By: Michael Anderson (for Patriot's Lament)
December 16, 2015
Ever since Monday I have been seething with hatred for the state-even more than usual. On Monday the FAA released a new regulation requiring the registration of “Unmanned Arial Systems” (UAS) weighing 0.55 pounds or more. This includes any toy or model aircraft that can be controlled, even if it's only flown in your yard. The FAA did say that this does not include paper airplanes. They seriously state that on their website. How did we get to the point that we now have to register our model airplanes? There are some modelers on comments sections thinking this is great because now, their hobby is legitimate. Now they can feel responsible and important, now that they can get another pat on the head by their master.
Compulsory registration of private property is a fundamental violation of property rights. Once someone is forced to register their property with the state, they no longer own it-they rent it. In this case, involving registration of drones and RC airplanes, the renter of what was once his property must provide name, home address, email and five dollars every three years. That doesn't sound like much. But the civil and criminal penalty is outrageous. The civil penalty is up to $27,500 and the criminal penalty is up to $250,000 and three years in prison. All of that for not registering a model airplane. So what if you register and in three years it expires and you forget to register or you crashed it and didn't report it. Will some goon from the FAA show up and fine you or take you to prison? That is the risk that you take when you register. I wouldn't register in the first place- You'll be better off. If you are stupid enough to actually register your model airplane or helicopter, you have just given ownership of your model to the federal government and you paid them $5 to take ownership of it. Only the state could negotiate that kind of rip-off.
The FAA claims that this regulation is about safety. They claim that with all drones and models being registered, they can easily find someone who causes damage to property and they can know who to fine and it will make people be more responsible. This is a nonsensical argument. If I cause damage to property with my drone, I am liable for repairs anyway, just as if I cause the damage with a rock when I throw it into an aircraft engine or through a window or into a sports stadium. By the FAA's logic we need to register all rocks with the FAA before we can throw them. Bureaucrats never find an end to the list of regulations that would help us “be safe”. Bureaucrats also don't seem to realize that more government encourages people to be less responsible, a topic for another article. It won't be long before we are forced to register or cut off one or both of our hands for the cause of safety and national security. After all, a person without hands can't commit a mass shooting or fly a drone or throw a rock. It is unfortunate that so many people loose all capacity for rational thought as soon as a bureaucrat or safety officer shows up and employs the safety excuse on them.
Of course, like all bureaucracies, the FAA doesn't offer any sort of incentive for compliance, except they won't put you in prison or bankrupt you. Deputy FAA Administrator, Michael Whitaker, made the disgusting statement “Our real challenge is to get them to understand the rules and get them to comply”. That's right, get those tax cows to comply with our arbitrary dictates. Bend over, we got a broomstick for you. In a free society, that is one without a state, such a registration would be voluntary and the fee would provide an incentive, such as local RC airfields or at least a magazine subscription. Bureaucrats tend to be some of the laziest, least intelligent and least moral members of society and as such, they view all private property as theirs for the taking and convince themselves that paperwork makes us safer because they can't come up with a better excuse for the general looting of the public. This makes them, both, Liars and thieves. Unfortunately some of the public are even dumber than the bureaucrats and accept such ludicrous claims and even view them as a path to being praised by those who wish to rob them.
In 2012 The FAA was tasked with coming up with drone regulation. The FAA formed a board from private organizations to “advise” them on these new regulations. One of those orginizations was the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). Apparently the FAA didn't listen to anything they had to say because the Executive Director of the AMA, Dave Mathewson, who participated in the task force said education programs are the way to ensure safety, rather than a registry that will create “an unnecessary burden” on the group’s members.
Section 336 of the FMRA explicitly prohibits the FAA from regulating hobby aircraft that are flown within line of site. The FAA responded to the section 336 challenge by stating “While section 336 bars the FAA from promulgating new rules or regulations that apply only to model aircraft, the prohibition against future rulemaking is not a complete bar on rulemaking and does not exempt model aircraft from complying with existing statutory and regulatory requirements”. In other words, “We don't give a shit”. So even if you did get prosecuted for not registering your model airplane you could take it to court and win, after you loose your house to pay for the legal fees. This is how a tyranny (the state) works- it violates it's own alleged code of conduct and then just bankrupts the tax cow. After all, the state can get all the money it needs from the other tax cows to keep the case going. This is what happens to a people who have failed to properly define words such as the word “right”, which is another subject for another article.
When the FAA was tasked with coming up with drone regulations and they were focused on drones used for commercial purposes, which is no less a violation of property rights. Again we see how regulation on one group becomes expanded to all groups. Clearly this is not about safety, especially considering the outrageous fines. One only needs to type “FAA funding” into Startpage to find the real reason for these regulations. The FAA routinely runs out of money and these fines are needed to keep the FAA bureaucrats employed. Back in September, they were granted a six month funding extension, in 2013, the FAA's funding was cut, resulting in ATC layoffs and in 2011 through 2012 the FAA went through 20 temporary funding extensions that resulted in partial shutdowns. The FAA needs money and like all agencies of the state, they will take it at the point of a gun, rather than operating in a peaceful market situation. The drone regulations and fines are just the FAA gasping for cash to survive.
Back when I completed my private pilot rating, the FAA stated that their purpose was to promote General Aviation. After the 9/11 false flag they changed their stated mission goal to enforcing compliance to regulation. The FAA no longer even pretended to be interested in the rights of pilots or passengers. It is now only interested in advancing the cause of the state (public looting). At one time the FAA provided some good services and its employees really did try to provide quality services. But like all state agencies, the FAA became just another guaranteed pension for the dumb and corrupt.
The FAA is mostly a regulatory body charged with the safety of air travel. But it's bureaucratic nature and inability to adapt make it a danger. It was only this year that the FAA upgraded from their old HOST system that was developed in the 1960's. The new system, called ERAM began development in 2002, was installed in the spring of 2015 and is a $2.1 billion part of a larger $40 billion project called NexGen that will have the air traffic control system upgraded by 2025. In other words, the system will be upgraded by 2025 with a system that is already outdated today. Would you find a private organization running air traffic control with massive, power-sucking antiquated computer systems from the 1960's when a smart phone and a cheap app can do the same job? Would you find private companies spending $40 billion for the upgrade? You can purchase smartphone apps that combine data from multiple sources for instant and exact locations of aircraft everywhere in the world. Finally, why must the airspace be run by one central agency when each airport and control center can run itself and communicate with all of the others instantly with modern technology?
Clearly the FAA has outlived any usefulness it might once have had. It has become so narcissistic that it assumes it can control model airplanes and helicopters in your own yard and it is such a bureaucratic behemoth that it is only now beginning to upgrade from fifty year old technology to fifteen year old technology. It is time for the FAA to just die and be replaced by privately funded and operated aviation services. Take AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) for example. It spends millions of dollars every year just lobbying politicians on behalf of pilots. In 2014 they spent $2.5 million on lobbying. In 2013 they spent $2.83 million on lobbying. Why not get rid of the state and the politicians, then all of that money could go to AOPA airports and ATC systems that are far more efficient than the decrepit old systems the FAA still relies on. The FAA is just another pile of ruble in a crumbling nation that sacrificed the market. This is one more great example as to why we just need to abolish the state and allow the market to service our needs.
