Threat to Model Flying from European Regulation - EASA Prototype Rules for Unman

[Quadbodger]

BMFA.org Link to story

https://vimeo.com/184752149

[DarkButterfly]

There is an article in the latest BMFA magazine about this.

[Powernumpty]

Harsh, never written to my MP before but this is so draconian I will have to, and to deal with what problem?

What got us here? News stories that are mostly unproven and idiots not observing current regulation.

I thought some other countries regulations were bad but this is EU level lunacy™.

[Bajadre]

There gonna need a long tape measure lol 

so that';s a 120metres down to 50  you would think they would want them away from the ground tbh

[Two-Six]

What a MONUMENTAL load of ....... INSERT EXPLETIVE HERE

Apart from the total insanity of ALL this, its a massive solution to a NON EXISTENT PROBLEM.

I really hope they just drop this whole thing for ever.  Otherwise we might as well just give up this hobby right now.

However I do feel that writing to your MP, writing letters, even having a march on  "The Seat Of Democracy" instead of going to the BMFA nationals will be utterly futile.  I really hope I am wrong.

Its incredible how we got here really and sadly I think its too late to go back.

We are in BIG trouble. 

[hoverfly]

The BMFA people I have spoken to at the drone show  were very  wooly, and judging by the attitude of a lot of clubs the sooner the multirotors are banned the better. If you don';t want to understand something ban it.

[Kellarly]

I think many who fly RC thinks it only applies to multis. Nope...

[Budgie RC]

This makes me sad i have only just got into this hobby a year ago and now i might loose it from the sounds of it (i know people have been doing it longer not being selfsh here) , I was going to be buying my first big trainer plane tonight as i wanted to get into that side of things too and join a local club now that might just be a big waste of time, im gonna have alook through the proposals at some point but dont hold out hope. The American system seems mild to this.

[iRobot]

This makes me sad i have only just got into this hobby a year ago and now i might loose it from the sounds of it (i know people have been doing it longer not being selfsh here) , I was going to be buying my first big trainer plane tonight as i wanted to get into that side of things too and join a local club now that might just be a big waste of time, im gonna have alook through the proposals at some point but dont hold out hope. The American system seems mild to this.

Buy your plane  nothing will ever come of it, it';s the usual scaremongering.
How could it ever be enforced in reality ?,,,,if rc was seriously licensed, it wouldn';t stop me,,,I';d still just go out and fly where I want, what I want, when I want, now that';s the reality !
Only CAA can stop any aircraft flying, weather UAV, foot launched aircraft or a party bloon !  They dont care about  Rc.
More BMFA bull, and I';m not going to read any of those documents.

[Fletch]

People have been getting all excited about it today on facebook with the release of the video.

I asked for a template of a letter that could be personalised to send to EASA. 

Simon got all uppity and said that templates weren';t the way to do it, and everybody had to write there own email.

Now I';m no English teacher, but going by the standards of posts on some of these FB groups I don';t think that';s a wise plan.

What I wanted was so information that';s been gathered by the people who are making money off the industry which proves our current rules are perfectly adequate.

I wanted examples of when people broke the regs they were warned, when the rules were broken no harm came

How far off the current tech was from what the new regs wish to enforce.

I was met with a brick wall

At the moment I do my best to adhere to the rules, I';ve got insurance via Simon and I stick to the rules and regs set out by the CAA .... (Don';t ask about my vtx)

However if these new rules come in ... I won';t bother with the insurance ... And I will fly in what I consider to be a safe manner ....

As somebody else said recently ... Don';t fly like a dick and you';ll be fine!

[Bad Raven]

The usual reactions...............

So, what';s it all about? Possibly freeing up clear airspace for the commercial drone revolution (money earning)?

If you do not read anything else (and you REALLY should), please read Article 15 of the Explanatory Notes.

[Powernumpty]

Don';t forget it gives them a reason to arrest anyone "going equipped" to film government or police action against the populace.
So glad we are meant to be disconnecting with the EU mechanisms, our local aviation organisation seems level headed and realistic on this but we cannot control our own airspace, yet.

