As has been said before, slow your heart rate and bring your blood pressure down below boiling.
Let's start with one thing - "drone". The FAA cites that a "drone" (in their language) is any Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. That is whether it is autonomous (i.e., uses GPS to navigate itself) or is one under human control - in short, anything from a slope soaring RC glider to a scale warbird to an RC flying wing to a multirotor copter to an RC helicopter or any other creation such as an RC flying elephant or RC flying witch.
On to your second point, "See And Avoid" - that will still take into effect even if this proposed rule goes through (and it will most likely not go through in its current iteration). We should be avoiding other aircraft, regardless of what we're flying. Full scale aircraft has right of way; that's part of the AMA Safety code:
I will not interfere with and will yield the right of way to all human-carrying aircraft using AMA’s See and Avoid Guidance and a spotter when appropriate.
We should ALL be following that, AMA members or not, whether you agree with the AMA or the FAA's views, as it's just smart flying.
Last bit - the FAA does not own the sky, but they are trying to keep people safe. It's not safe to run across a 4 lane freeway where large vehicles are traveling at high rates of speed, not only for your safety but for the drivers of those vehicles as well. As with that same respect, you don't go and fly planes in the landing/takeoff path of an airport for safety to yourself and to the pilots and passengers of said planes. The rules and laws that the FAA
currently has in place (and I say currently because I'm not considering anything that's not actually in place as valid - things can and probably will change) are for our safety as well as theirs, and while you and I may fly with common sense, the fact that there ARE people out there that aren't flying with common sense (such as the guy who flew a DJI Phantom 2.5 mi out and hit a Blackhawk helicopter a few years back) makes me realize that we need laws to tell the dumb bunnies out there NOT to do it.
I don't currently agree with the proposal as it stands. But it is, as others and I have mentioned, a PROPOSAL. To say it is the end of the hobby and that it is to completely commercialize the hobby - I don't see that happening. I think it's a heavy handed proposal where people are upset, they'll seesaw back off of it a bit, then come back to something that, as with most bureaucracy, doesn't quite work for everyone but justifies their positions.
Is this PROPOSED RULE going to cause a problem for Flite Fest? No. If you think it might, save yourself the money for your visit to Malvern, because you might need it for your antacids and ulcer treatments.
I think we're making WAY too much of this proposal and thinking it's law.
