I am involved with a few hobbies that are under federal regulation. These include Amateur Radio and recreational aircraft flying. I suppose I could include automobile driving too, but that isn’t a hobby… or maybe it is? These activities existed before there were governmental controls. I only mention that bit of history because it is important to know how government controls are intended to maintain order out of developing chaos. These regulated activities owe their creation and existence to private citizens freely experimenting with the science involved. They took theory and turned it into a functional resource so effective, it required social regulation.
I have loved flying since a very small boy. I used to run outside and scan the skies every time I heard an aircraft motor in the air. I still look and identify when I hear one. I built flying model airplanes since I was 10 years old. All my allowance went into either buying electronic components for radio experiments or balsa and kits for building model airplanes.
In my 30’s I qualified for my private pilot license. A very federally controlled privilege (not a right) and this leads me into my story here about model aircraft.
To many folks, model aircraft are toys. Some toys are model airplanes, but the hobby of model aircraft is far more reaching than playing with a toy. It provides an affordable study of the science (and yes the fun) of flying small aircraft through the air that surrounds us. A hobby association with the fancy name of the Academy of Model Aeronautics hints at the flight knowledge gained by involvement in small sized aircraft.
Forever in the past up until now, there has never been the need for federal regulation of model aircraft flying. Local laws exist in some places because of noise and other social annoyance issues, but nothing controlling the use of airspace. There are rules about height flying near established airports, but they are not regulations or laws but are strongly accepted as best practice.
So the hobby has been mostly go have fun and when flying stay away from full size aircraft and any people you may endanger in your limited flying area. This is the “see and avoid” theory, which is the basis of VFR (Visual Flight Rules) for human carrying aircraft. This has worked extremely well for the self regulated flying of model aircraft.
Today, some radio controlled model aircraft sized flying machines have developed to the point where they are no longer recreational flying machines, operating in a limited area of airspace under total control of a human pilot. The RPV (Remotely Piloted Vehicle) is the outgrowth of the hobbyist radio controlled model airplane. These RPV aircraft may still be totally controlled by a human pilot visually observing by line of sight but also have developed to the point they are being called a UAV (Unmanned Aeronautical Vehicle) because they include video and computer controlled autonomous flight abilities far beyond visual line of sight control of the hobby model airplane.
We see this type of flying vehicle every week in the media presentation of the war against terrorist, as a glorious new tool of no-risk warfare. Someone in a room in the Pentagon (example only) can fly an unmanned war machine over a battle field half way around the world. The desire of the makers of these military machines is to also sell them for application to civilian and other non military needs. This is an emerging new market to exploit. The immediate problem is there are currently no federal civilian regulations in the USA for this use. These are definately NOT model aircraft.
Unfortunately UAV’s are currently clumped into the unregulated model airplane category. No other aviation group wants them, they deserve a regulated group of their own, with their own rules and yes, I definitely think they need to be very strict rules.
The recent fallout has been for the federal government to forbid ALL model aircraft operations (flying) not just UAV’s, in a 2,827 square mile area over three miles high right down to the dirt on the ground, surrounding an airport visited by the president of the USA; if only for a few hours… for now.
I consider this regulation an extremely gross, knee jerk, unenforceable, over reaction; Impacting a nearly harmless hobby activity, making potential lawbreakers out of innocent citizens. It clearly demonstrates the lack of total impact awareness of a bureaucratic government rulemaking which, because of its own complexity, cannot quickly or clearly identify the problem. I think this overt action was intended to gain such attention for regulation. It is a demonstration that the feds are at least doing something to protect us from ourselves. Sound familiar?*
“Hide the model fuel Jake! I see the revenooers a’ commin’!”
In the next year (yes, it should take that long) new rules will be made and sanity will return. It will be the citizen’s duty to make sure the correct issues get addressed and harmless freedoms escape unscathed. It won’t be easy. I glimpsed the “terminator” sent back in time to “regulate” the source of the problem.
*I’m referring to a regulation (Heck, it was a constitutional amendment!) which created a lot of unforeseen issues, not solving the intended problem of alcoholism.