District I 2014/05

I am often asked to speak at AMA membership meetings during AMA Expo, the Westchester Radio Aero Modelers Show, and Joe Nall Week. The topic this year is the purpose and status of AMA’s Advanced Flight Systems Committee (AFSC). With few district activities at this time of year, I thought district members might like to read about the AFSC in this column.
In the past several years, the sport of aeromodeling has evolved as new technologies have been incorporated into RC aircraft. Fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and multirotor model aircraft, in micro to large scale, can now utilize advanced flight systems. These include FPV, stabilization, autopilot, GPS, failsafe, and attitude-limiting systems. Many of these systems became available and affordable to the hobbyist as a result of advances in smart cellphone technologies that use miniature electronic GPS, inertial sensors, multi-axis gyros, and stabilization components which are now incorporated into RC systems.
When possible, it is AMA’s policy to embrace new technologies. In 2012, AMA President Bob Brown established the AFSC to create operational policies for RC technologies. I was appointed committee chairperson with an initial assignment to create new policies for FPV flying and the use of autopilot, stabilization, and failsafe systems in model aircraft.
The committee engages in a process of risk assessment by identifying and evaluating risks to people, property, and the environment when using new flight systems. Committee members then consider strategies to mitigate the risks to an acceptable level from which we write a safety document for inclusion in AMA’s National Model Aircraft Safety Code. The documents are formatted into sections for operational procedures, requirements, limitations, recommendations, and definitions.
Unlike in the past, when AMA safety documents remained static, these new guidelines are being monitored and revised because of rapid technology changes. If you’re using or considering using any of these advanced flight systems in your model aircraft, you should frequent the AMA website document section for Advanced Flight Systems to know the AMA’s current safety requirements.
The committee was proactive in its efforts to address privacy issues arising from the use of onboard cameras on model aircraft. We included a section describing the requirements for operating aircraft in areas where there might be a reasonable expectation of privacy—requiring the pilot to obtain written permission from the property owners to fly over their property.
The AFSC’s efforts in creating AMA safety documents were recognized by the FAA in November 2013 when it endorsed AMA’s safety rules for farmers to operate sUAS on their farms for precision agricultural applications using image and data-collection sensors.
The most common question directed at the committee is why AMA embraces some of these new technologies. We tell members that nearly every time in AMA’s history when we included new technologies in AMA’s aeromodeling activities, we have had resistance from some members. After clubs and members become educated that the new technologies can be safely used under AMA’s safety rules, acceptance begins.
We also tell them that if we couldn’t mitigate the risk, we wouldn’t accept the technology, and that by accepting the technology we differentiate our safe operations from those pilots who would utilize the technologies in a reckless, careless, and unlawful manor. We are able to continue advanced flight system operations under our own safety standards and not be subjected to regulations that others outside our community may face.
Most members and clubs realize that many disciplines within our hobby can harmoniously operate at their club’s flying sites. Excluding members and potential members from a club because they fly a different type of aircraft, without considering ways to include the new activity, sends a bad message to the community. There are many ways to accommodate hovering-type aircraft, including helicopters and multirotor aircraft, at club flying sites by providing separate site locations or flight times.
False statements are sometimes made about the safety of new disciplines or technologies. Application of the new technologies can provide a safer flying platform, such as with aircraft return-to-launch capability when a radio signal is lost or failsafe is activated. The use of low-voltage warning sensors, auto-landing features, telemetry status information, and redundant systems will reduce risks and enhance safety.
I typically end the presentation with questions from attendees about the latest technologies and AMA’s operational safety requirements. If any of you have questions, contact me at [email protected].