[Area21]

This is my response to the EASA Prototype Rules. As a remote piloted model aircraft flyer for over 40 years under the British Model Flying Association and Small Unmanned Aircraft System Operations Manager for Leeds Beckett University as well as running my own Aerial Imaging company SkyCaptain.co.uk and an IOSH health and safety officer. I believe the current Prototype rules as written will severely damage the model flying industry and social activity many enjoy in the UK.   However as a UK commercial SUAS pilot and health and safety officer.  I can appreciate the need to place improved regulatory controls for person flying aircraft fitted with cameras or other sensing equipment as this part of the industry grows.  However I believe you first need to clarify what these flying objects are because the word Drone in the English language means  "  an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously,without human control or beyond line of sight" Therefore you need to explain to all key stakeholders precisely what a Drone is so there is no confusion to what a fixed wing (aeroplane) or Rotary Wing ( helicopter) or Multi Rotor aircraft is that would include VTOL aircraft (vertical take-off and landing) .  I believe you also need to look at why there is a need for more regulation based on factual events/accidents for None Drone Aircraft that aero model enthusiast fly and map the results against a Specific Risk Rating Chart and not one taken from the automotive industry.  Then take all the Drone factual events/accidents and map these against the same Specific Risk Rating Chart.  This would then provide you with informed information about the two very different aircraft disciplines.  As a professional I would then focus on the higher risk rated discipline which must be Drones and leave the None Drones alone, at least for now.  Within the UK under the BMFA we have an excellent safety record with the facts to prove this and therefore I would work with the BMFA and CAA to review this, but with an intention to look for ways where further improvements to safety can be developed, but I would not go out and destroy this hobby and industry which I believe you are doing.  Then I would look at the higher risk rating with Drones by studying the current CAA regulations which to me do work, but do require improved policing.  Yes it will require manufactures to introduce better avoidance systems and redundancy systems and I am confident this will come, but with any new technology it will take time.  But what you must not do is to prevent research and development which is carried out by individuals and not just large corporations such as DJI, GoPro or Parrot drones, but support such R and D happening so stating only commercially manufactured drones will be allowed is unhelpful. 

I do think you have made a very grave mistake with the prototype rules as they stand and I do hope common sense prevails and reverses the damage this will cause and if I can be of any assistance in helping those people who in my view are making wrongly informed decisions.  I can be contacted from this email address below.

THIS WAS THE REPLY I RECEIVED 5th OCT.
From: DI RUBBO Natale [mailto:Natale.DIRUBBO@easa.europa.eu]
Sent: 05 October 2016 16:18
To: Appleyard, Adrian <A.Appleyard@leedsbeckett.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: UAS Prototype Rules.

Dear Mr Appleyard
Thank you for expressing interest in the UAS Prototype Rule.
We received your email and we will carefully evaluate it.
As it was specified in our web page, due to the amount of emails we are receiving, we cannot provide an individual answer. We are anyway developing this rule in collaboration with industry, European aviation authorities and association (remote pilots, operators, model etc) in order to find the right balance.

With regard to your query on model, we are trying to give as much flexibility as we can.
I would like to refer you for example to Article 15 of the UAS draft proposal (Prototype Rule, for your convenience I report it below). It gives the possibility to the national competent authority to issue an authorisation to model clubs identifying deviations from the European rule, no further risk assessment is required. In this way we are allowing the model clubs to operate as they do today giving maximum freedom. So if you fly within the remit of a club recognized by your national authority, you do not need to comply with the European rule since we know that a model club already imposes rules providing a sufficient level of safety.  Therefore I expect that not much will change for people flying under model clubs rules and no modification could be required to their aircraft.
Still we need to regulate the flight of UAS outside of model clubs and in order to reduce the risk, we defined limitations in energy (weight and speed or level of injury).

