F106DeltaDart
Elite member
At least the AMA sent out emails asking for action this time. It was nice to see them try to get their member base to speak out, and they made it easy to contact local representatives. That at least shows that they are trying, if not not exactly succeeding.
I sat down with one of the AMA Reps in Government Affairs at EAA Oshkosh this year, and had a long chat about where things were going with the FAA. He admitted that its been a tough battle, and they've been outmatched in funding and influence. The only thing that has let them have any influence is that they hold 80 years of historical data of safe operation of models. The official recognition of them as a CBO was more so to help give them a more permanent voice in responding to any further FAA legislation. They've been trying to save all ends of the hobby, from FT planes up to turbines, and at the time, he said they finally felt that they were making progress.
The biggest problem seems to be that the AMA isn't always invited to every discussion. We saw that with the Counter-UAS meeting that stirred the viral Xjet video that went around. And from the sounds of it, a decent amount of the language in the bill was not known to the AMA until the last second. A lot of the language in the bill is a major problem. The 400 ft limit, airspace limitations, a mandatory operator's knowledge test, and a section that literally says that the FAA administrator can change any of the section at their discretion, and create further rules against our hobby. There's also the whole remote ID mess that could REALLY screw things up.
With the CBO definition out there, it would be great to see Flite Test or some other CBOs pop up. At this point, we need all the voice we can get if we want to continue enjoying the hobby.
Sorry about the long post, just needed to vent a bit..
I sat down with one of the AMA Reps in Government Affairs at EAA Oshkosh this year, and had a long chat about where things were going with the FAA. He admitted that its been a tough battle, and they've been outmatched in funding and influence. The only thing that has let them have any influence is that they hold 80 years of historical data of safe operation of models. The official recognition of them as a CBO was more so to help give them a more permanent voice in responding to any further FAA legislation. They've been trying to save all ends of the hobby, from FT planes up to turbines, and at the time, he said they finally felt that they were making progress.
The biggest problem seems to be that the AMA isn't always invited to every discussion. We saw that with the Counter-UAS meeting that stirred the viral Xjet video that went around. And from the sounds of it, a decent amount of the language in the bill was not known to the AMA until the last second. A lot of the language in the bill is a major problem. The 400 ft limit, airspace limitations, a mandatory operator's knowledge test, and a section that literally says that the FAA administrator can change any of the section at their discretion, and create further rules against our hobby. There's also the whole remote ID mess that could REALLY screw things up.
With the CBO definition out there, it would be great to see Flite Test or some other CBOs pop up. At this point, we need all the voice we can get if we want to continue enjoying the hobby.
Sorry about the long post, just needed to vent a bit..