URGENT VIDEO MUST WATCH: FAA Reauthorization 2018 set to change the hobby forever

[JTarmstr]

I think the primary issue here is we are losing our protection so they can make it illegal to fly without registering, waiver, etc. Basically the FAA regulations will now be law not suggestions and they can enforce their rules. @CatholicFlyer The entire senate will be voting on this, probably this week.

 

[CatholicFlyer]

I think the primary issue here is we are losing our protection so they can make it illegal to fly without registering, waiver, etc. Basically the FAA regulations will now be law not suggestions and they can enforce their rules. @CatholicFlyer The entire senate will be voting on this, probably this week.

Alright, thanks, I sent the letter setup by the AMA to my Senators, Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran. I also tagged them when I shared the letter from the AMA on Facebook and Linkedin.

 

[basslord1124]

The way I see it...

It's just too early to tell what's going to happen and I really don't think they even know. But they tried to create this bill to accommodate as much as they could for their agenda. I find the whole concept of drone delivery laughable unless there can be some significant technological advancements in the future. I plan to continue flying as safely and respectfully as I can like I always do. I will play by the rules and pay my $5 registration to the government. I know I can't just go fishing anywhere so I know to pay for my registration for that (same concept pretty much). And while I am flying in my rural little slice of America not bothering anyone, if I spot a commercial plane or (dare I say it) a cute little Amazon/[big business] delivery drone near the space I am flying in, I will get out its way.

 

[CatholicFlyer]

The way I see it...

It's just too early to tell what's going to happen and I really don't think they even know. But they tried to create this bill to accommodate as much as they could for their agenda. I find the whole concept of drone delivery laughable unless there can be some significant technological advancements in the future. I plan to continue flying as safely and respectfully as I can like I always do. I will play by the rules and pay my $5 registration to the government. I know I can't just go fishing anywhere so I know to pay for my registration for that (same concept pretty much). And while I am flying in my rural little slice of America not bothering anyone, if I spot a commercial plane or (dare I say it) a cute little Amazon/[big business] delivery drone near the space I am flying in, I will get out its way.

The way I see it...

It's just too early to tell what's going to happen and I really don't think they even know. But they tried to create this bill to accommodate as much as they could for their agenda. I find the whole concept of drone delivery laughable unless there can be some significant technological advancements in the future. I plan to continue flying as safely and respectfully as I can like I always do. I will play by the rules and pay my $5 registration to the government. I know I can't just go fishing anywhere so I know to pay for my registration for that (same concept pretty much). And while I am flying in my rural little slice of America not bothering anyone, if I spot a commercial plane or (dare I say it) a cute little Amazon/[big business] delivery drone near the space I am flying in, I will get out its way.

a Abraham Lincoln face bill isn't too bad for registration. I guess us on farms will do likewise, if we see anything approaching at our height we fly, just like rules of the road, let it go by and get out of the way.

 

[JTarmstr]

The way I see it...

It's just too early to tell what's going to happen and I really don't think they even know. But they tried to create this bill to accommodate as much as they could for their agenda. I find the whole concept of drone delivery laughable unless there can be some significant technological advancements in the future. I plan to continue flying as safely and respectfully as I can like I always do. I will play by the rules and pay my $5 registration to the government. I know I can't just go fishing anywhere so I know to pay for my registration for that (same concept pretty much). And while I am flying in my rural little slice of America not bothering anyone, if I spot a commercial plane or (dare I say it) a cute little Amazon/[big business] delivery drone near the space I am flying in, I will get out its way.

I also find the concept of drone delivery kind of ridiculous, but didnt people find airplanes rather ridiculous when they were first pioneered? I can see easy ways arround people shooting down drones, such as a SOS beacon if the drone crashes which would alert law enforcement. What I mean is, this technology is in its infancy and amazon is reserving the airspace so when stuff like this is widespread, they will be able to take advantage of it. I think it is perfectly fine for people to fly drones and RC aircraft in fields and rural areas and I dont really see why stuff like this is such a huge issue. Also as the guy in the video I linked pointed out, the main problem here is that part of the rule is conflicting with the 4th amendment.

 

[thenated0g]

Im kind of done with worrying about this stuff. Seems like every couple months everybody freaks out about something. Everybody was all up in arms about having to register your "drones"...it was nothing. Plus this is my hobby, i do it to relax not to get all mad about stuff which is what it seems like most people are trying to do is get everyone involved. Just let me go fly my stuff lol

 

[sprzout]

I fourth this question. I fly at my grandparents farm over a hay field. I'm not a member of the AMA but fly responsibly according to ama guidelines. Is that going to be illegal?

