SunshynFF
 lvl.2
Flight distance : 30010 ft
United States
Offline
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I know this is an older post, but you made a very good point and I wanted to add to it....
Everyone keeps saying "what ever that means" referring to CBO's[community based organization]), which can mean AMA in a round about way. A true CBO is much smaller, like a group I'm in near St. Louis, StL FPV Racers, and there is another local group called Stl Whirlybirds (heli and fixed wing club), those organizations both meet the certain requirements, i.e. member notification protocols, training every so often, meetings at least bi annually I think, to make them an official AMA organization, with a CBO ID. So if you are part of their club, you are officially flying under the guidelines of a CBO. The catch is to be a member of most of them, they require you to be an AMA member, and some have yearly dues. Now the FPV race group I fly with is only a couple yrs old, and the RC park the Whirlybirds use was kind enough to set aside a 2acre field for our racing quads. Our group has no fees and has few meetings, but we are registered officially as a sub group of the whirlybirds, they only ask that we show up at some of their events and volunteer some work. BUT...to fly at the RC park, or to enter any sanctioned FPV race, you must have......you guessed it, an AMA card.
The other thing you mentioned, the ARRL, would also count as a CBO. Many drone pilots, especially racers/freestylers don't realize this, but if you are using the 5.8, 2.4 or 1.2GHz frequency for your radio or your fpv camera system, you are supposed to have a HAM operator license. It's about as, or probably less, enforced than jay walking, I don't think the FCC cares. I actually just read an article, and I was not aware of this, it was only like 2011/2012 the the whole drone responsibility was dumped in the FAA's lap. Before then, RC hobbyists were only regulated by the FCC, which had a very good relationship with the AMA, so most RC folks just worried about AMA regs. I was under the impression the FAA jumped at the chance to assert their rule over another group of people, but apparently they were none to happy to take on the responsibility. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sticking up for them, they've had plenty of time to get their act together...lol. |
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