CAA Leafelet to be issued to all UK model shops.

[Hands0n]

My own view is that this is a good thing, that they are mandating the presentation of the CAA regulations such as they currently are.

Whether those regulations are proportionate, balanced or fair is another thing. And I think that if you put ten people in a room to discuss you';d not reach consensus about these any time soon.

I agree that the CAA should not be blighting the entire hobby simply because a number of people have broken one or more of the regulations. That is definitely not proportionate nor fair. And I do get the sense that the CAA are being somewhat pragmatic inasmuch as permitting FPV and LOS flight with certain constraints.  Of course, the regulations are bent or broken by many who are in the know, and I would not chastise them as generally they appear to be doing so in areas of relative safety (ie. remote, deserted, open areas).  For example, not everyone has the "luxury" of having access to a spotter for their FPV.  But in the right circumstances that is not a risk of danger to others at all.

I don';t get that the CAA are draconian or dogmatic (I might reserve some little of that accusation for the BMFA and certainly so for the affiliated clubs if I may generalise for a moment).  The CAA have a huge brief, and it has just got a lot bigger with the commoditisation of these fangled multi-rotor things that are turning up everywhere. 

So the leafleting of UAV product cannot be a bad thing, for it may go some way to stop a number of people making serious mistakes through their own lack of knowledge. And that may in some little way take the pressure off the CAA from making sweeping and draconian regulations that all but ban the hobby entirely.

[flybywire]

Of course you make some fair points there Danny, but I';m not sure a leaflet is going to solve things in the long run, the ones who blatantly break the laws (and who I guess the CAA see as the likely purveyors of ';airspace terrorism' aren';t going to read it anyhow, like speedbumps in the road, it';s only the law-abiders that slow down for them!

I am simple trying to move the debate on, in terms of what is a ';just'; rule or law based on HSE evidence (and good old common sense!), as opposed to dogma that says, no, we';re not letting you do that because we';re the CAA and we can.
But as I say, most just say "I';ll do that sir", and then do something else anyhow, so whatever. 

[Hands0n]

I';m certainly with you there Andy. Rules/laws/regulations are only for the law-abiding. Completely and utterly irrelevant and meaningless to all others.  And we see, from feedback on this very forum, how frustrating it is for the generally law-abiding to witness the shenanigans of those that couldn';t care a hoot.

I do think that the CAA itself is pragmatic enough to not want to empty the oceans because a ship has sunk with all hands lost.  Yet there are those who would see just such a thing occur,bizarrely  even in organisations that only exist because of this hobby!

You';re right, of course, about the arbitrariness of the regulations. We see that very thing with speed limits - changing a National Speed Limit (60 in single carriageway and 70 in dual carriagway) to a set limit of, say, 50mph.  Largely ignored. Even by the compliance officers themselves. Really only having any meaning when an accident occurs and breaking of the speed limit counting as a discrete offence in itself, thus ensuring at least some measure of sanction against the perpetrator.  Parallels exist in our hobby.

Will we ever get over doing this?  I don';t believe so, purely because it is so very simplistic to establish a regulation and then prosecute when someone is detected breaking it.   And thats the rub, the detection of. Made all the easier these days by people putting their "crimes" up on YouTube and other social media sites for all to see - such as the now infamous Blackpool Flight video.

Regardless of whether the rule is just or not, and that is probably a matter of perspective (see above!) where common sense does not prevail, and when legislators rule for the "lowest common denominator", we really don';t stand a chance.  We cannot expect and we will not receive any measure of common sense.  But we may hope for the CAA to not be too reactionary to the lowest in our society.