bad news from faa for recreational flyers

It is? Maybe if you only want to fly in cities, which are a pretty small percentage of the landmass. I am into interesting and dramatic scenery, and I mostly fly in remote areas, deserts, mountains, etc. No people, no airports, no restrictions.
It really depends greatly on where you live. Not everyone has the time to travel in order to get a flight in. Anyone living within NYC knows of the major hassles there.
It also depends on the experience and skill level of the pilot. I love flying right within Philadelphia and on the rivers bordering the city. Other pilots might not feel comfortable flying in an urban environment, but don't have access to wide open country spaces.
It's not easy for some to find good flying spots.
 
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Phamton. I did find an AMA field called Pine Barrens RC club. I think as pilot it all comes down to air time with your AC. Got to log in hours and practice all aspects of the AC. It’s going to be so cool to fly and not have to worry. Your pictures are awesome. Maybe after I log some time I’ll get the cahoonies to try one of those shots you do.
 
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Phamton. I did find an AMA field called Pine Barrens RC club. I think as pilot it all comes down to air time with your AC. Got to log in hours and practice all aspects of the AC. It’s going to be so cool to fly and not have to worry. Your pictures are awesome. Maybe after I log some time I’ll get the cahoonies to try one of those shots you do.
Thanks for the kind words. Yes it does take time and experience to become comfortable at the sticks.
A big wide open space is great for learning and practicing. As long as the water doesn't scare you, a river, lake, or ocean is also good.
 
I don't see it as bad news. You now have a different means of getting authorization. And it's authorization rather than notification which is technically different but I would still think the FAA would have some legitimate safety reason for not granting authorization.
 
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What we all need now (commercial and hobbyist) is integration of LAANC into DJI Go 4 so that we can obtain LAANC authorization and unlock the NFZ in one easy step. DJI has really been dragging their feet on LAANC integration.

If DJI cannot make money off of LAANC, you'll never see it.
 
It is? Maybe if you only want to fly in cities, which are a pretty small percentage of the landmass. I am into interesting and dramatic scenery, and I mostly fly in remote areas, deserts, mountains, etc. No people, no airports, no restrictions.

It's certainly easy for me — I can be in free airspace in just minutes outside of Seattle.

But take a look at the map screenshot that user Adamborz posted above in this thread. I'm not sure if I would be happy pilot, flying in Pennsylvania or anywhere around the eastern seaboard.

I don't know where you are.

Chris
 
P4P+ hobbyist since Dec 2016;
Can someone dumb new rules down for hobbyists
unfamiliar with FAA & pilot terminology?
Also some hobbyist avoided updating beyond v4.2.6...
(issues reported by those who DID update)
Will we be "forced" to update?
 
I am an AMA member and used to fly at their fields. Since I moved out in the country, I fly in my back yard. I’m talking RC airplanes and helicopters which the FAA also refers to as UAS. I have all my hobby stuff registered with the same FAA registration #. I have my P4P+ registered with a separate commercial #. I’ve been registering my recreational flights in my backyard with AirMap. It says flight submitted... I wonder what will happen when people are flying their little park flyer airplanes and have no idea of these new laws. Like I said, I know these laws are meant for drones, but they cover everything unmanned..

I operate similarly, I’m an AMA member, I hold a 107 certificate, and use AirMap to log ALL MY RECREATIONAL FLIGHTS outside my home base club. I bet you a lot of experienced pilots as well as novices don’t know you can use AirMap to report/record your recreational flights. Additionally, before the 16 of May, 2019 I called the airports if I was within the 5 mile radius, and guess what, 4 out of 5 didn’t know why I was reporting my position or what I was talking about, however they always thanked me at the end. Happy landings folks!
 
Like I said, I know these laws are meant for drones, but they cover everything unmanned.

Probably just a hastily written sentence, but the laws were never meant for just “drones” (or I assume you mean multi-rotor RC aircraft). They are for small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), which covers all RC aircraft meeting the definition of sUAS. There are separate laws for recreational and commercial operations.
 
