I have never been into model building or flying myself, but the problem that a lot of clubs are run by a bunch of old farts who think they are the most important thing since Napoleon. I have been to some committee meetings, and some outdoor events, and it made me cringe. The “subjects” would just snigger but in the end the participation is limited to those willing to endure this pomposity.
One gets that pomposity on the GA aeroclub scene too especially in certain countries where there is a strong ex air force presence in club management (plenty of posts on this here in years past) but anybody with enough money to buy their own plane or buy into a syndicate can extricate themselves from that.
With many parallels to our GA, the model clubs usually struggle to hang on to some field where they can fly. One I know of had to get a full planning permission.
So that alone will limit the scene – because most people want to fly alone or with a small group of friends and I bet you anything that has been one of the big factors behind the quadcopter explosion. These products work out of the box and you don’t need to join any “organisation”.
FPV is for the much more dedicated (as is most of the fixed wing activity) especially as a lot of it involves transmitter mods to get the desired range, and the model is certainly out of direct view some of the time. Some of that activity is therefore not covered by insurance anyway, due to the requirement for a direct view alone.
Whether it will reduce the airport incidents is another Q. It probably won’t make any difference because even a complete idiot knows about the airport. These are malicious acts.
Peter wrote:
Whether it will reduce the airport incidents is another Q. It probably won’t make any difference because even a complete idiot knows about the airport. These are malicious acts.
I’m not so sure about that. I’ve been to several workshops and drone presentations here in the US and many if not most of the drone guys (have yet to meet one girl at these events!) are blissfully unaware how much damage their toys can inflict on aircraft. At all of these events, btw, I was the only licenses pilot. This is slowly changing, especially as there recently have been a few high-profile cases of drones shutting down aerial firefighting which led to extensive press coverage. Wildfires do get everyone’s attention out here.
On a different note, while I have not read the proposed EU rules, it seems they are largely following the FAA model for licensing. I just got my commercial drone license a week or so ago. It’s actually not a bad system. If you are a licensed FAA pilot with a current flight review then all that’s required is an online course and test, followed by a sign-off by a CFI (whose main job is to verify your identity). If not, you have to do a course and a test at a test center. This at least should make people aware of the airspace structure, aviation procedures and concomitant dangers. Of course the malicious idiots will continue their stupid acts, but one could hope that the unintentional conflicts will decrease.
Peter wrote:
So that alone will limit the scene – because most people want to fly alone or with a small group of friends
Yes.
I’m only really interested in RC helicopters (I do have a EDF jet made from polystyrene though), and to be honest when I go fly RC, I value my solitude. I don’t really want anyone else around.
Restricting to “the national organization” (rather than just “a national organization”) is not particularly good, either. Unfortunately those of us who fly RC helicopters are viewed by the BMFA a bit like snowboarders are viewed by skiiers, rather looked down on, and the BMFA doesn’t really care to cater at all for helis. However, there is the RCHA which is all about helicopters. If you end up with the BMFA being “the” national org and the RHCA not counting for anything, this won’t be very satisfactory at all.
I certainly don’t want to have to go through the rigmarole of taking exams to be able to go out and fly my T-Rex 700 on a deserted hillside.
