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Permalink Reply by Duane Brocious on November 5, 2010 at 9:10am

The AMA is a group of amateurs run by a group of amateurs. The governing body is self-selecting and usually has a single canditate for the members to "vote" into any top office.
If you read their recomendation to the FAA, they suggest making the AMA the sole authority of model aviation (recreational and DIY UAV) for the USA (top of page six yellow highlight). In other words no one except AMA paying members would be allowed to fly anything. Imagine having to pay $58 to the AMA to fly an airhogs toy helicopter in your backyard. I am supprised the manufacturers aren't trying to shut down the AMA over this.

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Permalink Reply by Nathaniel Caner on November 5, 2010 at 2:42pm

Duane,

First of all the document you are referring to is not the sole work of the AMA, the AMA is but one representative of a diverse committee consisting of representatives for all areas of aviation from the governing body of the FAA to manufacturers of model aircraft as well as full scale aircraft, pilots associations, universities, and the Department of Defense. Secondly reading the document it would appear that most of the AMAs comments are pointed towards loosening the restrictions that are being suggested. It would appear that the AMA might be suggested as a "governing body" modeling it's structure after a well established hobby organization the NAR (National Association of Rocketry). The NAR has regulated model rocketry successfully for over 50 years. I believe the intent here is to model the regulations to be similar to those of the NAR,with exemptions for aircraft that fall within certain guidelines, such as below 2 lbs total TOW less than 60 MPH top speed, and below 400' AGL. You are not required to be a member of the NAR to buy or fly rockets that weigh less than 3.3 lb and fly on a G motor or less. The regulation is enforced by restricting the access to motors in class H and higher to those NAR members who have been certified by the organization as qualified. A similar restriction would permit "Air Hogs" and other free flight and "Park Flyers" to be flown without being a member of the AMA, and without violating the FAA regulations. We may give up some freedom at the extreme edges of our hobby, however I think preserving our ability to pursue our activity without fear of violating some obscure restriction we were otherwise unaware of is a fair trade. Lastly the AMA is far more than an provider of insurance for it's members. It is an advocate attempting to preserve our ability to pursue activities involving aviation in the NAS. They also reach out to the youth in our country through educational programs in an attempt to grow the hobby. Without the efforts of the AMA the future of the hobby might be left up to the DOD the FAA and the aviation industry who have little interest in our ability to fly our "toy" airplanes. Hobby industry manufactures benefit from the AMAs involvement in these negotiations in the same way we do so I don't think they are complaining, without a voice in these negotiations representing the hobby industry there might not be any business for the manufactures in the first place. As far as the elections go, if you want to volunteer your time to advance the hobby through your service to the AMA, get yourself nominated for a position on the ballot and maybe then there will be more than one person on the ballot. You don't often see people lining up to compete for volunteer service.

Have a little patience and remember this is a work in progress, I think in the end there will be a program in place we can all live with that will be far better than the alternative.

Regards,

Nathaniel

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Permalink Reply by Duane Brocious on November 5, 2010 at 5:29pm

All of the meetings (ARC) are done. The AMA was the only representative for "model aviation" and were only invited to "sit in" on one meeting. In these government rule making procedures, once the NPRM is out a darn good case needs to be made to revise it. All the NPRM really is is a way to let the public comment on the new rules, usually with little results. We will know in March.

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