralights and hang gliders. I always had a balsa gliders or paper airplane in my hands and can remember how excited I would get even just driving by an airport. I got started in R/C when I was still in grade school.. building my planes from full blown wood kits. Even to this day 30+ years later.. I love to build kits. I even went as far as to go to college for Aeronautical Engineering. Many years after I was finally able to get my Sport Pilot rating which led to Private Pilot. Aviation as a whole is my drug… To be out at a field and flying or even in a plane flying is my church… With general aviation being so expensive I don’t get to fly that much and always return the R/C as my main enjoyment. Just recently I purchased my first drone and now… By being able to view thing from the perspective of the aircraft.. I see the strong attraction to them. As I look back on my love of aviation and the amount of effort and emotion I have invested, it crushes me to see this new rule making. The way I interpret the writing is that everything is all grouped into one lump with no consideration for all of the different facets of the hobby. Having my pilots license I have a full grasp of safety, airspace requirements and regulations. I can see the need for some sort of regulations for the craft that can fly FPV and reach ranges that far exceed line of sight. There needs to be better classification of aircraft type just as in general aviation. The way it looks now… It’s the lobbyists reaching into the pockets of those involved in the rule making in order to have the way to completely commercialize all airspace and make the general hobby so expensive that the general hobbyist can no longer afford it. This is concerning.. and being forced into retrofitting specialized equipment, forced to pay for a subscription service, being confined to dedicated areas and having my personal data at risk.. is NOT a solution. This is a form of manipulation and control that is not acceptable. I feel this will destroy the hobby as we know it… And what I have grown up with and have had such a passion for… Will no longer be sustainable…”