The Academy offers guidance regarding the legality and licensing requirements pertaining to flying FPV. Please read this statement to ensure that you are abiding by FCC policies. FPV operations are covered by AMA’s liability insurance, but there are some restrictions. https://www.modelaircraft.org/files/FPVFCC.pdf
If you have further questions please contact: competition@modelaircraft.org
I am a amatuer radio operator and I can operate whatever frequency I am authorized on including 6,430,900,1.2 ghz and so on.. There are many who are Illegally operating and should be dealt with accordingly.
I can also operate with higher power limits because I hold a applicable license.
I have been an amateur radio operator since 1957 and also hold the Extra Class License. When I fly FPV I use either the 910 MHz band or the 1280 MHz band transmitters. I see a lot of people who are using 5.6 GHz and 2.4 GHz links.
I would hate to see the insurance not pay for someone crashing a model into a car at the flying field or perhaps hurting a human all because they were not using a certified transmitter, which may or may not have anything to do with the crash. In fact if anything the approval of the transmitter will most likely have nothing to do with the crash, yet the insurance may not pay. I strongly suggest, WITH EMPHASIS ADDED that the AMA not start the game of playing games with the liability insurance to enforce compliance with the FCC certification of FPV transmitters.
Gene Greneker
The requirement to hold an amatuer radio license is going to become obsolete as it has for CB radios. The AMA needs to adapt to emerging technologies and not try to ignore where the future of RC flying is heading here.
Obsolete? Your information must be coming from the CB community sir. If you can give us some solid information from the F.C.C. we would be glad to entertain disscussion on your statements.
Old news. I have flown RC (legally) on 6 meters – 50 -53 MHz for 40 years, and have have not been asked to show my HAM ticket to any CD at any AMA contest save once at the Chicago Soaring Nats in the 70’s! Good luck on making any progress here. FCC abandoned CB licenses eons ago so will probably look the other way here. besides, they have other problems as does the FAA and NTSB. Again, this seems like that AMA is only a “wannabe” trying to gain power over the FPV/UAV community (a single body by the way) by playing the stale, old insurance card. Most FPVers won’t be flying at AMA fields (and will probably not be AMA members) anyway!
just a few points to make here and i will let you all argue about how much more you know because you were borne in the 1940’s.
(BTW age is a guarantee of nothing , not wisdom, not intelligence, not rightness of cause, and lots of experience just means you have had the chance to be wrong longer)
first yes i think FPV pilots must me licenced if the want to do work for pay, but the AMA and FAA are not the people to decide how to do it.
1. i love it when i here some amateur radio hack talk about wow much they know, i will give you the benefit of doubt as to people transmitting on “5.6ghz” are you sure you didn’t mean 5.8ghz….. anyway just what is the legal allowed power limit for 5.6ghz, sorry i mean 5.8ghz, without a lenience. because there is one, and lots of people without a ham lic use it, it is 25mw. as i am sure you know its not power output as much as sensitivity of your receiver. and once we get digital transmitter into fpv we wont need to get very high above the noise floor to get a clear signal.
2. i do wish all you silent gen guys would stop being such classic silent gen guys. have a backbone, and look around its not cold war 1950’s anymore. you don’t have to go along with the government just because they say so. there are rules, even they have to follow. its called “due process” and the FAA didn’t follow it! they would be better off writing good law then wasting yours and my tax money fighting a bad rule. this is going to go before the supreme court, and get slapped down. my god in 2008 congress gave them till 2015 to make rules about this stuff, that’s next year. “time to piss or get off the pot” as they say. and before all you silent gen guys get mad this is just me being a gen X guy.
yesterday i was flying in a park around people and trees and other stuff, all safely i might add ( BTW you have a better chance of being killed by a car on your way to and from the park then being hit by my copter) anyway i was taking people up flying with me using a second pair of goggles(i also use a 3D camera to see where i am flying)and one of the guys i took up called me “a barnstormer” i had never thought of it that way, but he was right we who do fpv are very much like the old barnstormers of the 20’s. its a good thing the FAA wasn’t around then i will let you imagination work on what that would look like.
all i will say in closing is i have flown rc for 30 years fpv for 10 and the AMA is not representing us in fpv well at all, we need our own voice let them have the balsa gliders and turbine jets. leave FPV to those that developed it (BTW that was not the AMA)
The 2 hours I took to study for the exam (15 minute, free in my area) was well worth the potential hassle later. I was surprised how much I had known already as I had been researching the hobby’s equipment for some time before making my first FPV related purchase. I use an AMA field for testing (mostly LOS flights). If something failed and it led to damage what grounds would there be for non-coverage?