Regarding model aircraft we are meeting with model associations, including BMFA, FAI and other national clubs and with their help we will improve the draft text further, if needed.

As you may know we keep aviation safety as high priority and we hope this draft regulation allows the UAS market to develop safely in Europe, without negatively impacting other categories such as the model hobbyist. The purpose of publishing the "prototype" version of the regulatory proposal, while we are still working on it, was exactly to receive comments from all interested stakeholders.
So thank you for sharing your thoughts and I hope my answer helped to show that we do not intend to impede on model flights.

Article 15
Transitional provisions
For recreational operations of UA, such as leisure flights, air displays, sport or competition activities, conducted in the frame of associations or clubs with proven satisfactory safety records and performed under national systems before this Regulation enters into force, the following transitional provisions shall apply:
1. By [3 years after entry into force of this Regulation — estimate 2020], the competent authority shall issue operational authorisations to associations or clubs for the operations which would otherwise require an authorisation according to Subpart B of Annex I to this Regulation.
2. An operational authorisation can be issued without the need to conduct the operational risk assessment referred to in UAS.SPEC.60.
3. Operational authorisations issued under this Article shall define the conditions, limitations and deviations from the requirements of Subpart B of Annex I to this Regulation.

Best regards,

Natale Di Rubbo
Regulation officer – Initial Airworthiness
European Aviation Safety Agency

Tel.: +49 221 89990-4213
Postal: Postfach 10 12 53, 50452 Cologne, Germany
An agency of the European Union 

[hoverfly]

Eloquently put, will be very interesting to see any reply.

[Jumpy07]

Just to clarify some of the comments being made.. with regard to commercial operators..


Not one commercial operator I have spoken is happy about these proposed changes either, and this includes ARPAS.


I urge all of you to feedback on the proposals and / or contact your MP. etc..


Some people think brexit means that the UK will not follow EASA, but given that the UK CAA has very little resource these days and there is still a policy of following what EASA does.. this couldnt be further from the truth..


Get your voices heard !!

[apollo7]

sounds like this could be a major blow to the RC hobby, it would more than likely put a lot of retailers out of business overnight, maybe they should be lobbying the powers to be.

A lot of the tech mentioned in the rules just does not exist, a 250 max gram quad with geo fence?

I was planning on spending a good chunk of annual bonus on some thing rather nice in January, maybe i should think twice about this

I also feel that i could continue to fly my current kit in places well away from joe public and run a VERY small risk of getting into trouble
Maybe i should buy a Hubsan 501s and sneak of into the country with it after this comes into effect, if it does

[nate80]

I';m pretty impressed with all of you good souls who were able to watch that video in its entirety.  Well done!     I';ve attempted to watch it 3 or 4 times over the past couple days but can';t get more than about 2-3 minutes further into the video without almost falling asleep.      I';m totally aware that the subject is very important, so why would the guy try to send us all the sleep with a delivery similar in excitement to watching paint dry.   ;D

Seriously though, if this is a real issue and a genuine threat to our hobby and the UAV industry in the UK all affected users need properly educating and encouraging to partition or campaign for the amendment of any poorly considered legal document before it can be enforced.  That';s generally achieved by simplifying the situation and delivering a suitably short, enlivening, informative and hard hitting video that communicates the important facts simply and easily.  Asking hobbyists and the general public to go read legal documents whilst admitting they are a ';not easy going'; isn';t really the way to go!   

I believe that the issues being proposed could well be very important and equally negative for UAV pilots and hobbyists so I';ll keep at the video to find out exactly what';s being suggested.     But, if this is a genuine threat to the UAV industry, I do hope that concerned UAV companies get on board and produce some easy to digest infomercials that are found considerably more interesting by the average Jo and, therefor, likely to reach and influence a far larger portion of RC pilots who, unfortunately, won';t pay any attention to Mr. Makesmesleepy   

[guest325]

I certainly don';t think we shall be on our own in opposition to these regulations, there is definitely going to be a high contingency of European model flyers who are also going to be doing their collective fruits about these proposals. There has been a history of this sort of thing being put forward but fortunately it previously got shot down in flames - hopefully this proposal will suffer the same end, meanwhile as many of us as possible should register their feelings about the future of our hobbies (I say this collectively because it';s not just for multirotors).
I have already heard mutterings at our club meet about Drones being the cause of this happening, which in my opinion is wrong - it';s the fault of the manufacturers not making the purchasers aware of the legal requirements of buying and flying their products!!!

