Where We Stand
by Jay Smith
Last month's issue of MA featured a strong call to all who love aeromodeling to express their concerns about what appears to be pending federal regulations on model aviation. After two years of working with FAA representatives, AMA leadership has concluded that we might be on a path to onerous and unnecessary restrictions on various aspects of operating model aircraft.
By law, the FAA is unable to disclose the exact language that will be in its rule for small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) until it is released as a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). That is anticipated to happen in the late summer.
According to those in AMA who are deeply involved with this issue, there will most certainly be some regulation addressing aeromodeling operations. On its face, the proposed rule will likely pose a distressing effect on model aviation.
"AMA stands on its record of safe, responsible aeromodeling using a remarkably successful system of voluntary compliance," said AMA President Dave Mathewson. "We've operated with the most enviable safety record in all of aeronautics for generations."
Will the new rules be debilitating to model aviation? Will they affect one particular modeling discipline more than others?
AMA's Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs Representative Rich Hanson said: "The truth is, we just don't know for certain, at this point, what the FAA will restrict. However, we aren't standing idle given this threat. We've convened a workgroup to address our operations and what we may have to do via new standards to comply with what we suspect to be likely regulations on our hobby and sport."
Rich is leading a team of Academy experts—the Standards Workgroup—which has been meeting weekly for more than two years with FAA representatives and among themselves to work through safety concerns and operations standards. That team has been extremely diligent. You can view the roster on the AMA's Government Relations web site.
In a report delivered to the FAA in March 2009, the FAA Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) recommended that there be a provision in the rule to allow model aircraft operations that are conducted in accordance with an FAA-accepted set of standards to be exempt from the regulation. FAA leadership has consistently held that this continues to be its approach to aeromodeling.
During the past two years the AMA has worked directly with the FAA Unmanned Aircraft Program Office (UAPO) in an effort to develop an acceptable set of standards. If successful, these standards will provide an alternative means of complying with the sUAS regulation and a path by which modelers can continue to enjoy the hobby much the way they do today.
However, the success of this effort is not necessarily a foregone conclusion. The final outcome will most likely be unknown when the NPRM is published for public comment in the Federal Register this summer.
President Mathewson outlined AMA's organizational stance on this issue in his March 2011 MA column, citing several areas of concern for the Academy. Following is a deeper exploration of those position statements.
The AMA has an impeccable safety record over generations
It's been estimated that aeromodelers conduct more than 3.5 million flights per year, with a safety record that is unequaled by any other discipline using the National Airspace System (NAS). Although there have been a small number of incidents throughout the past 75 years, incidents involving injury to nonparticipants have been extremely rare, and even fewer incidents involved full-scale aircraft.
While any incident is one too many, the extraordinarily low incidence of harm, especially to full-scale aircraft, raises the question: why is this incredible safety record not being recognized?
The AMA has proven to be an outstanding self-policing organization
The Academy is a self-governing association that has woven safety and common sense into a comprehensive Safety Code, to which all members must comply. The vast majority of AMA members are conscientious and responsible pilots who use self-policing as a method to ensure safe operations.
We have earned our reputation as an effectively safety-driven organization and wonder why we need to "fix" something that is far from broken.
Model aircraft operations are distinctly different from sUAS aviation
The root of the issue might be that aeromodeling is being unjustifiably included in federal oversight aimed at the increasingly prevalent activity of sophisticated, commercial, public-use sUAS in the NAS.
The AMA applauds all manner of innovation being pursued by government, academic, military, and commercial enterprises. Exciting things are being developed in unmanned aircraft in these areas.
But model aircraft are different from commercial, public-use sUAS. No AMA member is allowed to pursue model aircraft operations outside the scope of our Safety Code or for commercial purposes and still be considered to be under the auspices of the AMA.
The Academy and its members strongly condemn careless or reckless use of either model aircraft or sUAS that endangers people or property. We are hobbyists and sportsmen and sportswomen, educators, and scientists. We fly for recreational and educational purposes only.
Why is model aviation being swept up into regulations that are much more applicable to commercial sUAS pursuits?
Concern about federal priorities and costs
We should all be concerned about the tax dollars being spent on federal efforts to create regulation for model aircraft when there are far more serious concerns facing the FAA.
We are in challenging financial times. Government expenditures are under scrutiny as never before. National political leaders recently issued a call for a more streamlined, practical, and common-sense approach to regulations.
Recent federal elections saw a large swing in power in the House of Representatives. Nearly everyone in this new class of legislators ran on a platform of less government regulation and less government spending.
The FAA has a tremendous set of challenges in keeping our NAS safe and viable. Some might argue that it has far more serious problems than putting a clamp on aeromodeling, and we couldn't agree more. Yes, we, too, want a safe NAS—as safe as it can practically be.
We have to ask, aren't there bigger issues to deal with than expending time, talent, and tax dollars on an extremely low risk to NAS safety?
Model aviation's value to the future of aviation and STEM
It is ill-advised to curtail model aviation, given its valuable contribution to priming the pipeline of aviation talent and resources.
Aviation is suffering from a decline of interest as a career. Global economies and our nation's future depend on connecting people and markets quickly and efficiently, and aviation is a strong component of that capability.
Participating in model aviation is a surefire way to ignite a passion in young people to explore the lifetime of opportunities that the fields of aviation and aerospace provide. From space shuttle commanders to airline captains to fighter pilots to corporate aviators and more, many have gotten their starts in aviation with an early introduction to aeromodeling.
Science, technology, engineering, and math are all found in model aviation. It is a national imperative to excite our youth to pursue these disciplines. We offer what the nation desperately needs.
What better way to cultivate tomorrow's engineers, scientists, technologists, and aviators than through exposure at an early age to the fun of model aviation?
Our record is exemplary, our value to society is large, and our future is bright.
AMA and its members have not precipitated federal action
The Academy and its members should understand that nothing they have done has precipitated this federal-government action. FAA representatives have repeatedly said as much.
The fact is that AMA and aeromodelers have almost everything right. We have an impeccable record and a very tight culture of self-policing, and we have generally comported ourselves in the manner of the responsible modelers and citizens that we claim to be.
A new generation of aeromodelers now looks to us to provide them with support and guidance, and we will continue to do so—despite whatever restrictions might be placed on our hobby and sport.
In the meantime, all members are encouraged to rally around this issue and let their voices be heard at the federal level. Visit our Government Relations web pages to learn more and learn how to communicate with your state and federal representatives, to protest what we see as unwarranted infringements on our well-earned right to fly model aircraft.
Jay Smith [email protected]
Sources:
- AMA Government Relations — www.modelaircraft.org/gov
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
