Hoverfly Meeting with FAA



Str8 Up

Member
The article gives the impression of FAA endorsement (ostensibly) when, upon closer review, a regional manager may have actually mearly said "knock yourself out". Please understand that I am in no way commenting in a negative manner on the need or virtue of what you are trying to do. It is just that I know there are always two realities - what gets printed, and what actually happened. What is missing here is what value this proposed certification might have from a legal perspective. Is it intended to fill the cavernous gap left by the AMA for sport flying only? Does it have any application to commercial uses? Personally I have been flying UAV's for over 30 years in a professional capacity. My insurance company is fine with giving me $10M third party liablilty and $100K equipment coverage. My clients are fine with my safety manual and resume. I would get zero tangible benefit from attending this school, so, why would I? Are there some other hidden benefits? Also, I recall several years ago, an organization called RCAPA that proposed basically the same exact thing, and got nowhere with it. How is this different?
 

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
I think we are all lucky to have Hoverfly on our side. They clearly have a channel to the FAA and the media and have claimed a title for our industry that excludes the word "Drone." Hopefully the momentum they have started with ARIA will continue to grow. These things take small steps and time. Also keep in mind there are thousands of FAA reps. one may say "sure, just keep things on the down low" while another rep may say "Hell no, not on my watch!" Most importantly, we need to keep this flood of Phantom purchasers flying smart and prevent any major incidents from happening. Support your local manufacturers! After all, they are supporting you a lot more than China ever will.

Thank You Hoverfly
 

jcmonty

Member
Awesome, Al. I think this is a big positive step forward.

However, I also have similiar questions. Is the FAA giving us - in a written form - the ability to fly commercially, legally through this new organization?
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
The FAA has been receptive to the ideas being presented by Al and the people he's working with. They can't just say yes without seeing the program spelled out to them in its entirety but it should be obvious to them that it would be a big load off their shoulders if they could just have this one part of the overall UAV regulatory process taken care ASAP. It's obviously good for everyone involved so what reason would they have to say no or to stonewall it?

It's good progress and kudos to Al for taking it on.

Bart
 

Stacky

Member
Im interested here with something as I think it should be something everyone should consider. Are you absolutely sure your insurance company would pay out if you had some sort of accident given that this sort of commercial operation is either not yet legal or not yet lawful?.

Insurance companies look for any way out of making payments and this is a grey area they could try and exploit


The article gives the impression of FAA endorsement (ostensibly) when, upon closer review, a regional manager may have actually mearly said "knock yourself out". Please understand that I am in no way commenting in a negative manner on the need or virtue of what you are trying to do. It is just that I know there are always two realities - what gets printed, and what actually happened. What is missing here is what value this proposed certification might have from a legal perspective. Is it intended to fill the cavernous gap left by the AMA for sport flying only? Does it have any application to commercial uses? Personally I have been flying UAV's for over 30 years in a professional capacity. My insurance company is fine with giving me $10M third party liablilty and $100K equipment coverage. My clients are fine with my safety manual and resume. I would get zero tangible benefit from attending this school, so, why would I? Are there some other hidden benefits? Also, I recall several years ago, an organization called RCAPA that proposed basically the same exact thing, and got nowhere with it. How is this different?
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Im interested here with something as I think it should be something everyone should consider. Are you absolutely sure your insurance company would pay out if you had some sort of accident given that this sort of commercial operation is either not yet legal or not yet lawful?.

Insurance companies look for any way out of making payments and this is a grey area they could try and exploit

it isn't illegal, i'm not going to elaborate but "illegal" gives a lot of credit to rules that don't exist. failure to operate without an extreme amount of caution resulting in a complaint or injury will get you in a alot of trouble by whomever arrives on the scene first.
 

Stacky

Member
Yeah it gets confusing that whole not legal and not lawful side of things. So if it isnt illegal it gets hard to work out how it can be banned for commercial intent. Its all such a grey area at present, same deal down here too.

it isn't illegal, i'm not going to elaborate but "illegal" gives a lot of credit to rules that don't exist. failure to operate without an extreme amount of caution resulting in a complaint or injury will get you in a alot of trouble by whomever arrives on the scene first.
 

Str8 Up

Member
There was an incident with a partner company a couple of years ago and, after a brief investigation, the insurer paid the claim. There was never a discussion about legal/lawful issues.

As for reasons why the FAA might stall small commercial UAV's:

Privacy concerns
Partisan politics
Ties to big players
Terrorism concerns
 

Stacky

Member
I think safety concerns are a very real and important issue. Ive spoken to our CAA down here in NZ and down here from their position I can see its a difficult process they have to work through. Its not a simple issue at all on the safety side with respect to keeping everyone happy.

There was an incident with a partner company a couple of years ago and, after a brief investigation, the insurer paid the claim. There was never a discussion about legal/lawful issues.

As for reasons why the FAA might stall small commercial UAV's:

Privacy concerns
Partisan politics
Ties to big players
Terrorism concerns
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
keep in mind, digital proportional radio control (as we know it) has been around since the mid seventies. A lot of what people are talking about could have happened at any time since then and mostly hasn't.
 

almphoto

Member
I think it's great that Al is taking the ball and running with it. It's an initial glimpse of things heading in the right direction.
 


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