CAA Registration Petition

[terry white]

I was once clueless, moved on to careless,will probably soon become criminal.

[Barry_Cole]

In all fairness NATS issued a statement shortly after his comments.

https://www.commercialdroneprofessional ... -criminal/

Maybe they did, but he still said it, and it looked very much planned to me. At least the guy sitting next to him did not look amused.....

He should be removed from his job.

BC

[Keith]

Thanks for that Cliff, more expense, but what about the people that just fly without being a part of a club or insurance I wonder how this will be managed?

Keith

[MDev]

But how will it be policed? Our local constabulary certainly hasn't got time, money or police to do more than they do at present.

Oh yes we've been promised 20,000 extra recruits.........they can squeeze a half an hour lesson into their training program!

[jimbo]

Anyone want to hazard a guess to what figure the bmfa membership will drop to next year? This year 30,000.
And what the registration total will be next year? estimated 120,000.
?

[John Vella]

What a farce ! It is great to know on my Seventy Third Birthday I will have to register as a model airplane operator , take a test and pay a fee ! What a way to end a career in Aviation. I am sure many of us will find another hobby.

[Keith]

Sad times, what happens if you cant pass the test? And where is the money going from this so called fee?

Keith

[VinceC]

It would seem that one of the major concerns of not registering is the loss of Insurance cover. How many people here know of anyone in the glider fraternity who has claimed on insurance. I would suggest that at any public event every person should simply sign a disclaimer on entry and forget about insurance, after all Insurers are basically Betting Shops and we know who wins in that one

[terry white]

Hi Vince and Cliff. I could not agree more with you both.
Out and about on my local flying sites I have asked around to try and find the consensus of opinion as to who and how many of my flying friends intend to register or carry on without.
It does not bode well for the government with a majority of about 4-1 against registering.When it was discussed regarding the insurance becoming null and void unless you are registered It would seem that most flyers felt the lottery of ever claiming against it was a gamble that was well worth taking anyway. Also have we all read their 'get out clauses' if one was to have an accident.Like, "did you have the landowners written permission to fly there","did you have a risk assessment in place","were you operating far enough away from the public or their property, the list goes on. Many fliers believe that there are so many get out clauses for them that the chance of a pay out after an accident is very,very slim.
A cost example would be my own insurance over the 55 or more years that I have been flying, most of which was under the S.M.A.E. and now BMFA insurance cover. At an average cost of say £30.00 a year (or its equivalent in the earlier years) this has cost me a staggering £1500 00 plus. Although I appreciate that some fliers get more out of the membership than just the insurance,however to be brutally honest there is nothing else other then the insurance I personally use. and this only to satisfy the clubs rules for which I fly.
So if now to fly our local sites we find we are not insured because we are not registered, Most fliers it seems are going to say "so be it." an not continue with their BMFA membership either.
This leaves the legality of the situation. There will NOT be a P.C.Plod going around checking if one is flying over 400' or that the model is over 2.5Klo.as many fantasize that there will be. That will be left to the clubs rules to police.However it will make inter club get togethers and competitions difficult to manage with some flyers wanting to adhere to the rules and some not. Also of coarse if you were to have an air borne accident over 400' high with your 30Klo masterpiece YOU are in trouble.

It would be interesting to know the opinion of my fellow SSUK forum colleges. Is this worth another of our polls do you think. Regards Terry.

[Paul_Williams]

I agree with Vince that a liftimes insurance payments is a substantial sum but £1500 is a drop in the ocean compared to any personal injury claim.
Whilst I understand people taking the fly and be damned attitude towards insurance - some facts might be useful before folk decide on the risk they run -perhaps asking the BMFA how many claims have been made over the last decade and what sort of payouts were made.

We also need to consider where we fly - in my case on a hill in a council owned country park where club membership is a condition of us flying there.
A far from unique situation and something that affects electric parkfly models, as many urban sites are council owned.
For flat field sites with planning permission, folk would need to be sure that insurance is not a condition of the planning consent.

Many of us have flown at sites owned by the National Trust - but what is the insurance situation there ???? and if this topic gets a lot of publicity, how will they react ? From personal experience of a lifetime in local government, when an organisation perceives a risk, their cheapest, easiest, most effective solution - is to ban it.

If the authorities consider uninsured flying is completely unacceptable, they will simply make it an offence.
We should also factor in the effect of fragmentation. It will weaken the BMFA's position and councils, National Trust, MoD etc will no longer have a single point of contact and such organisations - who already have little understanding of modelling - will simply decline to play.
Think carefully folks, we could easily make things even worse.
Paul