Quick summary of the FAA Remote ID (RID) requirements are that we will need to carry a RID module in our models in about 3 years from today. But they made an exception for us, if we fly from a FRIA (FAA Recognized Identification Area) we don't need to have this RID module, we get to continue to fly like we are today!
But there is a catch, we need to get our sites listed as FRIA locations. While for many flying clubs that are part of the AMA, I suspect this will be pretty much automatically done. (Assuming the FAA allows the AMA to add all of their existing club fields.) The concern I have will be all of the slope glider sites and even contest sites that are not normal club sites, these often times are not part of the AMA or any other group.
As an example, when you look at slope soaring sites along the west coast (California, Oregon, Washington) I think there are only 2 or 3 sites that the AMA covers. Those are Torrey Pines in San Diego, and Davenport, Ca. Maybe there is one or two others. I personally have flown probably 40 or 50 slopes in California, and a few more in Oregon. And those are only the coastal sites!
This is the odd thing about glider sites, often times there is no club or organization of the pilots that use the site even though the sites are well known and have been flown at for 50 or 60 years! Some have local agreements with the land owners, others are just historic and nothing else is in place. \
I would like to discuss ideas on getting this sites accepted into the FRIA program so we can continue to enjoy these sites without any added equipment.
Or perhaps it is a bad idea to even try..? Do we want to alert others to the locations of our slope soaring sites? With the environment movement trying to restrict access to many places, this may just put our sites onto a list for legal closures. We have seen a new wave of this recently in California. The newest method seems to be to report that the site has endangered Raptors and our models may upset the hunting and feeding. We recently lost access to a local slope for exactly this reason, and another has seen the same attack attempted but we managed to avoid it when it was shown we had no raptors at the slope.
I suspect there will be 2 or 3 organizations that will be granted the ability to suggest FRIA sites, AMA is expected to be one of them, but you never know with the FAA. I think there will be one that targets drone pilots, and maybe a third for industry??
Would love to hear from others. These 3 years will blow by very fast, and the FAA will be very slow to work with.
But there is a catch, we need to get our sites listed as FRIA locations. While for many flying clubs that are part of the AMA, I suspect this will be pretty much automatically done. (Assuming the FAA allows the AMA to add all of their existing club fields.) The concern I have will be all of the slope glider sites and even contest sites that are not normal club sites, these often times are not part of the AMA or any other group.
As an example, when you look at slope soaring sites along the west coast (California, Oregon, Washington) I think there are only 2 or 3 sites that the AMA covers. Those are Torrey Pines in San Diego, and Davenport, Ca. Maybe there is one or two others. I personally have flown probably 40 or 50 slopes in California, and a few more in Oregon. And those are only the coastal sites!
This is the odd thing about glider sites, often times there is no club or organization of the pilots that use the site even though the sites are well known and have been flown at for 50 or 60 years! Some have local agreements with the land owners, others are just historic and nothing else is in place. \
I would like to discuss ideas on getting this sites accepted into the FRIA program so we can continue to enjoy these sites without any added equipment.
Or perhaps it is a bad idea to even try..? Do we want to alert others to the locations of our slope soaring sites? With the environment movement trying to restrict access to many places, this may just put our sites onto a list for legal closures. We have seen a new wave of this recently in California. The newest method seems to be to report that the site has endangered Raptors and our models may upset the hunting and feeding. We recently lost access to a local slope for exactly this reason, and another has seen the same attack attempted but we managed to avoid it when it was shown we had no raptors at the slope.
I suspect there will be 2 or 3 organizations that will be granted the ability to suggest FRIA sites, AMA is expected to be one of them, but you never know with the FAA. I think there will be one that targets drone pilots, and maybe a third for industry??
Would love to hear from others. These 3 years will blow by very fast, and the FAA will be very slow to work with.