I find lost of wanna bee experts around these days with this FPV stuff. I for one have 2 professional small uav setups that I could FPV with. I have zero interest in it. I can and do get professional video footage without it. And I am not talking about you tube junk. If I want to fly a few miles away I will go to the airport and fuel up the decathlon and actually fly for real.
I want to see regulation for the hobby types in the FPV and nail down a lisc and insurance program with real policing that will throw the bootleggers and cber types in the slammer or at least hit um where it counts and thats in the bank account.
Many valid points and just as many balloons full of smoke. While the licencing is a federal requirement, we all know unless the manufacturer or the seller require you to produce that license to buy it, any goob can and will do so. While we would like to see sensible regulations around safety instead of knee jerk reactions to the media, and lobbyists for those in air superiority grey, I am a realist and know that little will be thought about the hobbyist or small business owner. On the other hand the FAA and FCC are not set up to enforce on these scales, I dont even know if they have RDF vans anymore… so the chance that your going to get hammered by a fed, while possible, are somewhat unlikely. Personally, an hour of my time to study for an exam and a few bucks to take it is little trouble to keep on the right side of the law. Those who really don’t want to, well they won’t, and will take their chances.
John, not all of can jump into our Decathlon and go for a real flight. I have not yet experienced FPV flight but it sure has a magical draw. Be safe in all your flying.
To all you rocket engineers out there who don\\\’t know the difference between the FAA and the FCC, you shouldn\\\’t be writing comments. This is how it works: I am an Official Observer for the ham community. I see you using the ham band without the correct license. I monitor record and take a photo of you in operation. I submit it through my channels to the FCC. I will almost guarantee you a letter to explain your actions or pay a fine upwards of thousands of dollars or more. Official Observers number more than 700 and we don’t let you know who we are. My advice is be ware and comply with the laws. They were enacted for a reason.
To all you rocket engineers out there who don\’t know the difference between the FAA and the FCC, you shouldn\’t be writing comments. This is how it works: I am an Official Observer for the ham community. I see you using the ham band without the correct license. I monitor record and take a photo of you in operation. I submit it through my channels to the FCC. I will almost guarantee you a letter to explain your actions or pay a fine upwards of thousands of dollars or more. Official Observers number more than 700 and we don’t let you know who we are. My advice is be ware and comply with the laws. They were enacted for a reason.
Some of you will comply and others will be getting a letter from FCC. We have Official Observers who\’s job is to report these infractions. Believe me I will do my job.
FYI = Some of our frequencies are 2300-2310, 2390-2450, 3300-3500, 5650-5925, 10.0-10.5, and higher
I’ve been flying rc planes, helis and quads for quite some time. I’m trying to get into FPV the right way; learning as much as I can, working on getting my ham license and acquiring equipment. Now my club, which is run by some backward thinking individuals who don’t want to get involved in anything new, has banned FPV flying at the field.
Looks like I’ll have to find another place to fly FPV. Now I’m curious as to how do I find an AMA field that permits FPV flying?
AMA policy states:
“AMA’s position and guidance to its members is that all equipment must be FCC certified where required”
If enforced at the club level, this policy will drive FPV pilots away from the AMA… not a good thing, considering that FPV is the fastest growing part of the RC flying sport. Getting an FCC technician license is simple, and if the AMA wants to bring FPV pilots into their organization, a wiser policy would be to encourage and TRAIN aspiring FPV pilots to get their technicians license. Yes, I am a member of the AMA and hold an FCC Technicians license.
Tom