anyone here go to Catholic school? me neither, but I heard a lot of stories about nuns that I'm glad I didn't have to experience first hand. Why do I bring this up? Imagine that the FAA's being run by a bunch of crusty crotchety old nuns, they don't understand, they don't want to understand, if they tell you to stay seated you stay seated even if it means you piss yourself.
so if the FAA says we're going to try to be nice about this and only charge you $5 for three years and even make it free if you jump onboard within the first 30 days, then you do it, they're happy, and they don't come back for another swing of the yardstick across your back.
the worst thing anyone can do, and you can ask Bob Hoover or Sen. James Inhofe if you don't believe me, is say "no f'ing way" to the FAA because if they don't impress upon you the first time just how absolute their power over airspace is, they'll make it worse the second time around.
i don't blame people that won't register but i also won't sit here and pretend to feel sorry for anyone that screws up and then is found to have been flying without registration and is looking at a big fine. technology marches on and in this case it marched us into a **** sandwich but i like flying RC planes more than I like fighting over a $5 fee. Regarding the collection of information, my cell phone snoops on me more than any government employee ever could and i seem to be ok with it so that won't stop me either from getting out and flying whenever possible.
yes this sucks, yes this is a nuisance but i'm familiar enough with the FAA to know that they don't stop until they win and in this case it looks like they could have been much more punishing but they chose not to.
rant over, flame away, i still love you guys!