“First, I really appreciate how the various industries and hobbyists from different parts of this nation have rallied together around this issue. I may never have the pleasure of meeting most of you but I’m grateful nonetheless for your contributions in conveying the significance of this industry to our nation’s leaders. I have great respect for the FAA’s mission and what it strives to accomplish. My son aspires to be an airline pilot some day and his safety is paramount to my family as well as to the many people who will be under his care. But after close observation of the latest proposals by the FAA I believe, in short, if these latest proposals go into effect they will kill our current recreation industry. Flying RC planes is how I taught my son the basic principles for flight such as manipulating the control surfaces of a plane to change its attitude. I joined a local flying club many years ago to first properly learn how to fly and second to become a member so that I could converse with other pilots and experience this shared interest. On many weekends, we spend almost equal amounts of time flying as we do conversing about so many things, such as the flight characteristics of our aircraft, the latest new models coming out, issues with current kit builds or issues in general. It’s become a way of life for many of our club members, especially the retired members who joyfully look forward to being at the field almost every day and certainly on the weekends to catch up with the folks who are still in the work force and can only participate on the weekends. Very little can compare to how this industry has provided a platform for camaraderie. Because of my son’s passion for flying full scale aircraft, I do see the need for some regulation to encourage responsible operations of these RC aircraft, but I strongly believe the FAA proposed measures are too stringent and, if imposed, our industry would lose greatly in ways from which we may never recover. Lastly, the majority of our club members, including myself, are middle-class Americans and for many of us, excluding our retired members, this has been our outlet and refuge from the week’s challenging work schedules, team coaching commitments for little league baseball and soccer, being advocates for our local communities as it relates to systemic social issues and whatever else is thrown on the plate. We greatly appreciate the privilege of being able to fly our aircraft and we’re very hopeful that sustainable and practical policies will be implemented that will support our RC aviation industry, not kill it! Respectfully, Randy M”