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Just when you thought...

Just when you thought things could get any crazier with respect to idiot bureaucrats; they do.

Yesterday I received an email from Roger Fisher of the South Waikato District Council.

This email advised me that I may *not* perform ground-based testing of my sense-and-avoid system at the airfield and that the issue of this testing and my presence on the airfield would be a matter placed before the council.

What the?

I had advised the council and MFNZ that since I now had no option but to return to ground-based testing, I would be doing so and that this testing would produce a *small* increase in the noise-floor on the 2.4GHz ISM band.

I also made it very clear that my testing was 100% compliant with the relevant RSM regulations for such emissions.

Now as anyone with half a brain will know (or can find out in a few minutes), the ISM bands are covered by a General User Radio License under which use of the frequencies is allowed on a non-exclusive basis and under which users must accept that they may be subject to interference from other users.

In effect -- it's a "free for all" but you must comply with certain limits as to power-levels, modulation types and frequencies.

The name "Industrial Scientific and Medical" (ISM) speaks to the fact that these frequencies have been allocated specifically for the type of use I'm putting them to in my SAA testing.

But no... the council has decided (after being lobbied by MFNZ) that my activities will pose an unreasonable risk to model fliers at the airfield and therefore I am forbidden to continue my development work on this very valuable piece of aviation safety technology.

What can I say?

I have already tested the effects my testing would create and the effect on the noise floor is barely detectable. Indeed it is *significantly* less than the effect of the scores of WiFi-enabled mobile phones and other equipment that can be witnessed at the neighbouring gokart club every time they have an event (which often coincides with RC flying).

Clearly therefore, the SWDC's actions are totally unreasonable and, in my honest opinion, are motivated by ignorance and/or malice on the part of the individuals involved.

Tokoroa is a small town which has a very high percentage of low-income and unemployed workers. The windows of the retail district are littered with "For Lease" signs that demonstrate the fact that this is a town in need of some economic rejuvenation.

Even more of a worry is the fact that so much of the town's employment and economy remains dependent on the Kinleith mill -- a site that has been regularly downsized over the years -- with no guarantee that it won't be closed entirely at some stage in the not-too-distant future. The creation of alternate industries therefore, should be a critical priority for the council -- lest this town become an othe Kauwerau if/when the mill closes.

Once before I brought a major (seven figure) deal to the town. A deal that would have involved significant investment by a Chinese company and the creation of jobs for locals -- whilst filling the towns motels, restaurants and shops with new customers. When the SWDC learned of my involvement, they went cold on the deal. Incredible!

Once before I attempted to create jobs for people here in my own workshop -- jobs that would have involved training and money flowing into the town -- and the same Roger Fisher told me I would not be given permission for this to happen.

Now Mr Fisher is telling me that I may not continue the development work on my SAA system which, once completed, could become a serious industry for the town and a huge boon to aviation safety.

I can not fathom what is wrong with the bureaucracy in this town.

On repeated occasions I have offered them the benefit of my huge online audience to promote the district -- and they have declined -- opting instead to pay people stupidly large sums of money to try and duplicate the success I have had on YouTube, with predictably dismal results.

Every year scores of people come from all around the world to visit me at my workshop. These people spend money in the town and some even stay in its motels while here -- yet the council now seem hell-bent on kicking me off the airfield to appease the paranoia of a tiny group of petulant model fliers.

You'll recall that when I was president of the model flying club just a couple of years ago, they wanted to ban model flying altogether -- yet once I withdrew from that position, now the model-fliers can do no wrong.

Also, you'd think that if the paranoia of this bunch of RC model fliers was to take precedence over the creation of valuable aviation safety technology and the creation of jobs and investment in the district then the same council would be right behind my plans to create an international model park here -- don't you?

But no... it has been made clear to me that no matter how much money I raise in pledges from overseas (and we're already talking five figures), no matter how many local businesses support the idea, no matter how many tourists it would bring into the district, and no matter how many locals sign a petition demanding such a thing -- it's just not going to happen -- because it's *my* initiative.

But wait.. it gets even better.

I am now the only individual in the entire world that the SWDC has expressly banned from flying RC models at the airfield.

Why? Is this an issue of safety?

No.

They are banning me because, as the airfield owners, they can.

This is the same council that has already passed a number of new rules aimed at specifically stopping my 100% legal activities at the airfield.

Is it time to bring out the lawyers and sue this idiot bureaucracy for the lost earnings and the damage to my reputation as one of the world's most respected members of the model-flying community? Surely it can't be legally to so actively discriminate against an individual for no apparent reason than there are old, very personal scores to settle.

You tell me.

Surely the people of Tokoroa deserve better than to have every single attempt I make to improve the place chopped down simply because a bureaucrat and a tiny handful of local-body politicians can't get over the fact that they were embarrassed on national TV by their ridiculous actions in the past?

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