Federal Aviation Administration Attacks Hobby Community

     Since the origins of aviation, people have always looked for a cheaper alternative to actually flying. In the last twenty years, the aviation hobby community has grown exponentially and the technology has become amazing. Though this technology seems to have an unlimited amount of usefulness and endless possibilities, the FAA has recently pulled in the reigns on the hobby and really limited it's use.

     The above video was taken on a GoPro mounted on one of my home created planes. This is the activity that the FAA has recently outlawed. The act of shooting live stream video from an unmanned aerial aircraft is called FPV (First Person View). Thousands of hobbyists around the world have recently taken up FPV for it's amazing feeling of virtually flying a plane. The pilot wears video goggles that display a live stream video from the camera mounted on the plane. Though some people buy already created planes, many hobbyists like myself, create their own planes from various foam and composite materials. Though FPV has many uses like search and rescue in dangerous areas, and filming agriculture for farmers, the FAA has decided FPV is too dangerous and too much of a cause for concern. 

My Quadcopter That Can be Used for FPV

   Although the FAA has only allowed Hollywood production companies to use FPV for now, many hobbyist organizations are suing the FAA for their quickly made law. One organization called "FliteTest" told everyone who saw their post to put a bad review on the FAA's Facebook page. Since they made that statement, the FAA now has a very low review and most are complaints about the FPV ban.  Although this technology has continued to advance for years, the recent law has put the hobby to a standstill and is taking us into the past. 

Airliners Donate Old Planes For Education

    When an airliner reaches the end of it's life; the most common option is to take the plane to the desert in Pima Arizona, and scrap it for parts. Though this has been the case for over 75 years, recent airliners have began to take a different path to give these airliners a new life after they are past their expiration date. Recent airliners have been donating their old, fuel guzzling, planes to aviation technician universities.

A Depressing, Yet Common End to an Airliner's Life

     Although these airliners may be past their airworthiness life, they have recently gained a new appreciation for universities learning how to work on modern airliners without working on real, flying planes. Universities like Purdue University need to have real aircraft for the students to work with. Since the students have not graduated yet, they are not legally allowed to work on airworthy aircraft. If any of the students worked on a flying aircraft, that aircraft would be legally, indefinitely grounded, so they have to work on planes that have already been grounded.

A Delta CRJ100, The Same Type That is Being Donated to Purdue

  A FedEx Boeing 727, was a past donation to the Purdue University aircraft technician school. This plane is very old and outdated, and another airliner, Delta Airlines has pledged to donate a CRJ100, a common modern plane that will help them learn more about new systems in modern airliners. This CRJ100 was delivered to Delta in 1996, and left service in 2012. Instead of letting it decay in the Arizona desert, Delta decided to give the aircraft a second chance to serve a new purpose.
   Though most planes that retire are still being sent to the desert to rot away, more and more airliners have started donating their planes to Universities. Hopefully in the future, all old aircraft will be given a second chance at the end of their life.