Will

Vandenberg

, Baltimore

, Maryland

, United States

Posted on
2020-02-22 12:29:01
“My name is Will. I am a 13 year old 8th grade student who is passionate in flying home built FPV drones. I first started at 8 years old flying pre-built toy drones, until I started building FPV drones at 10. Flying matters to me because I get to enjoy something that combines all of my interests (electronics, aviation, engineering) into one amazing hobby. I’ve also met many friends who live near me who also share the same hobby as I do, and we have since enjoyed flying models together whenever we have free time. I’ve learned so much more about how electronics work, including how to solder, program software for drones to improve flight performance, and problem solving/troubleshooting a custom home built aircraft. The FAA’s remote ID proposal would effectively destroy this amazing hobby for me, and the rest my friends and the community. The proposal requires all home built aircrafts to be flown in special FAA approved locations (FRIAs) and thus I would no longer be able to fly in soccer fields or parks in my neighbourhood. In addition, the FAA approved locations would pose a travel burden, and would disappear as time goes on. Also, as a 13 year old, I cannot afford a cellular data plan required to transmit data to the FAA. This also poses a huge privacy concern as the FAA would be aware of personal information such as exact pilot and aircraft location. Our hobby has a great track record with regards to safety, and therefore these new rules are unnecessary, and extremely damaging to education such as school STEM programs where students can learn about building and flying RC models. All in all, I, and the rest of the RC community fear for our hobby with THE FAA’s future plans and restrictions which would stop us from what we have been enjoying for generations.”