AMA's Rich Hanson and Dave Mathewson Drone Q&A

[SleepyC]

On Tuesday, November 25 AMA's Rich Hanson and Dave Mathewson answered your most commonly asked questions regarding the FAA and sUAS (Drone) legislative & regulatory issues.

Government Relations
The Academy of Model Aeronautics has a long and successful history in advocating for the flying privileges of the aeromodeling community. It is one of the top reasons why modelers join the AMA and renew their membership year after year. Congress has recently passed legislation intended to prevent model aviation from being swept up in the effort to enable the operation of commercial and public use unmanned aircraft and to protect the aeromodeler from overreaching and burdensome regulation.

While this was a positive step, the FAA has recently released an Interpretive Rule that in essences diminishes the protection provided by Congress in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 and arguably negates the Special Rule. The Interpretive Rule has the potential of significantly impacting the aeromodeling community and as such we need to be vigilant in responding to FAA's request for comments. It is also important to keep in mind that the FAA will likely release its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for small Unmanned Aircraft Systems by the end of the year, 2014. Please visit these pages regularly for the latest developments. To contact the AMA Government Relations team, email amagov@modelaircraft.org.

Rich Hanson, AMA Government and Regulatory Affairs

sUAS/Drone Prerecorded Broadcast

 

[RJ 706]

The most productive and informative action the AMA has done since I have been a member and I hope to see more of this type of open communication in the future.

 

[njswede]

Yeah, I really liked how they handled this one. Straight talk about the issues, but without crying wolf and adding to the panic. Great job, Dave and Rich!

 

[JMZ]

Kudos to Dave and Rich! Great to see a calm, level headed approach. Being a former commercial pilot, as well as a modeler of over 45 years, I see both sides of the issue, and it sounds like Rich is dealing with officials in a very positive and productive manner.

Also great to see it presented in a positive, hopeful light, rather than the seemingly ubiquitous gloom and doom. Dave brought out great points about "surviving" previous technologies, for example. Good to hear Rich's impression of the seemingly favorable attitude of some of the folks he deals with toward our hobby as well. Hopefully this helps calm some nerves.

As a long time club president and AMA Leader Member, I have been trying to make as many aware of information like this as possible and I would encourage others to do the same. Knowledge is power, as they say....

Jim