jvaliensi
Active User
The Fed's decreased the speed limit to 55mph to reduce oil consumption. This was a result of the 72 oil embargo. The Fed's couldn't directly force the states to follow suit, so they applied quid pro quo, by threatening to withhold federal dollars for road work.
Sticking with the car analogies - Auto crashes result in approximately 30K untimely deaths per year. It used to be much worse, during the sixties and seventies, more people died in car crashes per year, than American deaths in the entire Vietnam War (or the American War for any Vietnamese readers out there). However, no one has suggested outlawing automobiles, no matter how dangerous and bad for the environment they tend to be. Annual car deaths should be the threashold by which other activities are judged; ie. if an activity kills less than 30K per year, then legislation to make it safer should not be allowed.
The 400ft limit imposed everywhere is an answer to a problem that don't exist. There are better ways to do this. Many RC flying sites are identified and controlled by clubs. They (FAA) should evaluate and ID them on the charts and impose atlitude restrictions to the full size aircraft. This is done already for many other ground features, such as the White House, Power Plants, etc. The evaluation process would identify what the maximum safe altitude RC can fly and add 500ft separation for full size. Some places may have low max altitudes, such as Sepulveda Basin, which is currently restricted to 250ft. But, other places it may be safe to fly RC up to 2,000ft and keep the airplanes above 2,500ft. The area needed for RC is small, maybe a 5,000ft diameter circle is enough for 2,000ft altitude, so airplanes can easily navigate around the space. How many RC fields are there in the USA? 1,000? This is not a big deal to implement.
If someone is crazy enough to wish to take down an airliner, by a RC drone/airplane - how would the 400ft altitude limitation stop them? Drunk driving is illegal but some how people still do it. The 400ft put everywhere adds no value, and makes folks that never did any harm into criminals.
One other thing I've noticed is how pointless it is discussing these issues in forums. I've started a similar one at RCG and there was some good information posted, but it soon devolved and I closed it.
I've made the foolish choice to purchase another RCRCM Tomcat Evo, because I badly broke my 1st one and I really liked the way it flied, so I got to run off and work on it now.
Sticking with the car analogies - Auto crashes result in approximately 30K untimely deaths per year. It used to be much worse, during the sixties and seventies, more people died in car crashes per year, than American deaths in the entire Vietnam War (or the American War for any Vietnamese readers out there). However, no one has suggested outlawing automobiles, no matter how dangerous and bad for the environment they tend to be. Annual car deaths should be the threashold by which other activities are judged; ie. if an activity kills less than 30K per year, then legislation to make it safer should not be allowed.
The 400ft limit imposed everywhere is an answer to a problem that don't exist. There are better ways to do this. Many RC flying sites are identified and controlled by clubs. They (FAA) should evaluate and ID them on the charts and impose atlitude restrictions to the full size aircraft. This is done already for many other ground features, such as the White House, Power Plants, etc. The evaluation process would identify what the maximum safe altitude RC can fly and add 500ft separation for full size. Some places may have low max altitudes, such as Sepulveda Basin, which is currently restricted to 250ft. But, other places it may be safe to fly RC up to 2,000ft and keep the airplanes above 2,500ft. The area needed for RC is small, maybe a 5,000ft diameter circle is enough for 2,000ft altitude, so airplanes can easily navigate around the space. How many RC fields are there in the USA? 1,000? This is not a big deal to implement.
If someone is crazy enough to wish to take down an airliner, by a RC drone/airplane - how would the 400ft altitude limitation stop them? Drunk driving is illegal but some how people still do it. The 400ft put everywhere adds no value, and makes folks that never did any harm into criminals.
One other thing I've noticed is how pointless it is discussing these issues in forums. I've started a similar one at RCG and there was some good information posted, but it soon devolved and I closed it.
I've made the foolish choice to purchase another RCRCM Tomcat Evo, because I badly broke my 1st one and I really liked the way it flied, so I got to run off and work on it now.
