nudge

I am not sure where I stand on the RID thing. For starters I am not sure every model will be able to fit the module, I could probably get one on a 5 inch quad but there is no way I could get one onto the 3 inch quad, does that mean I can no longer fly the smaller one. I know they are saying we would probably not need it at a bmfa site but we do have an old building near here we occasionally fly at. Similarly a friend of mine flys dlg and having see some pics of his builds where he has had to cut servo lugs off just to get the kit in then there is no way he could fit a module in there. Again not an issue on a club site but he lives in Devon and can fly pretty much anywhere on dartmoor I believe. Some sort of mobile app that logs your location has been suggested but not every area has a signal - my mate on dartmoor for example. Personally i wonder if we could have a website that allows you to pre-log your intention to fly, ie. log on in the morning to state where and when you will be flying that day. This would eliminate the need for modules or a phone signal and the authorities would still know who was flying where and when - obviously apart from those with bad intentions who are never going to comply with any regs anyway.

I too like building, flying and planning flights. I do not publish videos on the internet (in fact i very rarely even record my flights), I fly within the same field area as the planes just at a lower level, ideally zipping through holes in and around the gorse bushes. Can't see as it's that different to you really just mine is a freestyle drone. However I can also appreciate the other disciplines eg. went to a rc glider meet recently and was impressed watching them search out thermals to prolong the flight or the skill involved in a traditional built up plane having witnessed my old man building me a rubber band powered free flight model back when i was a kid - hundreds of pins on dining room table as he glued all the wing ribs up etc. I think clubs should be more open to allowing drones to join especially given what appears to be dwindling numbers at some of the clubs I visited recently looking for somewhere to fly. 2 had only a handful of members and were struggling to pay the land owners rental charge. Surely expanding the membership would make sense in this case and can be done without impacting their fixed wing flying as other clubs have managed to integrate drones without much change to the status quo. Like you i do see consumer camera drones as a problem and the reason for the increasing legislation but not all drones and flyers are the same.

Why is this the default attitude of so many plane flyers. I fly fpv race / freestyle drones and would argue they take as much if not more skill to fly than a plane. We lost our flying site and have approached about 8 clubs within 40 miles here and most have basically said " oh my god, no we can't have drones here" as if they are some sort of plauge carrier. One was prepared to accept me only if I also agreed to fly fixed wing and only one was progressive and friendly enough to accept my drones without issue. I would fully agree dji style camera drones that can be flown by a child with no training can and indeed have helped give drones a bad name, and as for the "auditors" they are purely in it to get a reaction for views so would happily see rules tightened to stop these clowns but please don't tar us all with the same brush. Incidentally my new club were so friendly they are going to try and teach me fixed wing which I am going to give a go - may even buy one if I like it.