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Finally, people wake up

It is the nature of the beast that most people don't give a damn about injustices or looming threats until such time as it actually starts to affect them.

Who cares if others are being disadvantaged or adversely impacted by government excess -- so long as you're okay... right?

Well finally, after years of being warned, the US drone and RC community is finally waking up to the fact that their hobby is about to be regulated out of existance.

I've been posting videos warning these people that authorities are implementing a "thin end of the wedge" strategy for sidelining all drones except those who are prepared to pay for the right to use the skies above our heads. By and large, these videos have been ignored and some have even suggested I'm nothing but a doomsayer.

However, last week, everything changed.

The FAA posted a video to its YouTube channel in which it painted some very dystopian scenarios involving drones and their recreational use.

After years of disingenous platitudes towards the hobby, the FAA finally came clean and unveiled its vision of the future -- a future where the hobby is so marginalised that it is virtually non-existant.

Naturally I did my own video, pointing out exactly what the FAA was (finally) admitting to in its campaign to kill a hobby.

After years of rattling my tin-cup on the railings, the US audience has finally woken up and is becoming aware of what the future holds for them.

Most of my "wake up and smell the coffee" warning videos have gotten no more than a few thousand views and the comments of support on them have been largely from the same small group of "aware" viewers. This latest video however, has already racked up nearly 30K views and most of the comments are from people who stand outside the echo-chamber.

Only once the FAA themselves painted the picture I've been describing for years, are those who stand to be adversely impacted by this, starting to wake up.

Reading the comments on that video it is very apparent that the levels of compliance with the new "Remote ID" regulations will be extremely low, within certain sectors of the hobby.

To be honest, how on earth any government can justify forcing its citizens to put tracking devices on their tiny balsa models of a Piper Cub or Tiger Moth aircraft is beyond me -- yet that's exactly what the FAA in the USA is proposing.

But this is New Zealand, right? Our government would never be that stupid right?

Well read this page on the MoT website and weep.

Bullet-point number four: "Remote identification: mandating the use of remote identification capability on certain drones during flight that enables the transmission of aircraft identification information to third parties to improve situational awareness and enforcement."

Our regulators don't even realise that Remote ID is not a situational awareness tool. It is not used to deconflict the airspace or warn manned aircraft that drones are about. They don't even understand what they're proposing!

And check out bullet point number three: "mandating registration for drones weighing 250 grams"

Why only drones weighing 250g? What about drones weighing 251g or 1Kg or 2Kg?

Nope, only those which weigh exactly 250g -- right? I mean, that's what it says doesn't it?

Surely this can't be just sloppiness on the part of the MoT, after all, that page is dated April 2022 so it's been online for well over a year. If that was a mistake then surely someone would have spotted it by now and a correction would have been applied... right?

Sadly, what we're seeing here is regulation by a body that has no clue and really doesn't give a damn about doing the job properly. They don't understand that which they seek to regulate and they can't even be bothered proof-reading their own material or responding to those who report the errors.

Is it any wonder that all over the world, those who enjoy a safe, educational, family-friendly hobby are telling the rule-makers that they will not comply with their ridiculous diktats.

Ultimately, without an enforcement team numbering in the millions, all regulation is by consent. In this case, no consent is given so these regulations will be ineffective and just a waste of taxpayers' money.

Carpe Diem folks!

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