[Healeys] OT: Re: get a load of this one..

[Skip Saunders]

Hear!  Hear!.... well said, Bob.

 

There is no need for the list involving our beloved Healeys to be polluted with the emotional political BS that already is plentiful elsewhere in our country's media.

 

Thanks

-skip-

 

From: Healeys [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Bob Spidell
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 10:18 AM
To: Michael MacLean
Cc: healeys
Subject: [Healeys] OT: Re: get a load of this one..

 

That's the problem with being a johnny-come-lately.  I'm 62, a fourth-generation Californian and have lived my entire life here, and I certainly don't feel as threatened as you do (though I've noticed that a lot of people tend to get paranoid as they get older).  Yes, California is getting crowded because just about everybody in the world, it seems, wants to live here.  The people freezing their asses off back east will likely give it some thought when they hear about our recent 70deg+ weather; not to mention the relative abundance of jobs--including yours--being created in spite of our nazi-communist-facist-socialist government.

Your claim that the FAA "wants to treat my 7 pound model airplane that does not fly out of my sight or place anyone or anything in danger like all aircraft and make me be licensed to fly it. of course the license is not free" is factually incorrect.  The truth is here: https://www.faa.gov/uas/model_aircraft/   

It took all of 10 seconds of internet searching to find this, although I was probably already more informed about this than you ever will be because I'm a private pilot and have been following this topic in the news and aviation publications for quite a while.  Yes, pilots really are concerned about this as there have already been several reported instances of 'near misses' with both commercial and general aviation aircraft.  And, your 7lb RC aircraft could do significant damage--possibly even cause a crash (birds have brought down aircraft, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549)--to a light aircraft traveling at speeds in excess of 100MPH, and the airlines are rightfully concerned about someone flying one of the larger drones into an airliner full of passengers (don't think it could happen? Ever hear about the idiots pointing lasers at aircraft?).   

California is such a terrible place for RC aircraft enthusiasts they build special 'airports'--there's one in nearby Livermore--so that the RC people have their own runway, airspace and parking to indulge their hobby.  At the park I often run at--Rancho San Antonio in Los Altos--the RC people had their own area and there were some conflicts so the terrible California people said "Hey, let's fence off part of the park for the RC aircraft people and tell others to stay the hell away from it."  Problem solved.  And, your attempt to conflate a federal agency, the FAA--ever ask yourself what the big 'F' stands for?--with the state of California get's an 'A' for creativity, but an 'F' for veracity.  Side note: the FAA rules seem onerous at times--the FAR, the book of regulations for pilots, is 2-3 inches thick of fine print--but I respect them because most were written because somebody--often, a lot of somebodies--died.  The FAA is indeed struggling with this, as they are trying to balance the 'rights' of the RC/drone people with the rights of everybody else.

I could go on, but I'm probably pushing the limit on message size, but I'll say one more thing: Apparently, you moved to California in '71 because California afforded you an opportunity for a good career; a career that has done so well for you that you are now able to contemplate retirement.  Yet you can't resist taking a swipe at the very state that afforded you this opportunity and enabled you to prosper.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Cheers,
Bob




On 2/13/2016 10:22 PM, Michael MacLean wrote:

I moved here in 1971. It was a very different place back then.  Not as crowded and not as regulated in all aspects of life.  These days you can't keep up with all the nanny state laws being passed every year.  You can be a law abiding citizen one day and a potential felon the next.  Every year brings more regulations and control over almost everything you do.  Let's not get started on the gun control issue.  Now they can take all your firearms with no crime having been committed. All someone has to do is convince a judge you MIGHT do something to yourself or someone else.  If that is not the thought police, I don't know what is.  Yes, you don't have to smog a car made before 1975, but every year some lame brain democrat will introduce a bill to make ALL cars have to undergo smog either retro actively or be destroyed even though they do not contribute even 1 percent of the smog to California.  That bimbo from the San Francisco are Fran Pavley tried to get all motorcycles have to undergo smog tests retroactively back many years over a certain engine size.  Never mind motorcycles are not ridden as much or as often as automobiles or are a mall percentage of all vehicles on the road.  Luckily it was defeated.  It all started going down hill when the legislature in California went for being is session for six months out of the year to year round.  Yes Bob I do feel free to leave this quagmire of rules and control of personal liberties. Every one of my hobbies I will pursue when I retire is now being controlled by either the state of California or as in my radio control hobby the federal government being the FAA in particular.  The FAA wants to treat my 7 pound model airplane that does not fly out of my sight or place anyone or anything in danger like all aircraft and make me be licensed to fly it. of course the license is not free.  You have to pay for the government to control you.  I retire from the railroad at the end of the year and am seriously eyeing Arizona as a retirement destination.  At least there I don't worry about  an new firearm law being passed every 5 minutes.

Mike MacLean  

 

 

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