Education Through Aviation
by Bill Pritchett, Education Director
“Most of the change we think we see
in life is due to truths being in and
out of favor.” —Robert Frost
Now that the busiest flying time of the year is in full swing, there’s something that strikes me about this year. It seems almost impossible for me to attend
The Education department recently released a new website: Learn sUAS (suas.modelaircraft.org). You can’t imagine the negative, hateful, and professionally insulting things that a few people put on social media. They were upset that once again, the AMA had abandoned them, thrown them under the bus, and continues to court the drone community to increase membership.
The problem is that these people don’t understand what the truth is, and say things, agree to things, and spread information which just couldn’t possibly be further from the elusive truth. We see this each and every day and this month I’ll use this opportunity to dispel a few misnomers.
AMA’s membership is at an all-time high. Our membership, as of this writing, is 188,000. Part of that is youth membership—also at an all-time high—and a huge increase at more than 50,000. Five years ago, Youth membership was slightly less than 11,000. So these great membership numbers aren’t all drone fliers.
The National Model Aviation Museum has done a fantastic job in the last few years accumulating plans that modelers use to scratch-build model airplanes. Plans sales are setting record each month, so people are still building model airplanes after all.
Last January, the FAA released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
We anxiously await Rule 107 and the reauthorization bill allowing us to continue operations under Part 336. In the meantime, it’s absolutely life as normal. There isn’t a 400-foot altitude limit and the black suits aren’t surrounding our field after all.
Multirotor sales have certainly been strong since last Christmas, and we expect that to continue. Operating them is so easy, but some people do find trouble with them. How can these things cause so much trouble for us? After all, we fly model airplanes and helicopters. We aren’t a part of that crowd. They should be outlawed, the operators arrested, and all of them seized, destroyed, and dumped in a mass grave.
Seriously? Here’s the fact: We are a part of that crowd. I didn’t do it. You didn’t do it. The FAA did it. In the rulemaking process, everything less than 55 pounds, flying within visual line of sight, and controlled by a fixed-location transmitter on the ground, is an sUAS. If you remember nothing this month but this, please remember that all of these platforms are now registered and viewed the same by the FAA—the same FAA that controls the National Airspace System.
The AMA didn’t trash the hobby. It represented our interests to continue doing what we’ve been doing for 80 years, despite the government’s efforts to muck it up. And we’re not entirely innocent. The latest one I heard was that now that the AMA is embracing FPV racing, traditional modeling has found its place under the bus.
I hope you’re sitting down. Many of those participating in FPV racing are longtime AMA members—members who find racing to be great fun and a shot of excitement in their modeling lives.
As accompanies most controversy, there is history here. Do your research. Radio control was a huge threat to traditional modeling when it was introduced. So were the steps we took through AM, FM, spread spectrum, and prior “deaths” by narrowband and into 2.4 GHz radio systems. And what ever happened to the death of modeling via ARF models?
We will survive all of this, and we will likely prosper from it. It’s rallied us together … something that was desperately needed. We’re more unified than ever, and that is a huge plus (for which we might owe the FAA a debt of gratitude).
Now that you know that we all are having fun flying our sUAS aircraft, let’s talk about Learn sUAS! This resource is not about multirotors. It’s about all sUAS. It’s about being safe and responsible. As an outgrowth of the Know Before You Fly campaign, it’s about what to know before you fly. It includes a map/club finder, help on getting started, and an online course that covers topics in which everyone should be versed.
We’ve included an instructional guide to FAA registration and a link to the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam). We’re pleased to have this new resource included on the FAASTeam website (www.faasafety.gov). The FAA administrator in charge of UAS integration congratulated us on it. How can it be anything but good to continue developing a relationship with the very people who control the National Airspace System (NAS)?
This could be a great presentation at your next club meeting. Go through the course and see how well your club understands principles of flight, weather, and the NAS. Use it as something you go through with every new member.
It doesn’t matter what type platform it is. What matters is that everyone understands it’s an sUAS, and that the AMA believes the educational component is critical, and it’s still fun!
By the time you receive this, we will have another addition to our resources on AMA Flight School. It’s called Day Camp and it will be a smorgasbord of activities, supported by video instructions that our members and clubs can use in their outreach efforts.
You could have a half-day experience at your field, or an entire week. It’s laid out for you to review, choose the activities, and plan the camp time and experience accordingly. We’re fortunate to have received a Lightspeed Grant to fund this fantastic new resource for our members.
Fly and have fun!
