FAA Announces Final Small UAS Rule

Transcription

1 The Albuquerque Radio Control Club Newsletter July AMA Chartered Club #2022 FAA Announces Final Small UAS Rule On Tuesday June 21st the Department of Transportation s Federal Aviation Administration released its final rule for small UAS, which will apply to commercial and civil operations. It is important to understand that the final small UAS rule does not change model aircraft operations for AMA members. In fact, the rule affirms Congress intent in the Special Rule for Model Aircraft that the FAA not promulgate any additional regulations on our community. The new rules are Part 107 of the FAR s. To quote the last paragraph of the FAA s press release: Part 107 will not apply to model aircraft. Model aircraft operators must continue to satisfy all the criteria specified in Section 336 of Public Law (which will now be codified in part 101), including the stipulation they be operated only for hobby or recreational purposes. For more on the FAA s final small UAS rule, we encourage you to read this USA Today story, FAA completes landmark rules for commercial drones, which includes a mention of AMA s analysis of UAS sightings released earlier this month. USA Today: news/2016/06/21/faa-commercial-dronerules/ / AMA s analysis: amablog.modelaircraft.org/amagov/ files/2016/06/ama-analysis-final pdf Scale Meet This Weekend This years scale meet is being held this coming weekend June Having talked with some of the people we are expecting a good turn out of folks from out of town. The weather prediction is for partly cloudy days with temps in the low 90 s and a slight chance of rain if a stray thunder cloud should pass over. We have a nice line-up of prizes again this year featuring a Douglas DC-3 kit for the Pilots Choice Award. We also have a P -47D and Cessna 182 kits for the best military and civilian awards. Come out and join in the fun. We look forward to seeing you. NEXT MEETING July 7th, 2016 at the Asbury Methodist Church at 7pm. Program: Stan Johnson will give a presentation on the tricks used to take warps out of wings and flight control surfaces. Raffle: This month we will have the AMA card drawing for a $20 gift card to Hobby Proz. Don t forget to bring an item for show-n-tell! Continued page 3

2 The Presidents Message Hi Guys, Our 2016 Scale Meet is almost here. June 25 th and 26 th. Vic is our CD for this event and we have some really nice prizes this year I would like to thank Keith for all the effort he has put in getting sponsors for these prizes. We will be having our hamburgers and meal deals again this year but without the Power Ford trailer and grill. We purchased a new grill and will have a covered area with tables setup. I would like to thank Vic and Keith for coming out to the field this week to help go through the shed and clean out all the stuff not needed and organize the remaining items. It was a real mess. Mark gave us two shelves which we added. We put a lot of items on the shelves to make it easier to find things. We donated coffee cups and items for Lester to use with the Tuesday group that he is working with. Vic and I assembled the new grill and tested it. We hope Top Bun is pleased with it. It was getting hot that morning and then the wind picked up. So, come on out to the Scale meet and bring all those new and repaired planes and lets have some fun. We will have more information on the AMA National Aviation Day event on August 13 th (What used to be our Family Fun Day) later. Mark will be the CD for this event and will update information as it s put together. Keep them flying and don t get to hot with this very hot weather. Rick ARCC Calendar June 24 Board Meeting Asbury June Scale Fly-In Maloof July 7 Club Meeting Asbury Aug 4 Club Meeting Asbury Aug 13 National Modeling Day Maloof Sept 3-4 Labor Day Fly-In Maloof Sept Old Timer Fun Fly Moriarty Sept Heli Meet Maloof Sept 24 Fall Swap Meet Maloof ARCC General Membership Meeting Minutes 2 June 2016 The meeting was called to order at 1908 with 6 members present. Announcements Sunday 5 Jun RMF open house. Scale Meet 25/26 June (CD Vic) Guest(s) Garland Oberle Treasurer Report Vic reported the club s balance Report approved Secretary Report As posted in the newsletter Approved Discussion Discussion with Parks and Rec Sent for update They are still waiting for concept from their consultant Proposal from Mark Mark not here to discuss so carried over to next meeting Every other month or every third month meet somewhere else like O Neils 2016 Event Dates Scale Meet 25/26 June (CD Vic) National Model Aviation Day 13 August (CD Chuck/ Mark) Labor Day 3/4 September (CD Rick) Swap Meet 24 September (CD Rick) Heli Meet 23/24/25 Sep (CD Anthony) Night flying on 24 th until 10 pm Family Day Have Mark recap out discussion with Shane D'Onofrio Family Day The ASK Academy Safety Minute Stan not present to present the safety minute AMA Card Draw Members declined, not enough present to have a drawing Presentation(s) Les mentioned an ap RC Maps which will show all RC fields in the US Show & Tell No one here brought an item to present Continued on page 3

