DIY Advocacy Videos for Model Aviation

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
I was thinking today that with the threats to our hobby, and the disinformation out there in the main stream media about the "evil drones" that maybe more community video content could help the situation.

So, if you were to create a video that was meant to persuade people that they should protect our hobby, and that it would be a bad idea to pile unnecessary restrictions on it, what would you include in that video?

For example. So much of why the commercial applications of drones are about to be possible, is by hobbyists having the freedom to be creative and innovative in their designs and flying. If we had legal limitations ten years ago that the commercial UAS lobbyists would like to have imposed, we probably wouldn't have FPV quadcopters the way we do today.
 

JTarmstr

Elite member
I was thinking today that with the threats to our hobby, and the disinformation out there in the main stream media about the "evil drones" that maybe more community video content could help the situation.

So, if you were to create a video that was meant to persuade people that they should protect our hobby, and that it would be a bad idea to pile unnecessary restrictions on it, what would you include in that video?

For example. So much of why the commercial applications of drones are about to be possible, is by hobbyists having the freedom to be creative and innovative in their designs and flying. If we had legal limitations ten years ago that the commercial UAS lobbyists would like to have imposed, we probably wouldn't have FPV quadcopters the way we do today.

I think that they should have restrictions on drone size and power but other than that you have to look at it in context, more people die in car accidents but we dont ban cars. It seems to me the media/some politicians think if they ban it the problem goes away, and they dont seem to want to look at the statistics, I bet there are millions of UAV pilots in the U.S. alone and most of them never cause trouble. I think this is primarily an attack on the hobby by major corporations to prevent anyone else from using the airspace. Amazon's safety goals for their drone delivery project are almost identical to what is being pushed in congress for the FAA. Also this seems to be an issue with drones but they are throwing RC airplanes under the bus too, I think that drones shouldn't be flown in crowded areas but the proposition to ban them all because of a few sightings and complaints seems wrong. I should note I am not a quadcopter pilot so I dont have a ton of experience with them, this is just my personal opinion.
 
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cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
So, if you were to create a video that was meant to persuade people that they should protect our hobby, and that it would be a bad idea to pile unnecessary restrictions on it, what would you include in that video?

Good people do it:
Images of kids learning to fly with a parent who happens to also be a 'insert roll model here'. "Today, little Jimmy and I are learning how to fly a new cub. But for my real job, I fly ...".

Role models can include cops but firemen are more PC. No soldiers. I think soldiers are great but that's not the optics you want. Maybe a search and rescue finding trapped flood victims. How about a park ranger flying to find lost kitties? :)

It can be Edgy and cool but it teaches that STEM projects are fun:
Girls racing pink copters around an indoor track to the applause of moms and dads and other kids all hopped up on pizza and soda is another aspect to show that it's not all gliders at the park. There is an edgy side to the scary drone craze. It might hook young girls into lifetimes of STEM projects and high paying careers. If you don't do something, she'll end up putting Hello Kitty stickers on her personal, private jet that she herself can fly. Oh the horror. My suggestion for the soundtrack.

Flying model aircraft is mainstream and is as American as apple pie:
How about showing hundreds of folks building planes at a huge outdoor event in Ohio or Texas. You get the kids, the STEM, the large numbers of current and future voters all rolled up in a big tent in Americana heartland. Show the funnel cakes and the turkey legs.

Don't be a d**k:
Kid is flying while mom and dad watch and the drone flies over a fetid pond of reeking sludge at the far corner of the field. A green, Grinch arm reaches out and snatches the toy from the sky and pulls it into the muck while the horrified American family watches. Caption, don't let the swamp eat another American hobby. Let kids fly in the free American air.

Bonus:
Martha Stewart flying/filming from her Phantom while Snoop Dog throws down at the BBQ. Just don't let the Phantom zoom in too closely on what Snoop is tokin' on.

Four vignettes with music and direction by Quentin Tarentino. Who could lose? :)

Staff Member?? Are congrats in order?
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
It's a good idea Monkey but none of that matters without money sitting in Washington to counter big corps at this point.

If I were to do a video to help I would focus on the STEM / Engineering aspects more so then any hobbiests points if view.

We are fighting Godzilla now and our communities box of rubber bands are not gonna influence anything. We have to use the educational / workforce side that is aided by early starts in the hobby.

Our place comes in as the gate keepers guiding these new and future potentials of the working world.

Fighting this battle just for our right to fly is moot at this point. Only future monetary interests are the needed ammunition for this fight. Present those and maybe part of what we do can be saved.
 

JTarmstr

Elite member
It's a good idea Monkey but none of that matters without money sitting in Washington to counter big corps at this point.

If I were to do a video to help I would focus on the STEM / Engineering aspects more so then any hobbiests points if view.

We are fighting Godzilla now and our communities box of rubber bands are not gonna influence anything. We have to use the educational / workforce side that is aided by early starts in the hobby.

Our place comes in as the gate keepers guiding these new and future potentials of the working world.

