Golden Age of C/L

[pat king]

Earlier today a friend in the C/L kit business said that someone told him that C/L is dying. I have another friend that says now is the Golden Age of C/L. I have to agree with that. There are more than 300 laser cut kits available for C/L airplanes, probably closer to 400. These kits range from Old Time airplanes to modern precision aerobatic airplanes. There kits available for airplanes from 10 ½” wingspan to 84” wingspan. These laser cut kits are significantly better than the old die cut kits. The wood is better. The parts actually fit together. The airplanes that are reproductions of old airplanes fly better than the originals. There are great kits available; there are ARF C/L airplanes available. There are new production Glow and Diesel engines available. There are electric power systems available.
Our R/C brethren have a greater chance of their part of the sport dying due to the actions of flyers of autonomous drones and FPV drones, and the actions of the people making, selling and supporting them.  If the FAA comes to the realization that these aircraft are not “hobby” vehicles but “launch and forget” weapons the R/C part of model aviation could be in a lot of trouble.

Pat

[wwwarbird]

  If the FAA comes to the realization that these aircraft are not “hobby” vehicles but “launch and forget” weapons the R/C part of model aviation could be in a lot of trouble.

Pat

 If and when that happens I don't see the "powers that be" differentiating any between R/C and C/L modeling. Not that it will do any good, but we should all be just as concerned.

[pat king]

The FAA has already classified C/l airplanes as tethered craft like kites. I hope that people come to their senses and the model airplane hobby does not become exceptionally restricted. It seems to me that AMA is more concerned with protecting advertising revenue than protecting the hobby of model aviation.

Pat

[Mike Keville]

RC fanatics brought it on themselves: oversized, overweight, overpowered machines, hardly qualifying as "models" - some of which could be used as lethal weapons.

Ours are tethered...never roaming more than 70 feet from the operator.

That being said, there's no accounting for Government paranoia.

<sigh> I miss the Old Days.

[Bill Burton]

Hi Pat,

I rarely post on here but do read as many posts that interest me as possible.  Your post is very astute and I agree with you.  I noticed that the administrator, Mr. Storick, locked down a previous thread about the circus that is the AMA which kind of puzzles me but in any case I have not belonged to the AMA for a couple of years now since I am a sport flyer, do not compete and fly on private ground.

This organization has in my opinion, shot themselves in the foot and have basically prostituted themselves to promoting Chinese made foamies, ARFs and RTFs and their publication is basically an advertising medium for Hobby King.  It is only a matter of time until they put themselves out of business.

Now is a perfect time for the Control Line segment to set themselves apart and segregate themselves into an entity within themselves and be recognized as non threatening flying models.

This is just my opinion and others may disagree, but when the hammer comes down, it will not distinguish between what is a public threat and what is not.

Sincerely,
BB

[Mike Keville]

". . . It seems to me that AMA is more concerned with protecting advertising revenue than protecting the hobby of model aviation."
Pat

=============================================

That's why some of us are now calling it the Academy of Multirotors and ARFs.

[RC Storick]

Mr. Storick, locked down a previous thread about the circus that is the AMA which kind of puzzles me but in any case I have not belonged to the AMA for a couple of years now since I am a sport flyer, do not compete and fly on private ground.

The thread was locked down because of nit picking of copy and paste and any other thing I happen to post.

[Sean McEntee]

There is one entity that I really think that we should seek some sort of support or assistance from; and that the continuation of aeromodeling would benifit; and that is the EAA.  Areas such as homebuilding, much like CL, is shrinking and folks in the homebuilders community are looking for the next generation as well.  Over the past several years, EAA has come to the realization that...wait for it...full scale aviation is expensive and beyond the financial reach of most people.  A more economical way to reach kids and generate interest in aviation is, yes, model airplanes. The AMA has had an increased footprint in the 10 or so years I've been going up to EAA Airventure

I see the continuation of aeromodeling to be in the interest of both parties.