Rules and Laws regarding RC and model aircraft

[mavic3usa]

When you see city ordinances and park rules and regulations regarding flying RC aircraft or model aircraft, does that automatically included drones?

Please help me understand why the difference is important and why it might be unsafe to fly a remote control airplane in a crowded city park but perhaps not a drone.

I don't have too much knowledge about model aircraft so aside from the technical differences (regarding the naming, etc) how would you tell someone that your drone is not much like a model aircraft and should not be regarded as the same? The drone doesn't need a runway to take off and land? The drone can hover and has sensors to avoid people and objects? The drone has a camera so you can guide it while flying more precisely rather than strictly relying on VLOS? The drone tends not to crash land when the battery is depleted or when it exceed the range of the remote controller?

Don't know how much of this is true or not but as you know, for many many years before drones became popular, lots of places prohibited flying RC planes, perhaps for good reason, and you didn't see RC planes flying there but only at designated airfields. Today, those rules and regulations haven't changed and with drones on the scene, are we automatically swept under the same? Very little experience with flying at designated fields because the few that I have seen has said NO DRONES.

Looking for thoughts and opinions and ideas about how you see it.

 

[GFields]

RC aircraft or model aircraft, does that automatically included drones?

I would say YES.

 

[Cafguy]

For the most part Law enforcement considers them the same. Most parks here in So. Cal. allow small drones and small park flyer type rc aircraft if you have a trust card.. I am an AMA member and have been flying R.C. most of my life. While Todays drones are pretty failsafe its not 100 percent for sure you won't crash and hit someone. and the same laws that make me fly my airplanes at an A.M.A. Model Airfield were made to keep our toys away from other people. Park flyers and Mini Drones don't cause to much of a fuss. but your still around people. lately we have been having to use our flying field for FPV Racing, most parks around here say no.

 

[Vic Moss]

RC aircraft are Radio Controlled Aircraft. Our drones are aircraft controlled by radios. So yeah, drones would fall under that same ban.

 

[Ralph thompson]

In Canada the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs Part 900) were introduced in 2019 and cover all remotely piloted vehicles (I expect a similar thing in the US) but RC aircraft are treated as an exception. Membership provides insurance and allows you to fly at the RC fields without the advanced pilot requirements. For example we have a WIMAC (MAAC) RC field is in Class C airspace on Montreal Island. Today a drone operator would have to have a registered drone and Advanced Pilot license to operate in Class C airspace. But if you join WIMAC/MAAC you can operate at the RC field without the advanced license. I used it to practise drone flying before and after the new CARs. Complicated SFOC's were necessary to operate a drone in Class C airspace before the new regs. It's very helpful to operate at a RC field, really knowledgable and skillful flyers belong to MAAC which provide you with much better understanding of flying remotely piloted aircraft.

 

[Zbip57]

Canadian Aviation Regulations [...] cover all remotely piloted vehicles [...] but RC aircraft are treated as an exception.

That's not exactly correct. You make it sound like drones must comply, but RC aircraft don't have to.

The Canadian Aviation Regulations make no distinction between "RC Aircraft" or any other remotely piloted aircraft. Scale model Spitfires are treated exactly the same as drones.

Members of the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada (MAAC) previously were exempted from complying with the new RPAS regulations under this Transport Canada Exemption (read it here). MAAC members fly all sorts of radio controlled aircraft including scale models, sailplanes, helicopters, and multirotor drones.

Today a drone operator would have to have a registered drone and Advanced Pilot license to operate in Class C airspace.

An operator of any small remotely piloted aircraft (250g-25kg), whether it's a scale model Spitfire or a drone, requires an Advanced certificate to fly within controlled airspace, unless they're a member of MAAC operating under the conditions of the MAAC exemption.

However, Transport Canada rescinded the entire MAAC exemption back in February because several member clubs had breached the conditions of that exemption. Has that exemption been restored yet?

Don explains what happened...

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[Ralph thompson]

Ok I think we’re saying the same thing but I didn’t no TC had rescinded the exemption, I’m no longer an active MAAC member. So yr saying all the RC club members at RC airports in controlled airspace have to have advanced licenses if their model is 250 grams or higher? That must have upset a few people, the advanced test is not simple ( or it wasn’t when I took it in June 2019) and the irony is that most of the RC pilots I knew were much more skilled RC operators than me.

 

[Zbip57]

So you're saying all the RC club members at RC airports in controlled airspace have to have advanced licenses if their model is 250 grams or higher? That must have upset a few people [...]

It meant no more exemption for MAAC members. According to the regulations, everything that flies remotely controlled (250g-25kg) must be registered and pilots must hold at least a Basic certificate. If you fly within controlled airspace your aircraft must be on the approved list for Advanced flight, and the pilot must hold an Advanced certificate and have passed a Flight Review.

For sure, that would have upset a LOT of people who believed MAAC was looking out for them. I'm curious whether any of that has been resolved yet as I'm no longer a MAAC member either.

The advanced test is not simple ( or it wasn’t when I took it in June 2019) [...]

Kudos to you for taking the Advanced test. It's certainly not easy. I only did the Basic so I can occasionally still fly my Phantom legally. Otherwise it's sub-250g Mini all the time.

[...] the irony is that most of the RC pilots I knew were much more skilled RC operators than me.

Agreed. At least the Advanced level requires a Flight Review during a portion of which you actually need to demonstrate that you're capable of controlling your drone (similar to the MAAC tests before being allowed to fly at their fields).

But the Transport Canada Flight Review is more about your flight planning, testing your knowledge of the regulations and general airmanship, keeping logbooks, preflight site survey, knowing how to set up orange pylons to stake out a safe perimeter for your takeoff and landing site, etc. For the Basic certificate there's no requirement whatsoever for any flight test showing you know how to fly your aircraft.

 

[hiflyer201]

Interesting to me that there are RC airports so near many airports. KWJF and KVNY for instance.(one of the busiest corporate jet airports in the US”. R C flights at these airports are definitely line of sight, and if we’re being totally honest, that’s probably rarely true 100% of the time with drones.