The Death of Hobby Aviation
Could the repeal of Section 336 be the death knell for hobby aviation?
We certainly hope not. However, the billions of potential value in the future commercial drone delivery industry, as with all new technologies, inevitably leads to the unholy union of industry and power hungry government. In this case it is the wedding of the Commercial Drone Alliance to the U.S. House Aviation Subcommittee.
In Short:
Section 336 "Special Rule for Model Aircraft” prevents the FAA from regulating the operation of small remote controlled aircraft operating below 400ft AGL.
The Commercial Drone Alliance wants to monetize this airspace for delivery of packages and they don't want to spend extra to equip their drones with the ability to "See and Avoid" hobby air traffic much like driver less cars have to "See and Avoid" pedestrians.
In the end there will likely be a requirement for every powered aircraft of every size to have a transponder to assist in aircraft avoidance. These will quickly become inexpensive and manageable. If instead the requirement is one to one registration with the FAA of aircraft to transponder ID and operator registration then it will fast become yet another Govt boondoggle benefiting only the CDA.