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The only problem is AMA fields won’t let you fly a quad copter. God forbid if you use the word drone.
AMA Flying clubs who don't "allow?" drones are doomed to fade away with the age of the members.

I am an old guy dronie puke, part 107, joined an AMA club, found it was just a social club for a bunch of old guys who love aviation but are more of a master builder. They build everything they fly, put a butt load of money in the equipment for an hour of flying and 8 hours of socializing and talking about flying r/c airplanes. zzzzzzzzzzz, zzzzzzzzzzz.

I was targeted by one of the "elders" of the club to say things like "it don't take any skill to fly a drone".

I bought him a drone, the sorriest pos I could find and presented it to him during a meeting and asked him to show the club how it doesn't take any skill to fly a drone. I took it out of the box and did a pretty impressive demo, flying it all around, landed, handed him the control and told him to go for it. With no altitude hold it was tough to fly and I made it look easy.

He took all the laughs and kidding he deserved, pretty well, since it either slammed into the wall or crashed wildly without actually flying, at all. A truce was declared. Not me, I won.

Before I arrived 18 months ago there was one drone flyer. Not even one new member since.
Since I have been there I have "infected" about six of the old farts that are now drone flyers(kinda).

The attitudes are changing, only from within...This club might still struggle in 5 years.
 
My local AMA flying field must be the exception. It is a members only private flying field that does NOT allow drones of any kind to fly there........even if you are a AMA member.

No problem. There are other places to fly without all the drama.
Our club is members only also and I can fly my drone all I want but I find my planes way more fun. My Mavic is fast though and I like to get footage of the other aircraft.
 
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AMA Flying clubs who don't "allow?" drones are doomed to fade away with the age of the members.

I am an old guy dronie puke, part 107, joined an AMA club, found it was just a social club for a bunch of old guys who love aviation but are more of a master builder. They build everything they fly, put a butt load of money in the equipment for an hour of flying and 8 hours of socializing and talking about flying r/c airplanes. zzzzzzzzzzz, zzzzzzzzzzz.

I was targeted by one of the "elders" of the club to say things like "it don't take any skill to fly a drone".

I bought him a drone, the sorriest pos I could find and presented it to him during a meeting and asked him to show the club how it doesn't take any skill to fly a drone. I took it out of the box and did a pretty impressive demo, flying it all around, landed, handed him the control and told him to go for it. With no altitude hold it was tough to fly and I made it look easy.

He took all the laughs and kidding he deserved, pretty well, since it either slammed into the wall or crashed wildly without actually flying, at all. A truce was declared. Not me, I won.

Before I arrived 18 months ago there was one drone flyer. Not even one new member since.
Since I have been there I have "infected" about six of the old farts that are now drone flyers(kinda).

The attitudes are changing, only from within...This club might still struggle in 5 years.

Quite 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
 
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P4P+ hobbyist since Dec 2016;
Can someone dumb new rules down for hobbyists
unfamiliar with FAA & pilot terminology?
Also some hobbyist avoided updating beyond v4.2.6...
(issues reported by those who DID update)
Will we be "forced" to update?

This should help:
 
This should help:

Thanks for link.
I see only one difference for hobbyists...?
Before: don't fly over groups of people
After: don't fly over people
Am I correct? ? ? ?
So now if I am in, say, a 3 acre small city park
which contains only myself flying drone & one
other person walking dog randomly, I have
to make sure that at no point my drone appears
to be above that person? (or it violates FAA rule)
That's tougher than avoiding groups of people.
Please advise.
 
I don't know that the original interpretation was accurate (group of people vs people) but none the less your current interpretation is accurate.

Legally speaking we can't fly over a person's "pinky toe" because if you fly over any part of a person you're flying "Over People". It just means you have to be extra diligent and have excellent situational awareness.
 
Recipe for Calamity, IMO. o_O o_O o_O o_O o_O
Anti-drone commandos will latch onto this...?
Their ears perked, their eyes alert, their smartphones handy.
As soon as they see one above anybody anywhere,
a quick call to police to wail about FAA violation.
Because no longer is it just about groups of people.
 