Technically, right now, with the way the law is? Unless you belong to the AMA *OR* you have a Part 107 certification, you may be flying illegally, even if you're flying over your own land, under the 400' height limit, etc. Has anyone really been busted big time for this? Not as far as I can tell.

Where it has been a focus as of late are the commercial people who think that all they have to do is go out and buy a DJI Phantom, put it in the air, and start recording for things like land development, or wedding videos, commercial and residential realty, etc. It's a way they can fine people left and right for commercial use, and it's filling coffers. There's also the incidents with people flying and the public going, "Stop recording me! You have no right! I do not give permission!" (which is another mess, and depending on where you are, may be completely legal for the drone operator to fly and record).

Am I an expert in all of this? HECK NO. But I've been trying to find the legalities and loopholes, and there's a LOT of misinformation out there. Let me say it this way - USE COMMON SENSE WHEN FLYING.

Just because you have a drone that can fly to 2 miles up (after you turn off the failsafes that say you shouldn't fly above 400') does not mean you should. If you think you're going to have people coming after you for flying your drone over a beach? Don't do it. If you see a police action going on, and you think you should be able to get footage with your drone? Not a good idea. In some cities/counties, that's illegal, so you're better off not risking it. And the big one, flying near an active airport. Come on. If you find it hard enough to land when you're trying to put down a small RC aircraft, imagine the pilots who are trying to land their planes and don't have 360 degree views around the plane itself. They can't see the drone that's out near their engine, getting ready to get sucked in. Don't make it harder on them. I would like to think that this is common sense, but as life and history have shown, there are dumb people out there that don't exercise common sense (like the guy in January, who was flying a DJI Phantom in restricted airspace, 2.5 mi. away from his location on a beach, and the misidentified "bird strike" cost something in the neighborhood of $20k in damage to a Blackhawk helicopter).

Exercise common sense. And if you see someone who isn't, tell them politely to exercise common sense.

 

[CatholicFlyer]

perfect points here, the points about Military Aircraft or civilian, well our farm is flown over a lot, maybe weekly by the Army just testing their helicopters or moving them from Fort Riley or over into Colorado, common sense would be, have a few guys standing by to be watch out persons, when they see the choppers coming, land and allow the Army to do their stuff or if it is spraying season and the duster planes are up spraying fields, those guys fly super low, so I guess call them to see when they fly or what should be done there? @sprzout @JTarmstr

 

[JTarmstr]

Technically, right now, with the way the law is? Unless you belong to the AMA *OR* you have a Part 107 certification, you may be flying illegally, even if you're flying over your own land, under the 400' height limit, etc. Has anyone really been busted big time for this? Not as far as I can tell.

Where it has been a focus as of late are the commercial people who think that all they have to do is go out and buy a DJI Phantom, put it in the air, and start recording for things like land development, or wedding videos, commercial and residential realty, etc. It's a way they can fine people left and right for commercial use, and it's filling coffers. There's also the incidents with people flying and the public going, "Stop recording me! You have no right! I do not give permission!" (which is another mess, and depending on where you are, may be completely legal for the drone operator to fly and record).

Am I an expert in all of this? HECK NO. But I've been trying to find the legalities and loopholes, and there's a LOT of misinformation out there. Let me say it this way - USE COMMON SENSE WHEN FLYING.

Just because you have a drone that can fly to 2 miles up (after you turn off the failsafes that say you shouldn't fly above 400') does not mean you should. If you think you're going to have people coming after you for flying your drone over a beach? Don't do it. If you see a police action going on, and you think you should be able to get footage with your drone? Not a good idea. In some cities/counties, that's illegal, so you're better off not risking it. And the big one, flying near an active airport. Come on. If you find it hard enough to land when you're trying to put down a small RC aircraft, imagine the pilots who are trying to land their planes and don't have 360 degree views around the plane itself. They can't see the drone that's out near their engine, getting ready to get sucked in. Don't make it harder on them. I would like to think that this is common sense, but as life and history have shown, there are dumb people out there that don't exercise common sense (like the guy in January, who was flying a DJI Phantom in restricted airspace, 2.5 mi. away from his location on a beach, and the misidentified "bird strike" cost something in the neighborhood of $20k in damage to a Blackhawk helicopter).

Exercise common sense. And if you see someone who isn't, tell them politely to exercise common sense.

I know this sounds crazy, but what if they put restrictions on DJI drones and similar competitors? Seems like all these issues are with consumer targeted high performance drones, so slap regulations on those? When was the last time hobbyists got in trouble for flying race quads or 1/16 scale warbirds? Most of these problems are inexperienced people who got a phantom 3 for Christmas and decided to see what it can do.

 

[BS projects inc.]

