Got a QuadCopter? Person flies into whitehouse

[Rolex]

Something we all knew, but it just won't stop till everyone is forced to give up the hobby.

 

[Ron Olson]

The statement from the AMA:
http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/am...-brown-we-stand-for-education-not-regulation/

 

[hamz9561]

Thank you @Ron Olson! That is exactly what needed to be said!

 

[Ron Olson]

No problem. I ran across that 2-3 days ago and had to save it.
We're all in this together. The next time it could be a RC truck that people will have to worry about. On tonight's news they were showing regular RC heli's and motorized gliders that they threw into the Drone category for terrorism.

 

[Greywolf74]

Great article!

 

[hamz9561]

It looks like DJI is recalling its firmware patch that it issued after the DC drone debacle. I'm guessing it was issued as a knee-jerk reaction.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/06/dr...ed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)

 

[WoodiE]

Add more fuel to the fire... someone flying near LAX airport.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/drone-scare-for-lax-bound-flight-reignites-safety-debate/

 

[hamz9561]

WTF? 4,000 feet? Must be another ass-hat that has more money than brains not wanting to read the rules,

 

[Greywolf74]

Is there anything to see at 4000ft that you can't see with google earth? lol

 

[hamz9561]

The look on panicked airline passengers' faces?

 

[Rolex]

I'd like to get a quadcopter in hopes of seeing him behind the prison walls.

 

[Ron Olson]

The latest from the FAA.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregory...-all-9-insights-into-forthcoming-regulations/

 

[hamz9561]

What they're not saying is that the regs are for commercial pilots and use not hobbyists. They are forbidden by Congress from regulating RC hobbyists.

 

[HPIguy]

That's not true anymore actually. The FAA regulates US airspace, and always has. Matter of fact, some of the original AMA guidelines for safe model aircraft flight (under 400ft AGL for example) were pulled straight from the FAA's 1981 guidelines for model aircraft. But, the big key here is that they were never empowered to enforce those rules themselves, until now. What's even worse, is that now the NTSB is on board, and backing the FAA with even stricter regulations shown in the links below. But the biggest issue IMO, is that rather than take the time to draw up reasonable guidelines and regulations, they've simply taken an "everyone out of the pool" approach to it. The biggest blow has been to the FPV community, as the wording is crystal clear that you must fly within visual LOS of the pilot at all times. Now, if you're flying a non FPV model in a reasonable, and safe manner, I doubt any of us are going to have any issues. But for those of us that do own FPV gear, I don't think any of us want to fight the federal government in a federal court, nor do I think most of us have the time and resources to do so. If that sounds paranoid, maybe it is, but as I've gotten older I've become all too familiar with Murphy's law. I also posted a link the other day in aircraft section about certain states attempting to carve out their own rules.

http://blogs.findlaw.com/decided/2014/11/drones-can-be-regulated-by-faa-rules-ntsb.html

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/faa-can-make-all-drone-flights-illegal-appeals-court-rules

 

[Greywolf74]

all this crap makes me glad I'm not that interested in quadcopters lol

 

[Rolex]

That drunken idiot will create a ripple effect through the entire radio control community. Suddenly we'll all have the ability to fly things in high security areas where we will pose a threat and be arrested or forced to be licensed and regulated.
It's idiots like him who need to pay thousands of dollars in fines, spend some serious time in a cage and forfeit their right to EVER own anything radio controlled. Don't forget, he's a government employee.

 

[HPIguy]

Also, don't forget, it's not just this one idiot and one isolated case. I have to also wonder if this "inside job" wasn't a setup to push for more regulations, it just smells fishy to me. There have been many in the past few years unfortunately. I'm honestly shocked that nobody has been seriously hurt by a falling multicopter as of yet. The lower costs, and ease of purchase after someone with zero RC experience watches a cool youtube video, and does zero research or God forbid takes the appropriate steps for learning RC flight have all compounded into the shite storm that we are facing today. I haven't flown my FPV quad (the large outdoor one) via FPV in almost a year. Not because I'm scared the Feds are going to rush out of the woods and tackle me and haul me off to Abu Gharaib, but becuase I'm trying really hard to be a responsible hobbyist and not add to the insanity, and that's exactly what I think all this is, insanity. The current rulings would define a childs dime store balsa glider as a model aircraft, and thus it is susceptible to the same regulations. Now tell me that isn't insanity. Now if you guys will excuse me, I have to go watch Idiocracy again and see what the next step in the prophecy is.

 

[Greywolf74]

I'm not typically a tinfoil hat kinda guy but I swear this smell of a set up.

 

[Greywolf74]

Its retards like this...

 

[HPIguy]

^^That moron could have easily caused a pileup. I'm usually not either Greywolf, but the timing and location is just too convenient. Correlation does not always equal causation, but in this case...