Roy

Stoddard

, Farmingtion

, New Mexico

, United States

Posted on
2020-02-14 10:34:03
“I began building and flying as a teenager. Build a plane Friday night, I got my allowance Friday, and flew on Saturday. Crash. And try to glue it back together Saturday night. We could fly at a nearby dirt airfield, go in the hangers, play on a couple of junked bi-wing planes. Even got to clean, polish and fly in a J3 cub, and occasionally even over my grandparents house. Grandad would stop hoeing the corn long enough to wave his hat as we buzzed over head. We never did get him to fly, but he said it sure looked like fun. I left building and flying for college, but would tour hobby shops for a break from studies. Of course funds and time were short so boxes of the latest and greatest stayed on the shelf. Upon moving to New Mexico and with a few years, …i.e., 20 years, later, I was introduced to model aircraft by a friend and wow had the hobby changed!. Electric power, ARF’s, BNF, and still a few kit builders were around. And 2.4 Radio Control really was a real game changer. Now I could really fly without the Saturday night, glue it back together. Well sometimes. I am an active member of our community based group, chartered with the AMA, and have served as an officer several times. I have made many friends, traveled to attend organized flying events throughout the Southwest , been to more airplane museums then I can remember, including Wright Patterson in Ohio, two times. And now have a special joy. The real joy. The joy in sharing the adventure of flight with my grandchildren. Per the influence of the continued dreams of flying, I am seeking my LSA certificate, I can afford it now, and my oldest son has his Private Pilot license and a plane. At this time in my life, I have enough perspective to see the joy of life fading away as government agencies, though perhaps well meaning, have brought and burdened with more and more regulations. The don’t and do’s, rules, limits, etc. that ruin the joy of life I knew so well and took for granted as a kid growing up. Do we really need more oppressive rules, legislation, bureaucracies. Under the illusion of making life safer. Or implying that you’re too stupid, and ‘we’ must take care of you. Agencies, having experienced the seduction of power, now practice a ‘creeping, crawling’ expansionism into areas of the public life, for their self preservation, way beyond the original charge. Is the FAA suffering the same, seduction, with the notion of electronic telemetry to monitor recreational model aircraft? Regardless of the type being flown by responsible pilots who fly adhering to self imposed rules of safety. The only winner I see with the notion of requiring some type of telemetry in model aircraft is the telecommunications businesses. How much do they potentially see making. Millions of dollars? And for us who self-discipline, fly safely, with respect of and toward other peoples property, space, even that of small or large aircraft overhead, what happens? And who or how is this ‘new’ regulation of requiring this technology enforced? At what cost, by who’s authority, and more basic, why? For me, I see a law, or regulation likely making me an unlawful person, and I would continue to build, and fly, as long as my health and eyesight remain. And as a thought from my perspective of age… Ask those who pilot privately, commercially, militarily where their interest started? Even astronauts are know to have begun exploring the world of flight at an early age. Should the FAA creep more into the community of flying. I.e., rules, regulations, restrictions, which always driving up costs, and/or make a group of people ‘illegal’, as a consequence along the way; is now creeping into model aircraft, how will the enthusiasm of flight be encourage, by whom, and hence find its way to fill the seats in the cockpit’s of the future? Sincerely, Roy T. Stoddard, Ph.D”