The thing is local police won't enforce this. Typically local police officers only go out to rural areas if there is already an emergency. They aren't going to try and bust a kid for flying a model aircraft over his grandparents field, they have bigger fish to fry.

 

[sprzout]

I know this sounds crazy, but what if they put restrictions on DJI drones and similar competitors? Seems like all these issues are with consumer targeted high performance drones, so slap regulations on those? when was the last time hobbyists got in trouble for flying? most of these are idiots who got a phantom 3 for Christmas and decided to see what it can do.

DJI is playing the lawyer card - "We have warnings in our software, it's not our fault if customers want to disregard these notices."

Besides, we know that's not the problem. Public perception is. The general public perceives drones (and by extension, any RC controlled vehicle in the sky) as being a spy device, and it wants to spy on them. The reality is that we all lead boring lives, to some extent; I don't care how many times you were caught picking your nose while sitting on your back patio. It's NOT interesting. Shoot, I could probably find out more dirt on a person by looking them up on a social media site than I could by flying a drone over their house. LOL But again, public perception. And, a lot of the consumers buying these drones? They're buying them at places like Best Buy, Fry's, Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc., during the Christmas season. How many of those places are telling customers, "You must be a member of the AMA or have a Part 107 license with the FCC to fly this"? And, to some extent, can you fault them? They market them as expensive electronic toys.

Is it right? I don't think so...But I'm not the one making up the laws and regulations. I'm not popular enough (nor do I want) to run for Congressional election to try and make changes that far up.

 

[BS projects inc.]

DJI is playing the lawyer card - "We have warnings in our software, it's not our fault if customers want to disregard these notices."

Besides, we know that's not the problem. Public perception is. The general public perceives drones (and by extension, any RC controlled vehicle in the sky) as being a spy device, and it wants to spy on them. The reality is that we all lead boring lives, to some extent; I don't care how many times you were caught picking your nose while sitting on your back patio. It's NOT interesting. Shoot, I could probably find out more dirt on a person by looking them up on a social media site than I could by flying a drone over their house. LOL But again, public perception. And, a lot of the consumers buying these drones? They're buying them at places like Best Buy, Fry's, Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc., during the Christmas season. How many of those places are telling customers, "You must be a member of the AMA or have a Part 107 license with the FCC to fly this"? And, to some extent, can you fault them? They market them as expensive electronic toys.

Is it right? I don't think so...But I'm not the one making up the laws and regulations. I'm not popular enough (nor do I want) to run for Congressional election to try and make changes that far up.

Also there is such a thing as google earth, a much more spy-like piece of technology.

 

[CatholicFlyer]

DJI is playing the lawyer card - "We have warnings in our software, it's not our fault if customers want to disregard these notices."

Besides, we know that's not the problem. Public perception is. The general public perceives drones (and by extension, any RC controlled vehicle in the sky) as being a spy device, and it wants to spy on them. The reality is that we all lead boring lives, to some extent; I don't care how many times you were caught picking your nose while sitting on your back patio. It's NOT interesting. Shoot, I could probably find out more dirt on a person by looking them up on a social media site than I could by flying a drone over their house. LOL But again, public perception. And, a lot of the consumers buying these drones? They're buying them at places like Best Buy, Fry's, Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc., during the Christmas season. How many of those places are telling customers, "You must be a member of the AMA or have a Part 107 license with the FCC to fly this"? And, to some extent, can you fault them? They market them as expensive electronic toys.

Is it right? I don't think so...But I'm not the one making up the laws and regulations. I'm not popular enough (nor do I want) to run for Congressional election to try and make changes that far up.

yeah, like anyone wants to read the booklet except how to plug and play or other things, not the tiny small unreadable warning print. if they want to help, post it on the actual box on what the people need to fly it.

 

[basslord1124]

There was an interesting/scary part of that bill too (in the 51 drones youtube video it was brought up) that mentions how basically manufacturers would have to develop their devices/equipment according to FAA safety standards/rules. It was something along those lines. Makes me think like could the FAA track where you are, disable your device if it wanted to, etc. Then that in turn made me think like, "hey, lets just get back to using FM radios."

 

[sprzout]

The thing is local police won't enforce this. Typically local police officers only go out to rural areas if there is already an emergency. They aren't going to try and bust a kid for flying a model aircraft over his grandparents field, they have bigger fish to fry.