My local AMA flying field must be the exception. It is a members only private flying field that does NOT allow drones of any kind to fly there........even if you are a AMA member.

No problem. There are other places to fly without all the drama.
Clubs like yours that exclude/ban any part of the hobby (especially the popular ones) are headed towards extinction.
 
AMA Flying clubs who don't "allow?" drones are doomed to fade away with the age of the members.

I am an old guy dronie puke, part 107, joined an AMA club, found it was just a social club for a bunch of old guys who love aviation but are more of a master builder. They build everything they fly, put a butt load of money in the equipment for an hour of flying and 8 hours of socializing and talking about flying r/c airplanes. zzzzzzzzzzz, zzzzzzzzzzz.

I was targeted by one of the "elders" of the club to say things like "it don't take any skill to fly a drone".

I bought him a drone, the sorriest pos I could find and presented it to him during a meeting and asked him to show the club how it doesn't take any skill to fly a drone. I took it out of the box and did a pretty impressive demo, flying it all around, landed, handed him the control and told him to go for it. With no altitude hold it was tough to fly and I made it look easy.

He took all the laughs and kidding he deserved, pretty well, since it either slammed into the wall or crashed wildly without actually flying, at all. A truce was declared. Not me, I won.

Before I arrived 18 months ago there was one drone flyer. Not even one new member since.
Since I have been there I have "infected" about six of the old farts that are now drone flyers(kinda).

The attitudes are changing, only from within...This club might still struggle in 5 years.
Great story! That club is headed for extinction unless people like you get through to the that this hobby has many facets. They need to stay current to continue to bring in new membership. If not that club will surely die out. My club is small. We can't afford to turn people away - we welcome everyone. But it is hard to keep the younger crowd to keep coming out and hanging with us old guys. The only thing we exclude are gassers but that is only because we are flying at a site where a gas club was chased from because of the excessive noise.
 
Great story! That club is headed for extinction unless people like you get through to the that this hobby has many facets. They need to stay current to continue to bring in new membership. If not that club will surely die out. My club is small. We can't afford to turn people away - we welcome everyone. But it is hard to keep the younger crowd to keep coming out and hanging with us old guys. The only thing we exclude are gassers but that is only because we are flying at a site where a gas club was chased from because of the excessive noise.


You're wrong and that's too broad of a statement. There is a recent resurgence of R/C planes that are easy to build, easy to fly, and economical. There is still a strong segment of the industry that enjoys learning to fly the aircraft rather than the simple "Buy, Charge, and press Launch" concept.

Thanks to recent releases by Horizon Hobby and FliteTest (just a couple that come to mind) it's never been easier or less expensive to get into the hobby of R/C outside of MultiRotors. I own and fly both (almost daily) but the joy of actually flying a plane/heli far exceeds flying my multirotors probably 10-1.
 
You're wrong and that's too broad of a statement. There is a recent resurgence of R/C planes that are easy to build, easy to fly, and economical. There is still a strong segment of the industry that enjoys learning to fly the aircraft rather than the simple "Buy, Charge, and press Launch" concept.

Thanks to recent releases by Horizon Hobby and FliteTest (just a couple that come to mind) it's never been easier or less expensive to get into the hobby of R/C outside of MultiRotors. I own and fly both (almost daily) but the joy of actually flying a plane/heli far exceeds flying my multirotors probably 10-1.
You totally missed my point. I agree with everything you said with the exception that I am not wrong about the fact that there are clubs out there that don't except the new advances you speak of. Maybe I didn't state my idea correctly. I was not making a broad statement. I was talking about the clubs that are exclusively old guys that are unwilling to accept the new advances you speak of. They think that building your own aircraft and gassers are the only way to go. While maybe not prevalent they do exist. Not too long ago me and my club mates were shunned from a neighboring club because we fly electrics. Those are the types of clubs that I was referring to.
 

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