Protecting The FAA Regulations' Section 336

Section 336 is the reason why today’s model-aircraft and drone fliers have been able to fly without a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pilot’s license, equipage mandates, and regulatory paperwork. Section 336 is a safe tradition that has been around for many decades. If you like flying your model aircraft for recreation without mandates that include pilot licenses and remote IDs, action is needed now.

- Jeffrey Antonelli

Who Would Do This?

The efforts to repeal are coming from various sources—to name a few, Google’s Project Wing, CNN, and Ford. All these companies are members of the Commercial Drone Alliance. This group issued a press release on April 4, 2018, stating, “Legislation is necessary now to allow the FAA to properly regulate hobbyist drone operations under a revised Part 107 of the Federal Aviation Regulations.” Lisa Ellman, co-executive director of the Commercial Drone Alliance, says, “We understand why model aircraft proponents want to remain exempt, as they have been flying safely for decades. However, times have changed, and hobbyists are no longer flying alone.” These commercial drone companies apparently wish to repeal Section 336 and replace it with restrictions that include pilot licenses and remote IDs for hobby pilots to free up airspace for large commercial drone operations.

In my experience with model aircraft and drones, I have found many people in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and careers in aviation started out as Section 336 recreational fliers of model aircraft. In addition, many of these same professionals continue to fly their model aircraft as an enjoyable hobby.