Exactly my point. They kind of have to have a reason to bust you, like you crashed your plane into a field, the battery blew up and burned half an acre of crops, and you did nothing, or your plane caused a full sized aircraft to crash, or a neighbor keeps seeing your drone buzzing the edge of her property and calls into the local PD to complain that you're overflying her "polo fields" (the last one is one that has happened to my dad's club)

 

[CatholicFlyer]

There was an interesting/scary part of that bill too (in the 51 drones youtube video it was brought up) that mentions how basically manufacturers would have to develop their devices/equipment according to FAA safety standards/rules. It was something along those lines. Makes me think like could the FAA track where you are, disable your device if it wanted to, etc. Then that in turn made me think like, "hey, lets just get back to using FM radios."

that is creepy, I didn't watch the Drone one, figured it was for the drones, but we all use pretty much the same controllers, that would be creepy and infringe on our privacy if the FAA did that, like we all like the Satilite Radios in our cars or trucks for the different shows we can listen to, something was mentioned a while back on Fox News with their tech guy, "could those radios" be used as you mentioned for the controllers? super creepy thought.

 

[foamtest]

Just an FYI

TDLR The senate passed it and now it is being sent to Trump to be signed into law.

If worst comes to worst who's going to arrest me when I fly my tiny whoop down at the end of my street? My stepfather who is the detective? I don't think so...

 

[JTarmstr]

Just an FYI
View attachment 115886
TDLR The senate passed it and now it is being sent to Trump to be signed into law.

If worst comes to worst who's going to arrest me when I fly my tiny whoop down at the end of my street? My stepfather who is the detective? I don't think so...

Ahh thats unfortunate, well maybe trump wont sign it.... But whatever, the cops wont hunt us down for flying a little drone, they will go after people who use them for surveillance and and stuff like that, I am not that worried. but I will still have to do the whole stupid ID thing.

 

[basslord1124]

that is creepy, I didn't watch the Drone one, figured it was for the drones, but we all use pretty much the same controllers, that would be creepy and infringe on our privacy if the FAA did that, like we all like the Satilite Radios in our cars or trucks for the different shows we can listen to, something was mentioned a while back on Fox News with their tech guy, "could those radios" be used as you mentioned for the controllers? super creepy thought.

Yeah the 51 drones one is good...he actually goes into the bill that more pertains to us and our hobby. It's like a 1200 page bill overall but the RC hobby parts of the bill only use up about 100 pages of it. He goes through that part of the bill and gives an explanation about some important things that he noticed in that 100 pages.

Yeah I know it's creepy, and whether or not the FAA will do it I dunno. It wouldn't surprise me. I mean they have technology that can basically remote into cell phones. And you know about how cell phones can target ads towards what you discuss? Pick a subject to focus on for a few days and to talk about with people, make sure your phone is on when you do it. You will start seeing advertisements and other things pertaining to that topic on your phone. Big brother is watching! lol. But anyways, they may go through these steps to make sure drone/radio manufacturers include certain safety guidelines and possibly other technologies for safety. Of course what's stopping us from buying drones outside of the US that don't have those technologies OR going back to use FM radio technology... And do they really want to incorporate these types of things on drones that might cost $10 or less. I guess in the end though, it's not about the ways around these new standards and/or technologies "if" they happen...BUT moreso if you are causing property damage, doing something wrong/illegal, etc. and making sure they have a good foundation of rules for if you do something illegal. So yeah, fly with your cheap $10 drone with old technology all you want...just don't get into trouble with it.

 

[CatholicFlyer]

Yeah the 51 drones one is good...he actually goes into the bill that more pertains to us and our hobby. It's like a 1200 page bill overall but the RC hobby parts of the bill only use up about 100 pages of it. He goes through that part of the bill and gives an explanation about some important things that he noticed in that 100 pages.

Yeah I know it's creepy, and whether or not the FAA will do it I dunno. It wouldn't surprise me. I mean they have technology that can basically remote into cell phones. And you know about how cell phones can target ads towards what you discuss? Pick a subject to focus on for a few days and to talk about with people, make sure your phone is on when you do it. You will start seeing advertisements and other things pertaining to that topic on your phone. Big brother is watching! lol. But anyways, they may go through these steps to make sure drone/radio manufacturers include certain safety guidelines and possibly other technologies for safety. Of course what's stopping us from buying drones outside of the US that don't have those technologies OR going back to use FM radio technology... And do they really want to incorporate these types of things on drones that might cost $10 or less. I guess in the end though, it's not about the ways around these new standards and/or technologies "if" they happen...BUT moreso if you are causing property damage, doing something wrong/illegal, etc. and making sure they have a good foundation of rules for if you do something illegal. So yeah, fly with your cheap $10 drone with old technology all you want...just don't get into trouble with it.

speaking of advertisements, I told my mom how I like Pizza Hutt's pan pizza crust, the next day on TV ads of other pizza joints doing pan crusts, and our smart tv was on, so I wonder if that too had something to do with it. creepy for sure.