Fighting this battle just for our right to fly is moot at this point. Only future monetary interests are the needed ammunition for this fight. Present those and maybe part of what we do can be saved.

@PsyBorg , while you are correct, if we can convince enough congressmen to vote against this, I think we can still win. Heres my suggestion: write your local representative in congress a real letter ie paper a stamp and a signature, they will be far more impressed that someone sat down and took the time to voice their concerns on paper than an email that pops into their mailbox. A email is easily sent but easily deleted as well they likely get spammed a ton. I know this method works because I have friends who wrote letters like that and they often got letters back thanking them for writing. if i recall correctly, they need 2/3rds majority to win, so as long as iit stays under that its a win for us.
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
I might do a collaboration with my friend, (who is way better at editing videos than me) and do a video to try and help along with sending some letters to congressmen. When is this going to be voted on?
 

JTarmstr

Elite member
I dont know when they are voting, cant find it on my search engine. What I really hate is the lobbyiests think the RC aircraft pilots aren't trained pilots therefor they shouldn't be there just because you dont have pilot training doesnt mean you aren't qualified to fly an RC airplane, I bet that lady has never flown a RC airplane in her entire life. What about the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic in 2007? the Co-Pilot and relief pilot couldn't even recognize that their airplane was in a stall yet they had all the flight training they needed. This stuff makes me so angry, I wish there was some way that this could be shut down because its unconstitutional.
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
Just have the RC community declare independence....

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness"
 

JTarmstr

Elite member
Just have the RC community declare independence....

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness"

lol I dont think that would work to well, that gave me a good laugh though. Maybe if we asked them if WE could rewrite section 336?
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I have no faith left in our corrupt "Just Us" system. I have been hammered by it far to many times to bother with it.

If you don't have big money to manipulate it then you better be good at rallying people against them. Just be willing to be a target once you get their attentions if you go against corporate influence.
 

JTarmstr

Elite member
I have no faith left in our corrupt "Just Us" system. I have been hammered by it far to many times to bother with it.

If you don't have big money to manipulate it then you better be good at rallying people against them. Just be willing to be a target once you get their attentions if you go against corporate influence.

Alas unfortunately I am far to blunt to say anything political even to friends, I hope that at least some members of our congress see they are selling our airspace to companies for their own personal profit.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Oh they know exactly what they do. Polititions and lawyers may start out wanting to honestly help ...

Nebber mind.. wrong place for this.
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
I liked the upbeat tone of the monkey man's original post and while I agree with PsyBorg and JTarmstr on some aspects of the political realities of the situation, I would like to add a few more upbeat comments from other troubled times.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” John Stuart Mill

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill

And finally this:
"A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running; I aim to misbehave." - Malcolm Reynolds
 

JTarmstr

Elite member
I liked the upbeat tone of the monkey man's original post and while I agree with PsyBorg and JTarmstr on some aspects of the political realities of the situation, I would like to add a few more upbeat comments from other troubled times.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” John Stuart Mill

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill

And finally this:
"A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running; I aim to misbehave." - Malcolm Reynolds

I'm sorry if I came across as downbeat, you are right, we cant stop trying. Better to fail and know we did our best than to give up and say all is lost.
 

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
I see a lot of complaints about "bad videos ruining the hobby." So I thought, what would be some good videos that help the hobby?

So to answer my own question a little, in this advocacy video... scenes from events like Flite Fest of people having a good time with people of all ages, genders, races, etc. This isn't just a few people that the regulations are hurting. As of January 2018 over a million people had registered with the FAA for their drones. That's not a million drones, a million people. And that's just the ones who registered.

Another element I'd be sure to include, is the wide range of types of "drones" from the cheap Walmart one, to a detailed balsa craft like Joshua Orchard would build, to the large multirotors being used for search and rescue operations.

And if I didn't mention before, I'd include STEM. A lot of STEM.
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
Girls and STEM.

I think GamerGate opened a door we would be wise to consider.

Anyone know the address to Congress? We should mail them a case of FliteTest chuck gliders. So long as the adults in the room keep Nancy from hot gluing Ted to Bernie, building something together might just help their mood and raise their opinions of us in general.

Ahh forget it. No way Secret Service allows sharp knives into the room with that bunch of knuckleheads.

Alternate ending:
Ahh forget it. These knuckleheads would throw away the instructions with the box, try to use the pre-cut foam parts to build a bridge that no-one can explain, using knives made from biodegradable environmentally safe lunch room products that can't cut paper because that's all Secret Service will allow into the room.
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
Alternate ending:
Ahh forget it. These knuckleheads would throw away the instructions with the box, try to use the pre-cut foam parts to build a bridge that no-one can explain, using knives made from biodegradable environmentally safe lunch room products that can't cut paper because that's all Secret Service will allow into the room.
Out of all this potential for a huge change in the hobby in this thread, that did make me laugh a little.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Well if Stefan is as charismatic as he comes across we could have him promote making Trumps wall out of foam using FT techniques for strength for crazy government funds to finance FT as full fledged CBO with lobbying power