3 There is a 60 day comment period before the new rules go into effect. Nothing has been found giving any indication of what will happen to the temporary rules that the FAA has previously issued. I am hoping that the pilot registration requirement will go away, but I have my doubts. It is good that the FAA has reaffirmed that hobbyist activities are to operate under Public Law section 336. This is the law protecting us from additional rules by the FAA. Section 336 is not that long and you should read it. It is being included here for your convenience: SEC SPECIAL RULE FOR MODEL AIRCRAFT. (a)in GENERAL. Notwithstanding any other provision of law relating to the incorporation of unmanned aircraft systems into Federal Aviation Administration plans and policies, including this subtitle, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft, if (1) the aircraft is flown strictly for hobby or recreational use; (2) the aircraft is operated in accordance with a community based set of safety guidelines and within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization; (3) the aircraft is limited to not more than 55 pounds unless otherwise certified through a design, construction, inspection, flight test, and operational safety program administered by a community-based organization; (4) the aircraft is operated in a manner that does not interfere with and gives way to any manned aircraft; and (5) when flown within 5 miles of an airport, the operator of the aircraft provides the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the airport) with prior notice of the operation (model aircraft operators flying from a permanent location within 5 miles of an airport should establish a mutuallyagreed upon operating procedure with the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower (when an air traffic facility is located at the airport)). (b) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION. Nothing Continued from page 2 New Business No new business Next Meetings The next board meeting is on FRIDAY 24 June at 6:30 pm at the church. It is open to the general membership. The next general membership meeting will be on 7 July 2016 at the church. Meeting adjourned at 2035 in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the Administrator to pursue enforcement action against persons operating model aircraft who endanger the safety of the national airspace system. (c) MODEL AIRCRAFT DEFINED. In this section, the term model aircraft means an unmanned aircraft that is (1)capable of sustained flight in the atmosphere; (2)flown within visual line of sight of the person operating the aircraft; and (3)flown for hobby or recreational purposes. Hope this helps, Vic

4 Nail Those Landings by Dan Stahn Anoka County Radio Control Club, Inc., Coon Rapids, MN Hello fellow members. I was looking through my latest Plane & Pilot magazine. Hang with me for a minute. It had an article about getting set up for landings. It was titled 101 Secrets for Super Landings. I picked out 22 that would apply to RC. Now you re thinking, 101 secrets, that s a lot. How many things do I need to do or think about to land my airplane? Landings are when you need to concentrate the most on what the airplane is doing and making the airplane go where you want it to go. I m not going to use all 101 secrets here mainly because they don t all apply. Such as landing on a slope, and using the runway numbers through the windshield to control your glide slope, or even about warning your passengers about moving around during the landing. Or having you radios tuned to the correct ATC frequency before getting in the pattern. You know; stuff like that. What I have done is to apply those that would help you to place your airplane in the pattern at our RC field as if it were the real, full-scale pattern. Over the years I have used these helpful articles to better myself and to help me make the landing to look much better and hit the runway as many times as I can. Give these a try and see if there aren t any of these secrets that can help you. 1. Have a plan: Don t let the airplane determine your approach. Plan out your landing well in advance. Maybe two or three circuits around the pattern before you make the landing. 2. Visualize the flight path: Think ahead of the airplane and imagine your flight path as a narrow rectangular tunnel with the runway at the end. 3. Keep your downward approach consistent: Put your airplane in the same place every time. 4. Fluctuations in speed are wasting precious altitude and energy. 5. Deploying flaps at too fast of a speed only messes up your trim and you can t keep steady throttle settings. 6. Don t wrestle with it; you make the airplane land. 7. Think centerline: Form a routine where you put the airplane on the centerline of the runway every time. 8. Don t chase the airspeed: Wind gusts can cause air speed fluctuations. Don t chase them; average out the fluctuations by holding the nose attitude steady. 9. Have a go-around point selected: Designate a place on the runway as your touchdown area. If you don t make it, go around. Don t make a bad situation worse. 10. Don t forget to flare: When you are short on final, be thinking of the flare before you touchdown. 11. Make small power changes: It s always best to make small power changes when needed rather than being behind a change and then having to play catch up. 12. Correct flight-path changes immediately: Either speed or position or whatever if it isn t right, fix it. Don t let needed corrections pile up. 13. Plan ahead: This is very important. Compare where the airplane will go if you don t change anything to where it will go if you do. If they don t match, make it match. 14. Don t fly the pattern too fast: If you fly at a reduced speed, you lessen the chance of missing the runway. 15. Practice approaches: Spend a couple of flights just doing touchand-gos or complete landings and then take off again. This will help you to get the feel for the runway. 16. Think about the rudder as centerline control: Use the rudder to keep the nose ahead of the tail, independent of the ailerons. 17. Adjust for the crosswind before the flare: Use the rudder to keep the nose and tail on the centerline and use ailerons to kill the crosswind. 18. Adjust the landing pattern for the size of the airplane: Small airplanes need smaller patterns. Big and fast airplanes need more room. 19. Don t let the nose land first: If you have trigear, hold the flare so you land on the mains first. 20. Don t try to save a bad bounce: Go around and try again. 21. Break the glide then set up the flare: On approach, don t fly into the runway and flare, it will bounce. 22. After a crosswind landing, don t relax the ailerons: Keep the ailerons into the wind until you stop. And use the rudder to stay on the centerline of the runway. You might be thinking that these hints are not needed when you go out to fly that Pizazz or Fun- Tiger or Ultrastik and that s okay. These airplanes are designed to do tight maneuvers and fly radically and fly slow with small amounts of wind, that s why we like them. But they too can be landed on the runway every time using these hints. It surely helps when you fly the scale or heavy wing loaded airplanes. You might even be able to step up to the next level of airplane with these hints.

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