Help from the EAA to save the model airplane hobby

[Tom Charpentier]

Hi Doug,

You are correct on the point that under the FAA's proposal, the device must transmit to USS. Our comment guidelines were somewhat simplified and we did not make that point clear.

For Limited Remote ID, we are proposing a simple notification directly to the FAA of when and where you will be flying a traditional model aircraft (TMA). This can be on-site with an app or beforehand on a website, with no need for any sort of continuous broadcast during the flight. Absolutely no on-site connectivity or onboard equipment would be required under our proposal. We used LAANC, which is an authorization tool, as an example of the FAA already having the infrastructure to handle this sort of notification.

As far as "authorization" goes, we meant a simple verification that a UAS is not in restricted or controlled airspace. If we are asking the FAA to forego on-site RID for TMA away from FRIAs, they are going to want to verify that the soccer field you are about to fly at isn't under a TFR through a simple automated process. Whether the FAA has focused on enforcement or not, flying models in restricted or controlled airspace without authorization has never been OK. With several drone incursions over the past few years interfering with Defense and Homeland Security interests, there is tremendous pressure on the FAA from those agencies and Congress to ID and regulate a broad spectrum of UAS operations.

We did our best in this process to propose an alternative that the FAA will accept and that has minimal impact on the model aircraft hobby. We feel that protecting RID-free TMA at fixed flying sites into perpetuity, allowing new and temporary ones to be established at will by anyone (not just CBOs), and allowing anyone away from a fixed site to fly a TMA anywhere with a simple notification to the FAA and verification that the airspace is clear, constitutes considerable “relief” vs the FAA’s current proposal.

We’re still shaping our final comments to the FAA. Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you have further input – govt@eaa.org or 800-564-6322 and ask for myself or Lily Johnson.