• Welcome aboard HomebuiltAirplanes.com, your destination for connecting with a thriving community of more than 10,000 active members, all passionate about home-built aviation. Dive into our comprehensive repository of knowledge, exchange technical insights, arrange get-togethers, and trade aircrafts/parts with like-minded enthusiasts. Unearth a wide-ranging collection of general and kit plane aviation subjects, enriched with engaging imagery, in-depth technical manuals, and rare archives.

    For a nominal fee of $99.99/year or $12.99/month, you can immerse yourself in this dynamic community and unparalleled treasure-trove of aviation knowledge.

    Embark on your journey now!

    Click Here to Become a Premium Member and Experience Homebuilt Airplanes to the Fullest!

BAN ALL DRONES! - Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Inverted Vantage

Formerly Unknown Target
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
1,116
I haven't read this but it popped up on a Facebook group I follow (The Mini Quad Club).

The replies from the group ranged from "Yep and I'm not even sure a Phantom can get to 1700 ft agl, which is where the pilot of this most recent incident claimed it was." to "we need some serious rules and regulation for the asshats to be punished .."

To which I replied:

I think we need public training programs that teach everyone how to safely own and operate a drone.

Sort of like a souped-up, sped-up, super-ultra-modern internet version of the DMV.

While on the one hand, I can respect the ease of getting a driver's license in the United States, on the other I remember how much responsibility, theory, and practical application training I had to go to get my PPL. I recommend the process to any serious aerial pilot.

On the other hand, I do realize that by their nature, drones (aerial vehicles) below a certain weight class can only pose a danger if used improperly, or for a purpose otherwise unintended by the original designers.

So for these reasons, I would like the community to form a concentrated effort to reach out to the FAA and speak with them.

You'll find pilots are a bunch of old geeks (or nerds, w/e) who really like building stuff, and the FAA is one of the few federal agencies that serves a small enough segment to still be in touch with the people it serves.

Now that's not to say the FAA doesn't have it's problems. Traditionally it's been a very "safety first, second, third, why don't you just make the whole thing about safety?", and the age and relatively limited slice of culture that traditional general aviation pilots occupy means that it has some strange quirks to it.

But overall, the aviation community is healthy, and eager for new ideas and young talent. So in the future, when we see over-the-top, pitches for this (I haven't read the article but it certainly got me to click) sort of legislation, I think we should reach out and find the thing that ties all of us together; the freeing nature of flight. :)

What do you guys think about mixing things up a bit in the GA space?
 
Back
Top