It is my observation that we appear to be experiencing this more & more regularly & is not only a end-of-year insanity thing. We cannot blame the hobby shops (or general retailers for that matter) for distributing more & more equipment - because in some of the cases, the transgressors are experienced RC pilots! Nor can we blame the park flyers for wanting to experience the joy of RC flying simply because they are not members, AFAIK it is not a legal requirement in SA to be a member - if anyone can SHOW me which Act this is specified in, I'll gladly retract this previous statement.
The issue is what can we do about it? I do not believe that the current organisational structures have the capacity to deal with this on a voluntary basis. Also, IMHO, this is not a simple "pay someone to make the problem go-away" solution. I have received a number of suggestions or read the following suggestions on the various forums over the last few months, but would sincerely value your inputs:
- SAMAA to produce a small (A5) sheet providing safety information for the purchase of radio equipment (Tx, Rx, servos, engines/motors, kits & ARF's), which LHS' distribute in all purchases
- Legislation to be requested that requires certification of RC pilots, licensing of Tx's, and criminalising similar "negligent" flying activities (this begs the questions of the "negligence" & the reasonable person argument, but I am not qualified to comment on law matters...)
- Individuals all to immediately purchase 2.4Ghz sets that do away with the "fixed" frequency issues
Or perhaps we need to implement a more radical field based frequency control mechanism the ... :-)
I would also like to know what other countries have done or are doing about this problem, as I cannot believe it is unique to SA? Please forward any suggestions via the MGASA forum on Yahoo! Groups.
Safe flying, please
Lionel
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