- Joined
- Mar 22, 2019
- Messages
- 18
- Reaction score
- 12
Flying is not the single enjoyment for flying a Mavic. It is a flying camera that can provide incredible pictures, and videos that NONE, ZERO, NADA of the toy airplanes can even attempt. I really don't *** about pretending to be a pilot. I am a certified pilot and I am a certified photographer maybe that's the differenceQuite a broad brush you're using to paint AMA Flying Clubs there. Let me use my own brush for a moment...
I'm one of those "Elders" and I know first hand the difference between flying an unstabilized, unGPS guided, R/C plank to your DJI MR is night and day. All you need to know is how to charge the batteries, turn on the equipment and hit the LAUNCH button. If you desired you could literally "fly it with a single button (Launch then land). The R/C plane requires you to know how the plane flies, how to control it in all flights parameters, how to navigate from point A to point B and being able to manage speed, altitude, and momentum to have a successful flight. The beauty of this type of flying is a "Self Correcting Problem". If you don't learn to fly correctly & safely you crash and have to re-build or replace the kit. That's a Win-Win.
I find the fact that you "stacked the deck" against him and pulled such a crappy stunt shows more about your character than your skills as an aviator. While I'm sure he took it well that's still a pretty crappy stunt to pull IMHO.
Fortunately I belong to an old AMA club that not only allows but embraces MultiRotors. We were flying Custom Built MR's back as early as approximately 2006. Admittedly most of the flights were short and resulted in repair/replacement parts but it was flight none-the-less. We were testing and crashing because off-the-shelf gyros and GPS units weren't readily available. Things have come a long way since that time in the advancement of GPS and GRYO units to act as Training Wheels. I'm as guilty as anyone else of enjoying the ease of control/stabilization of the latest and greatest units which I fly daily in many various scenarios from FUN to WORK to Search & Rescue.
The majority of our members are now flying both MR's and planks (airplanes) but we have some members who only fly one or the other. Yes we spend hours "hangar flying" but that's part of the history of Aviation. At most airports around the nation if you show up on weekends, holidays, and bad weather days you'll find pilots sitting around "Hangar Flying" for hours and hours on end. It's one of the joys of sharing experiences, new ideas, and sometimes what NOT TO DO with fellow aviators.
While I do agree that a club that doesn't allow MR could be doing better there has been a HUGE surge of activity/interest in nonMR flying over the last couple of years thanks to the expansion of easy-to-fly (Gyro Stabilized ironically) small inexpensive flying packages from your most well known vendors (Horizon Hobby for example). Also we, the R/C industry as a whole, owes a huge round of THANKS to the gang at Flite Test who have introduced so many new people to this amazing and exciting hobby via their YouTube productions and their Easy to Build Kits made from Foamboard. If you're not familiar with Flite Test you might want to check out their YT Channel for yourself: FliteTest
I have had my pilot's license for 45 years, been there and have REALLY done that, no toys for me.
I have found my flying cameras are waaaaaay more productive than buzzing around a tiny little air field, which I understand doesn't pay anything. I make serious money with my Mavic. Part 107. It is not a game, to me. AMA clubs need new members as much they need to keep the old ones.
I am now painting a full picture, here.
I joined the club because I can see where the FAA is directing the rules and regs to be determined in the future, under the auspices of the AMA. It will behoove any part 107 operator to have an affiliation with a local club.
I go to the field during the week when no r/c airplanes are flying. I don't need the field to fly a drone, it's really kind of silly to use it. I do it to test software updates, camera settings, etc.. I might as well use the field since I pay $200.00/year for the membership.
The point I was making is that SOME clubs, (OK, my club) are STALE and OLD and need new blood. Building and flying model aircraft does not have the same meaning to the majority of young people that it did when aviation was still young. The aviation industry is not the same intrigue for them since the advent of the cell phone and tablets.
If you don't have grand kids then you may not know that kids, today would choose staying in the house and staring endlessly at the magic screens with no desire, whatsoever of building toy airplanes and actually going outside for extended periods, away from their "heroine" screens.
Involving kids in photography with flying cameras could just be that bridge builder necessary to attract the minds full of FaceBook, Twitter, Twatter, Waddle and Crapping apps. They might see that r/c flying can be fun, too, something none of the things they do today will ever introduce them to.
I'm the guy that tells people when they have a booger on their nose. I tell it like I see it. If you read closely you would see that it was my challenge to open the "elders" mind a bit to have them understand why they are doomed to fade away if they don't open their minds and recruit new members. (kinda like not wanting to procreate) I am still the newest member after almost two years.
I understand that many people denied that there was any use for cars, airplanes, telephones, TV's, etc. Those beliefs faded out of existence.
AMA clubs can be thinking that is no use for drones. If nothing else, it can be an attraction to some young people to join the AMA and a local club.
By the way, in my mind, all you have to do is charge the batteries and go out to the field and fly r/c airplanes. I spent way more time learning to fly a real airplane, which I mastered. I can say that because I NEVER crashed, once. You ever crash an r/c airplane? Skill levels are relative...
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