[Reman]

Well, That was interesting (In a "WHO THE F**K DO THEY THINK THEY ARE, TRYING TO F**K ABOUT WITH A HOBBY I';VE PEACEFULLY BEEN INVOLVED IN FOR OVER 30 YEARS !?!?! )

The government say they';ll have to get revenue for implementing this system.......... Well, I think that as 99.99% of people buying a 30 quid toy quad from China will have feck all clue that this crock of sh1t legislation even exists, They';ll be claiming more money from fines than registration. Why can';t these self appointed morons leave the f**k alone?!?!?!

To me it feel';s like when they banned hand guns under the idea that as lots of violent crimes involve hand guns, banning them will OBVIOUSLY reduce violent crime......... Except that violent criminals didn';t feel obligated to hand in their illegally owned guns (They can be SO uncooperative like that)......... And I think that if this clunky POS system comes in, A fair few people here may decide to just ignore it (I can see underground 250 racing leagues starting up all over Europe. :) ).

[trebor]

It';s getting to a stage where the pen pushers are knocking all the fun out of doing anything nowerdays. Hell you can';t even play conkers anymore.

[DarkButterfly]

It';s getting to a stage where the pen pushers are knocking all the fun out of doing anything nowerdays. Hell you can';t even play conkers anymore.

They';re closing all the best nightclubs too, no wonder illegal raves are becoming more frequent.

Seems like all the fun activities are being forced underground and if it came to it, I';d end up joining the underground drone scene

[trebor]

I';m sure it';s another ploy to extract money out of us eventually without doing anything for it appart from sitting on their backside and thinking of different ways how to do it.

[Two-Six]

I am going to write some letters to my MP and my EuroMP';s , this is so serious I can';t not try to do something. 

Is there a petition to sign on change.org or somewhere? 

If there isn';t there should be, not that they make any difference to anything, it would be the least I could do.

Hopefully this is the art of negotiation in action to give them some credit, if that';s in any way possible.   They set ludicrously high goals and then talk them down, hopefully to such a low level they just jog on and leave us alone.

However we are still going to end up with less freedom and more stuff we aren';t allowed to do anymore.

"For The Common Good"
Its Communitarianism innit.

[Fletch]

However we are still going to end up with less freedom and more stuff we aren';t allowed to do anymore.

More stuff we aren';t allowed to get CAUGHT doing!

[iRobot]

Seems like all the fun activities are being forced underground and if it came to it, I';d end up joining the underground drone scene

Underground drone scene  I like it ! 

The ';UDS';  flying 300 size power quads with long range fpv gear, flying from secret locations,,,,nobody ever sees the pilots 

I';m in !

[trebor]

I';m in !!!

[Powernumpty]

You';d have to set up "crash sites" where in the event of the authorities turning up you can hit RTSML (return to secret mountain lair) and your kit goes off and hides, waiting for the fuss to die down. Users could end up stock piling FlySky i6';s as they';d be cheap enough to lose if caught. Other option is to have a RC car with you so you switch the that model, the quad figures the game is up goes RTSML and you pretend to be interested in the ground vehicle (that';s the hard bit).

Obviously I';m not condoning doing any of this, it';s just a mental exercise.

[nub]

good luck to them trying to actually enforce the new rules if they happen

[iRobot]

Yep, when I mentioned all this to the wife, she just rolled her eyes, laughed and then had a quick rant about how in the town we live in, on a Saturday night there';s only 2 police officers on duty !

Enforcement 0  -  Drones  1

[Fletch]

We are turning into the states!