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17DEC2015, AMA Says DO NOT REGISTER.........yet

Bartman

Defender of the Noob!
Received this evening;
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Dear AMA Members,

Yesterday, the AMA Executive Council unanimously approved an action plan to relieve and further protect our members from unnecessary and burdensome regulations. This plan addresses the recently announced interim rule requiring federal registration of all model aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) weighing between 0.55 and 55 pounds.

AMA has long used a similar registration system with our members, which we pointed out during the task force deliberations and in private conversations with the FAA. As you are aware, AMA's safety program instructs all members to place his or her AMA number or name and address on or within their model aircraft, effectively accomplishing the safety and accountability objectives of the interim rule. AMA has also argued that the new registration rule runs counter to Congress' intent in Section 336 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, otherwise known as the "Special Rule for Model Aircraft."

The Council is considering all legal and political remedies to address this issue. We believe that resolution to the unnecessary federal registration rule for our members rests with AMA's petition before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. This petition, filed in August 2014, asks the court to review the FAA's interpretation of the "Special Rule for Model Aircraft." The central issue is whether the FAA has the authority to expand the definition of aircraft to include model aircraft; thus, allowing the agency to establish new standards and operating criteria to which model aircraft operators have never been subject to in the past.

In promulgating its interim rule for registration earlier this week, the FAA repeatedly stated that model aircraft are aircraft, despite the fact that litigation is pending on this very question. The Council believes the FAA's reliance on its interpretation of Section 336 for legal authority to compel our members to register warrants the Court's immediate attention to AMA's petition.

While we continue to believe that registration makes sense at some threshold and for flyers operating outside of a community-based organization or flying for commercial purposes, we also strongly believe our members are not the problem and should not have to bear the burden of additional regulations. Safety has been the cornerstone of our organization for 80 years and AMA's members strive to be a part of the solution.

As we proceed with this process, we suggest AMA members hold off on registering their model aircraft with the FAA until advised by the AMA or until February 19, the FAA's legal deadline for registering existing model aircraft.

Holding off on registration will allow AMA time to fully consider all possible options. On a parallel track, it also allows AMA to complete ongoing conversations with the FAA about how best to streamline the registration process for our members.

In the near future, we will also be asking our members to make their voices heard by submitting comments to the FAA's interim rule on registration. We will follow-up soon with more detailed information on how to do this.

Thank you for your continued support of AMA. We will provide you with more updates as they become available.

Kind regards,


The AMA Executive Council

Bob Brown, AMA President
Gary Fitch, AMA Executive Vice President
Andy Argenio, AMA Vice President, District I
Eric Williams, AMA Vice President, District II
Mark Radcliff, AMA Vice President, District III
Jay Marsh, AMA Vice President, District IV
Kris Dixon, AMA Vice President, District V
Randy Cameron, AMA Vice President, District VI
Tim Jesky, AMA Vice President, District VII
Mark Johnston, AMA Vice President, District VIII
Jim Tiller, AMA Vice President, District IX
Lawrence Tougas, AMA Vice President, District X
Chuck Bower, AMA Vice President, District XI
 

ChickenBalls

"Cool Guy"
i don't like this comment, it should say we'll have ongoing conversations to exempt our membership from registering before we decide to sue.
Bart they notice now, past couple days,membership ain't "HAPPY" FAA may be listening to the idea of using our ama# for registration, but that seems bout all they "MAY" get. Do you think they will sue? I guess I wouldn't be surprised, but really sue the FEDS :lol2:
 

acerc

640cc Uber Pimp
One would think the FAA would be more worried about all the airliners that are having parts fall off this past year or so. Or maybe, why planes are crashing on take-off or on landing or sliding/overshooting the runway. But noooo, they gotta pick on us modelers.
 

2robinhood

70cc twin V2
It doesn't matter anyway.
It is just like gun control issues.
The people that are going / following the law and what needs to be done are not the ones causing the issues/problems.
You think the a$$hole that is hovering a drone outside an airport is going to be registered ?
Registered pilots won't be the ones doing this BS.
They need to concentrate / catch the ones doing it.
It's only F'ing us that follow the rules and obey the laws.
 

Xpress

GSN Sponsor Tier 1
I heard the FAA only had something like 40K people sign up, and they were expecting in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions.
 

Judge

70cc twin V2
I heard the FAA only had something like 40K people sign up, and they were expecting in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions.


I heard it was just over 50K, but that is a tiny percentage of the alleged Christmas market. I know a whole bunch of AMA guys that rushed to register fro reasons that make no sense at all to me. Maybe early next week we'll get a better idea of how well this registration nonsense is working.

The people they need to worry about the least are AMA members. But with so many of them already signing up it is going to make it hard to know how many true "newbies" they have captured. Keep in mind that not one single sUAS over 250 grams that was found under the tree on Friday was legal to operate unless the owner registered before flying it. Looks like the FAA enforcement people have their work cut out for them.
 

Bipeguy03

150cc
Whatever y'all do, do not register until the AMA says what to do. I have a feeling that things are happening behind the scenes that none of us are aware of.

Anyone that registers, may just be hurting us in a fight against the FAA.


Can't agree more, members need to show the FAA that we listen to the AMA and not their (the FAA) illegal overreach.
 
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