News

February Meeting

There were 16 members present at the meeting on the 18th of February. The current paid membership count is now 22 members.

The field that we are located in has been divided up between the Jamestown tribe and the creamery, so we will be loosing our field soon, possibly this summer.

See the minutes in the Members Only section for more details on the meeting.

Safety Items

A recent experience with a lipo battery has resulted in fire resistant charging bags being available at the charging stations. Please use them when you charge lipo batteries.
If you haven't heard, a 6 cell battery on a charger began popping and hissing (not normal) and was fortunately removed immediately to outside, where it was placed on the ground and within seconds erupted into a very impressive flame of 4 feet or so. Obviously that would not have been good on the wooden counter with the wooden cabinets above.

Air Affaire Fund Raiser

We still a volunteer to take charge of collecting donations from local businesses as well as being available to attend meetings with the Air Affaire group during the planning stages. Of course more than one volunteer would be better, so don't hold back because you think someone else is doing the job.

The final tally for the 2019 Air Affaire fund raiser was slightly above $3100. This years event will be Saturday only (along with the Air Affaire going to one day), so more donations will be very helpful in getting our contribution to VHoCC higher.

FAA and AMA Requirements

If you are following the AMA's updates regarding the FAA and UAS regulations you should be aware that one of the rules being discussed will change the registration from registering the operator only to registering each aircraft. This is a major shift in the FAA's thinking and will cost those of us with several aircraft a bit more money (registration cost have not been decided). Also under consideration is the requirement for electronic tracking devices to be installed in each aircraft flown, another potentially costly rule change. From the last update received from the AMA and FAA, it appears that this will become required.

One piece of good news (so far) is that it looks like we can keep flying as we always have until the final rules become law. As the AMA points out, that could be months or years before the FAA settles on the rules and they become law.

FPV Requirements

The AMA has a rule regarding FPV operations that states all FPV flyers must have a spotter, and that spotter must maintain line of sight with the aircraft. It also says that the spotter must be able to take over the controls of the aircraft if necessary. Spotters are not a bad idea any time you are flying, but especially helpful for FPV operations, and now are required. Please adhere to the AMA rules.

The current FAA rule requires your FAA UAS registration number to be displayed on the outside of the airframe. No changes have been made regarding size, specific location on the airframe exterior, etc., so be sure to get your legible registration number on the exterior of all of your aircraft.

The FAA rules regarding UAS operations are in a state of flux and will continue to change for some time. We all need to stay abreast of the changes and abide by them. Stay tuned...