…by Trappy; Team BlackSheep.

FPV is a new, super-cool trend emerging from the R/C community that allows us to enjoy the fascination of aviation in ways perviously not thought possible. As always, new innovations or trends collide with traditions. Within TBS, we have the firm belief that one or a series of technological breakthroughs is sufficient to challenge the way we have looked at things in the past. Before cars had lights, it would have been extremely dangerous to drive at night. Now that they do, driving at night is not much different from driving during the day. The majority of people are able to grasp this concept. However, there are others. We shall call them haters.

Pretty much all the criticism we FPV pilots have received from haters over the past few years is based at least in some part on the notion that FPV pilots fly their R/C aircraft where they previously did not fly: Over mountain tops, under bridges, in city parks. R/C aircraft need to remain on R/C fields, be flown within line of sight of the only pilot controlling them, and any kind of proximity to solid objects, be it a statue, house or tree, is to be avoided. Anything else is extremely dangerous, illegal and is to be stopped with every means possible. Or so they say.

Fact of the matter is, UAVs many times larger than anything that any hobbyist has ever flown have been flying over cities, over people, in restricted airspace and beyond visual line of sight for ages. R/C planes many times the size, weight and possibility for damage fly near people all the time. If a 20kg turbine jet loses control it can fly for a few hundred meters before hitting the ground. So why is FPV getting all the heat? The complaints are based on the perception, not in the danger itself. When you show a video of flying directly over a street, the haters are in uproar. When you show the same model from the point of view of a car on the street, nobody cares.

The lack of cognitive ability to change the perception is probably why haters try to keep UAVs limited to old, traditional R/C spaces. Because that is the perception that they are used to. Similar to a control-line pilot 50 years ago complaining about the new wireless control mechanism and demanding a control-line pilot be kept in place due to the potential of danger coming from wirelessly controlled R/C aircraft. Where would R/C be today if these people were part of the majority? Luckily they were not, and they still are not today. Sadly, however, they are backed up by some R/C organizations. R/C organizations are advocating these limitations because, in essence, they are insurance companies. Insurance companies do not like risks, that is why they try to constrain our hobby to match what they have previously assessed (and are making good money on) to be safe.

So what can you do against it? The only way to vote in today’s times is with your wallet. If you think that your R/C organization is not representing your needs well, quit. Send them an e-mail why you quit and tell them once they come to their senses then you will consider joining them again. Ask all your friends to do the same, too. You can still fly with all your R/C buddies just fine, you just need to launch outside the property of the flying field (you can still fly over it as much as you like). You can even support your local club financially by bringing drinks and meat for barbeque. That way you are doing your part to keep the club going, but are making sure that the parent organization is not receiving its share.

Is an R/C magazine writing negatively about certain aspects of FPV without doing their homework properly? Are their views of FPV different than yours? Send an e-mail to the editor and cancel your subscription. Ask all your friends to follow suit. There are plenty of other magazines on the same topic, no need to feed the very same people that are trying to ruin your hobby.

Is a FPV forum censoring information or constantly harassing you as a member because your vision of FPV does not correspond to that of the owners? Stop posting there and ask all your friends to move to a new forum. Why would you donate your time and provide credibility to a project when you do not share the same goal as them?

Together we can start a movement, we can change our hobby for the better, and we can show these haters that we can practice our hobby safely and responsibly. We can force R/C organizations to adapt, or to die like old, stubborn dinosaurs. I am convinced that the number of FPV pilots will one day exceed the number of R/C pilots, just like with control line and R/C. And then they will need to ask us to join OUR club. Until then, let’s give them hell – Team BlackSheep style.

Copied with kind permission.
Source: http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread.php?1223