URGENT : Save our hobby – Write the Senate Now to support amendment number 3596

bhursey

The Geeky Pilot
Hey guys,

The new re authorization act is going to destroy our hobby unless we can get this amendment included. Even though this is for AMA member's I urge you to be honorary members and write your senator please. It has a auto generate letter thing...

http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/51579/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=18287


Email from AMA

AMA Member Call to Action
Dear AMA members,

The U.S. Senate is currently considering amendments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2016. We need your help today to ensure this proposed legislation fully protects the model aircraft community.

Click here now to urge your Senators to support Senator Inhofe's amendment number 3596 to the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2016.

As you know, we are pleased that the Senate's proposed legislation preserves a community-based approach to managing the recreational community by maintaining the Special Rule for Model Aircraft. However, at the same time, we are concerned with additional provisions in this bill that could detrimentally impact our community.

These new provisions would require all UAS, including model aircraft, to meet new FAA design and production standards and impose unnecessary regulation on hobbyists who often build their own models at home. The bill also requires modelers to obtain permission from air traffic control when flying within 5 miles of towered airports which could jeopardize hundreds of existing flying sites. And if passed, the bill would require model aircraft enthusiasts to take an online FAA safety test and carry proof of passing the test when flying. These new directives would undermine the model aircraft activity and detract from the creativity, innovation and enjoyment of the hobby.

By supporting Senator Inhofe's amendment number 3596, you can help stop this from happening. This critical amendment would maintain the basic intent of the Senate's proposed legislation, while lessening the negative impact on the model aircraft community.

As always, thank you for your support of AMA and your efforts to protect our community.

Sincerely,
AMA Government Affairs
 

BobK

Banned
I'm in even though my faith in the AMA is near zero. I'm surprised there isn't a price tag involved..yet.
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
These letters are always more impactful if you customize and tweak it to specifically fit your location / community / experiences - but always respectfully!! Getting angry or nasty gets them dropped into the crazy bin by the interns who sort these.

However, it's better to send one in to your senators just as the template is currently written than to not be heard at all!

PLEASE everyone in the USA, make sure your voice is heard and participate in our democracy (such as it is).

Thanks!
 
I tried to read the bill but it is very long and arduous. It will be interesting how legislation and regulations impact the hobby. I think the hobby may be a bit of a fad in terms of drones. I think a lot of people buy a drone and quickly lose interest after a few wrecks. Still I was at Microcenter the other day and they had 4 or 5 drones for sell; most under 100 dollars RTF.
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I got a few questions before I jump on this. How many people are adding their name to this form that are not AMA members? How valid would our efforts be by saying we are members of AMA just to get numbers on the board. I think it would benefit us better if more people NOT involved with the AMA let these politicians know we want to save our hobby. It will also give them a more realistic number of people in the hobby. The AMA letter says 188k people. Government wont even give you a second look these days with out a half a million or more people standing up to be counted. If more people stand up showing the whole picture of the community it would serve us all better I believe.

On that note how is this form letter being presented to these representatives? Is it a petition style thing that we are adding our name to or is each individual signature being presented on its own merit? Id like my voice to be heard in this matter but I am not willing to lump myself in with an organization that is looking out for its own benefits and have my vote help them position themselves as an authority.

I don't mean to sound paranoid but with the AMA letter stating this is members signing they should only be asking for numbers to match their registry. The fact that form asks for names, addresses, email addresses comes across more of a marketing tool for AMA recruitment then a real effort on behalf of ALL model flyers. They have been adamant over including "drones" in their efforts since day one which to me says they are still only looking out for their own agenda.

That being said I will write something on my own and send to our reps using that message as a template but specifying I am a responsible flyer NOT attached to the AMA to make sure they know that the AMA is a small part of our community albeit one of the most organized but not necessarily the best representation of us all.
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
How many people are adding their name to this form that are not AMA members?

I completely agree that anyone who is not an AMA member should not be presenting themselves as such in the email. If a non-AMA flyer uses the AMA provided tool to contact their congress critter and edits the template email to accurately reflect they are NOT an AMA member but do have issues with the proposed bill, I think that would still be of great benefit to us all. While the AMA folks might be keeping track of how many specific messages they are able to generate for congress, on the government side they are only going to be reading the text of the email they receive as they are used to many many sites providing this "rally the community message" website functionality and I don't believe they are categorizing incoming messages by community source - just the related issue, voting district, and positive/negative support position. There is some text analysis done in aggregate across multiple messages, and all of them that are identical are typically grouped together rather than individually read as well, so uniqueness of message is good.
 

Sunspot369

Junior Member
I sent mine in, as much as it pains me to support anything written by Inhofe. At least he's on the right side of this issue... and, btw, I happen to think that the AMA is doing the best it can for the hobby, and I'm proud to be a member. Without them we'd be done for.
 
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bhursey

The Geeky Pilot
I completely agree that anyone who is not an AMA member should not be presenting themselves as such in the email. If a non-AMA flyer uses the AMA provided tool to contact their congress critter and edits the template email to accurately reflect they are NOT an AMA member but do have issues with the proposed bill, I think that would still be of great benefit to us all. While the AMA folks might be keeping track of how many specific messages they are able to generate for congress, on the government side they are only going to be reading the text of the email they receive as they are used to many many sites providing this "rally the community message" website functionality and I don't believe they are categorizing incoming messages by community source - just the related issue, voting district, and positive/negative support position. There is some text analysis done in aggregate across multiple messages, and all of them that are identical are typically grouped together rather than individually read as well, so uniqueness of message is good.

Yah if your not a member i guess its good to just modify the letter. I umm have been a member for a while. However this year I have barely flown and have yet to renew. To me im still a memeber in one say but I just have not renewed. I have even expressed that I haven't renewed to ama yet. They still responded and talked to me as a member. I first joined in 1997
 
Having spent the past 8 years trying to get my Senator/Congressional reps to remove the idiotic ban the Department of Justice put on internet poker play for US players, I have no hope any sort of citizen write-in campaign will make any difference in Washington. These politicians do not care about the citizens of this country. In fact, I think they resent and despise American citizens and like to screw them for the sheer fun of it. The less freedom you have, the more difficulty you have in pursuing your version of happiness, the better they like it.
 

jaskoller

New member
Got a response in South Dakota:

"Dear Jason:

Thank you for contacting me about the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). I appreciate hearing from you.

On April 19, 2016, the Senate passed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2016 (H.R. 636) by a vote of 95 to 3. If enacted, this legislation would reauthorize the FAA and related programs through fiscal year 2017.

As you mentioned, this legislation also specifically addresses the use of UAS because, despite the many potential benefits of these systems, some of their capabilities are raising a variety of concerns related to their use in domestic airspace. Under this bill, the FAA would be required to establish a variety of rules and integration standards for UAS to ensure our skies remain safe. As this technology continues to be more and more prevalent, I believe that UAS regulations should strike a balance to both foster innovation and promote safety.

You specifically mentioned an amendment introduced by Sen. Inhofe that would have made a number of changes to UAS provisions in the legislation to benefit model aircraft users. While this amendment was not ultimately included in the final legislation passed by the Senate, I agree that additional improvements, like many of those you suggest, should be considered to ensure the model aircraft community can continue to grow and at the same time ensure safety concerns are addressed. As we work with the House of Representatives to move this reauthorization forward, I will be sure to keep your concerns about UAS and the model aircraft community in mind.

If you would like additional information on my activities in the Senate, please feel free to visit my website, http://www.thune.senate.gov. Thanks again for contacting me. Please keep in touch.

Kindest regards,



JOHN THUNE
United States Senator"