I'm opposed to the proposed rules. The traditional aviation hobbyist isn't ignorant, incompetent or malicious. And the problem we've seen from some drone hobbyists, resulting in the problems that this rule stems from, are ignorant, incompetent, or malicious. And this rule isn't going to fix that. It might make it very slightly easier to identify the rule breakers, but I think that's specious.
But now, there are all kinds of private for-profit forces at play to become the rent-seeking gate keepers for internet connected, and thus approved, operations. Commercial operators will have no problem with this, whether $50 or $500 a month, it's just a cost of doing business. And getting hobbyists out of the way is A-OK with them.
It's terrible, but also an entirely predictable consequence of decades of FAA defunding, and the neurotic application of politics in aviation causing decades of delays in modernizing the ATC system. Politicians and bean counters have the political capital to make the new system, not FAA enforcement experts, pilots, and user experts (including hobbyists) of that system. It's yet another example of special interests with the money winning.
There was a working group of stakeholders that worked hard for months on proposed LAANC systems and solutions that included the AMA and FliteTest and it was disregarded.
Discussion on YouTube suggest the NPRM was mostly written by non-pilot lawyers and lobbyists for Amazon and Verizon, ignoring the findings and suggestions of the working group. So a large segment of airspace users are ignored (fpv racing and freestyle drone pilots, photo drone pilots, RC airplane hobbyists, etc numbering a few million people and all the supporting industry and hobby shops, STEM robotics educators, DRL fpv racing on ESPN, etc). So this is why we are protesting.
But now, there are all kinds of private for-profit forces at play to become the rent-seeking gate keepers for internet connected, and thus approved, operations. Commercial operators will have no problem with this, whether $50 or $500 a month, it's just a cost of doing business. And getting hobbyists out of the way is A-OK with them.
It's terrible, but also an entirely predictable consequence of decades of FAA defunding, and the neurotic application of politics in aviation causing decades of delays in modernizing the ATC system. Politicians and bean counters have the political capital to make the new system, not FAA enforcement experts, pilots, and user experts (including hobbyists) of that system. It's yet another example of special interests with the money winning.
(inactive CFII)