In The Air
The trouble with Canada.
This is another one of those ‘rambles around the houses’ which, for those who just want to get on with the RC glider stuff, here’s the express elevator down to that. Otherwise, cinch up the five-point, it’s going to be a helluva ride. Hopefully. — Ed.
It landed in my inbox ironically on Wright-mas, which regular readers of this column will know as December 17th. If email was capable of make the sickening thump of a dead-blow hammer, this incoming email would have made that sound. It was from our national model aviation organisation and there was once sentence fragment which leapt off the page, making the rest of the text fade into something like G-induced greyout:
“made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend all outdoor flying activity, effective immediately”
I was immediately taken back to March 12, 2020 when the NBA teams for the game my wife and I were watching were frogmarched off the court in the middle of the game. My immediate, visceral reaction to that event, as with the recent Wright-mas calamity, was the same. A severe case of the runs along with “what the actual hell is going on?”
For the NBA and soon after the rest of all of us it was the beginning of the pandemic, and where things preceded from there — well — I’m absolutely sure everybody knows that story. In the case of the no-fly proclamation — well — it’s what the kids say these days: complicated.
After recovering from the immediate shock, my secondary reaction to the no-fly email was “have you seen the weather out there at the moment?” So far as model aviation is concerned, the weather in Canada in December — generally speaking — stinks. So, no-fly was kind of academic, at least for the time being.
All joking aside, though, the potential implications were indeed grave. For a long time, I have worried (and written) about the potential for the ‘drone revolution’ to render as roadkill traditional RC model aviation — the thing I have been doing in one form or another since I was six years old.
Turns out those fears were justified. In fact, Where Did All Those Drones Come From? which I originally published in 2016 was — setting all modesty aside and even if I do say so myself — downright prescient.
The Exemption
At stake was what I’ll refer to simply as the ‘exemption’. I think most know of what I speak in this regard: the short version of that is having your national model aviation organisation arrange, on behalf of all of us, for a free pass from all the regulations now coming into effect. So long as we abide by that organisations rules as to how and where to fly, we didn’t have to participate in the new drone-triggered licensing and registration regimes. We were ‘exempt’ from them.
I assume you were paying close attention when I said “abide by the organisations rules as to how and where to fly”, above, and therein lies the rub.
We now live in societies where no matter what you say, a substantial portion of the population will do the opposite—often for no better reason than they see whatever they’re being told to do (or not) as ‘yet another infringement on our freedom’. As such, it was really just a matter of time before somebody would not “abide by the organisations rules as to how and where to fly” and went ahead and flew wherever the heck they wanted and in a manner of their sole choosing. Shortly thereafter, the leadership of the national organisation was hauled up in front of the government regulatory agency to — and these are my words based on no first-hand knowledge whatsoever— show cause as to why the whole exemption shouldn’t be summarily cancelled.
If it was, anybody who wanted to fly anything, more-or-less, would have to plug into the regulatory framework put in place primarily to deal with the exploding and unprecedented growth of ‘uncrewed aerial systems’.
If that were to be the case, anybody flying anything weighing less than 250g (8.8oz) could more-or-less pursue the hobby as they always have. In Canada these are called ‘micro-drones’ and so long as you exercise reasonable care and attention, you’re good to go or something close to it. That’s the good news.
On the other hand, once you pass that weight tipping point — which is just about everybody, right? — you’re into Transport Canada’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) licensing and registration and all that entails. RC gliders and their guiders would be lumped in with the 74,000+ drones and 79,000+ pilots already in the program as of this moment.
A bit more good news: despite the episode in the woodshed the exemption is still in place, with the national organisation tiptoeing through a recertification process. It, too, reminds me of how we all re-emerged back into something approaching normal as the pandemic began to wane. It’s slow and painful, but all signs seems to indicate we’ll get where we’re going eventually.
Trouble in River City
There’s a catch, though. For decades I have rarely — actually never — flown at a site designated for model aircraft by the national organization. Given the way my life and career has evolved, RC gliders are my personal counterpoint to the hubbub of the daily routine. The more remote the location and the greater the chance of not running into anybody, the happier I am. With one important exception: my wife, who is welcome anytime. She keeps the highs and lows in check.
As such, and assuming for the moment I’m flying over that 250g threshold, I’m technically in violation of civil aviation regulations which, to put it in the vernacular, are not to be fffff…ooled with. Hard landings I can handle. Hard time? Not so much. But the CARs are there for a very good reason — the safety of the flying public which, after all, is just about all of us.
All that righteous stuff said, I’m still suddenly and somewhat selfishly beginning to very slightly empathise (spoiler alert: you’ll need an electron microscope to find it) with those who think government is trying to ruin all of our lives all the time.
