Special Rule For Model Aircraft

Velocity173

Velocity173

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Velocity173
Even though AMA is throwing a fit, I could see this coming. 400 ft restriction, aeronautical test, aircraft registration. Don’t even bother call it a Special Rule for Model Aircraft (Part 101). It’s basically Part 107 now.

https://modelaircraft.org/about-ama/advocacy
 
Hmm...the 400 foot rule isn't new. We have had that at our AMA club forever and the other AMA clubs I have been to as well.
 
CC268 said:
Hmm...the 400 foot rule isn't new. We have had that at our AMA club forever and the other AMA clubs I have been to as well.
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That was a club rule. This is (or would be) an actual law.
 
ZeroPapaGolf said:
That was a club rule. This is (or would be) an actual law.
Click to expand...

Yea...I should have clarified that. I meant to say that it is a common rule amongst a lot of clubs around here, even though it isn't an official AMA rule. I was on the Board for our field for a while and it was a hot topic of discussion.

It also very subjective...how in the world do you know when your at 400 feet unless you are running telemetry? 400 feet looks drastically different between a 60" model and a 120" model.
 
Only takes a few bad apples to ruin the bunch..... I know it’s not the real modelers that effed it all up. But, they are lumped in with all the drone-goons that have no friggin brains at all. You can’t self police idiots.
 
CC268 said:
Yea...I should have clarified that. I meant to say that it is a common rule amongst a lot of clubs around here, even though it isn't an official AMA rule. I was on the Board for our field for a while and it was a hot topic of discussion.

It also very subjective...how in the world do you know when your at 400 feet unless you are running telemetry? 400 feet looks drastically different between a 60" model and a 120" model.
Click to expand...

Exactly, no way of knowing if you’re above 400 ft or not. I generally know if I’m flying well above 400 ft and it’s pretty obvious when you’re at 1,000 ft but a max of 400 ft with no telemetry?

When it comes down to it, you’re still gonna have people ordering Chinese drones with no idea of registration requirements, 400 ft max alt, or aeronautical test. Plenty of people know of the rules and will just ignore these requirements anyway. There will always be non AMA members that screw things up for the rest of us. Hence the reason for the amendment to the special rule.
 
Part of the fun of flying rc is to fly close enough so you can actually see what the plane is doing, especially during aerobatics. With a 5-foot-wingspan model, it's getting pretty small at 400 ft. I've never found that rule to be overly restrictive.
 
The reality is that the responsible modelers are already using good practices and good sense flying their models. They will also follow any new rules and regulations, but those are wasted on the responsible folks. The irresponsible folks won't bother to understand the new regs or won't give a ****, and are gonna do what they are gonna do.

So all this does is hamstring the responsible people. Brilliant.
 
I started in RC...I don't think its unreasonable to require the same rules for operating in the airspace...if we become the jetsons one day, doesn't make sense to leave people out of uncle sam's view.
 
Flying R/C sailplanes will take you well over 400’ alt. in a thermal. It’s no fun to have to bail out of a thermal because the gubament says you have to. I guess on-board altitude reporting telemetry will be a requirement in a few years.
 
That's really going to suck for our jet guys. 400 ft is fine for the propeller driven aerobatic planes I fly, but the jet boys bust that regularly. That's easy to do when you're model is cruising at 200+ mph. Looks like they'll have to come down and fly circles around the patch.
 
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