I just submitted my comments to the FAA.
I live in Macomb IL, a rural part of the state; there are no AMA flying fields within 70 miles of me. I have been flying RC planes for nearly 30 years. I have always built my own planes. The new rules you have proposed will put an end to my ability to build my own planes.
I use RC planes to incentivize young people, who otherwise have no interest in math and science; they have no idea why STEM is important to learn. In building your own plane, considerable math and engineering is used. Not so in buying a prebuilt plane, there is no math, no engineering, it has all been done for you. If you eliminate my ability to build my own planes, many young people will have no reason to learn STEM. At their age, they just cannot see the usefulness. In their world, everything is phones and video games. When I put my plane in the air, the one that I built, their eyes light up. When I tell them why they need to know math and can explain the formulas to them. They begin to understand how useful STEM is, how much fun it can be. Suddenly, they want learn.
My friends and I have been safely flying in parks and practice fields for over 60 years. We fly when no one else is using them. On many occasions, we have moved to another flying site when others came to the site we were at, always yielding to the others who use the area. When one flying site becomes unsuitable due to the trees growing or development, we find another site. Under the proposed rules, we have no way to get our current flying sites approved and no way to approve a new site if our current site becomes unsuitable. Over the years that I have been flying, we have lost 7 flying sites to development or tree growth.
I also need a way to get a temporary flying spot approved. I need a way to indicate I will be flying at a location for these hours on this date. Where cell service is available, a phone app could be used for this purpose. If flying in areas with no cell phone service, use a desktop computer, before leaving town.
I cannot imagine why any commercial user would want to use the airspace I fly in. Even if they did want to use it, how could it be safe to have a remote operator many miles away, flying in a park or practice field?
Please don’t take away my ability to incentivize young people to learn math and science by building and flying my own planes.