Scott

Jamison

, Logan

, Utah

, United States

Posted on
2020-02-23 23:22:48
“I have a private pilots license and I know the reasons for the rules we have in place for general aviation, but I am very concerned at the far reaching and negative effect the same level of regulation will have on the hobby built air craft community . It’s because I was introduced at a young age by my grandfather, who a flew B-17 in WW2 (8th AF), and my father who loved to build model, gas powered, fly by wire airplanes that I developed a love for flight. I live in a small rural town in Utah and there are no model aircraft flying clubs or fields anywhere near my home. We have a small uncontrolled airport nearby which has never had any incidents or trouble with small model aircraft. My greatest concern with the new rules is it seems to lump small model aircraft into the same category as those wanting to use multi-rotor aircraft to deliver packages and use it for other commercial activities. These type of activities need to be separated from the hobby built aircraft the large majority of us fly. It’s also not practical nor is it feasible for every small model aircraft to have an ident tag, let alone have to pay to fly a model aircraft in a nearby field or travel a long distance to a flying field to fly a foam aircraft. Please do not lump the 99% of the small model aircraft enthusiasts in with the corporate groups wanting to take what we developed in our homes and now scale it up to be a large commercial delivery system. In addition to being a private pilot, I am also an engineer who has worked over 27 years on our nations strategic systems. I am concerned with the rising generation of young engineers who have no real personal experience with experimentation or the process of developing something new. I see many who watch a YouTube video and see someone else do something and think they now know how to do the same thing, but they don’t go out and try it themselves. I have personally mentored many young engineers who have never taken apart something to see how it works, no need, just type a google search and watch someone else do it, now they know all there is. My concern with the new rules is that it will just make it that much harder to get our children interested in the wonderful world of aviation and flight. It makes it that much harder to build something and go out and see what it does, without breaking a law and unfortunately I have seen the over reaction of law officials to a toy drone, in an open field, well away from buildings or people. I am not against the commercial aspects of the technology, but strapping the modeler and amateur with more and more regulation and rules will not be in the best interest of this nation or the young people who it needs to be inventive and creative to keep us competitive with the rest of the world.”