My choice, therefore and for the time being, is to fly sub-250g. No biggie. This humble journal keeps me very busy so the amount of flying time I’m actually going to have to give up is quite small. And when I finally get in the mood and have the time, I’ll just go ahead and get the RPAS licensing and registration and all the foofaraw that goes along with it and carry on about my business. As someone who pays my taxes, holds a pilots’ license and even a ham radio license, the towline broke a long time ago in terms of what the government knows about me. RPAS isn’t going to make that any worse. Or better for that matter.
Paradigm Shift
I’ll certainly understand if you looked at the key photo above — welcome to my neighbourhood, by the way! — but skipped the caption. I took that picture a couple of years ago around this time of year. Muller Windsports, sitting high above Cochrane, Alberta and topologically perfect for common wind patterns, is a great place to take a sandwich and watch the world go by.
Paragliding is Muller’s focus, however, and RC gliders are verboten. Again, while that’s a little disappointing, no biggie. It’s private land and they can do whatever they want with it. It’s not infringing on any rights that I actually possess. I’ll keep asking, though, hoping that they eventually take Torrey Pines’ lead and figure out a way that paragliding, hang gliding and RC soaring can co-exist safely and peacefully. Torrey has proved that’s possible — but it’s predicated on everybody behaving in a reasonable manner.
But there is something else which is worth a look when you finally make the trek to Muller:
I was one of those wide-eyed punks who drooled over the Rogallo-wing hang gliders made of bamboo and taped-together plastic sheet that somehow found their way onto the pages of Popular Mechanics in the early 1970s. Flying totally outside any regulatory framework was and is the dream of every kid who can’t afford flying lessons. But even back then, if I had taken the time to really think it through, I probably could have figured out it was never going to last.
And it didn’t. It took a couple of decades but hang gliding, paragliding and ultralights all eventually found their way into the broader aviation regulations. Aircraft of all types — fixed wing, balloons, paragliders and all the rest — all have highly visible registration numbers. Pilots are licensed, the prerequisite for which is some mandatory training, in order that the most obvious of hazards can be avoided and to make participation reasonably safe. I’m sure there are those who feel even this light regulatory regime is too much dang infringing, but I also think it’s safe to say that most folks understand both the benefits and, of course, the drawbacks and lots still decide to go forward.
The placards at Muller don’t say “don’t fly”. Paraphrasing, they say fairly clearly “if you’re going to fly, here’s how you’re going to do it.” It’s not a democracy or a debate. It’s just the way it is. Everybody gets it. Don’t let it spoil your day.
So I think we should start to assume it will be the same for model aviation and RC soaring in the not-too-distant future. The vast majority of us will plug into the system and understand that like a lot of things it’s not quite the way it used to be in the almost-entirely-fictional ‘good old days’. We’ll make the necessary adjustments and simply go about our business pretty much the way we always have.
©2023 Terence C. Gannon
Resources
- Muller Windsports of Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. — “We offer sales for Ozone Kites and Boards, Ozone accessories and other hang gliding and paragliding products. Our instructional programs are focused on…”
- Where Did All Those Drones Come From? by Terence C. Gannon in the New RC Soaring Digest. — “One of my earliest memories — I must have been five or six at the time — was when my father decided it was time to pass along his lifelong love of all things that fly, and bought us a Guillow’s Javelin…”
Cover Photo
This month our cover comes to us by way of Uroš Šoštarič, who captured this gorgeous 5m DG–1000 at Mangert in the Julian Alps of his native Slovenia. We’ll turn it over to Uroš for the rest of the story about the slope at Mangert:
“It’s accessed via a beautiful alpine route and is the highest slope where you can fly with models in Slovenia, and lies at an altitude of 2000m ASL (above sea level). It enables slope soaring with beautiful views and thermal conditions. Furthermore, Mangart lies at the intersection of three countries: Slovenia, Italy and Austria. So at this location you are likely meet people who love slope soaring from all three countries.”
Well, we don’t know about anybody else, but we’re prepared to book flights immediately to what sounds like a little bit of heaven on Earth. Thanks for the opportunity to use your beautiful photo, Uroš!
You are welcome to download the April 2023 cover in a resolution suitable for computer monitor wallpaper. (2560x1440).
Disclaimer: While all reasonable care is taken in the preparation of the contents of the New RC Soaring Digest, the publishers are not legally responsible for errors in its contents or for any loss arising from such errors, including loss resulting from the negligence of our staff or any of its contributors. Reliance placed upon the contents of the New RC Soaring Digest is solely at the readers’ own risk.
All photos by the author. Here’s the first article in the April, 2023 issue. Or go to the table of contents for all the other great articles. A PDF version of this edition of In The Air, or the entire issue, is available upon request.
