On March 25, 2016 the FAA received the following questions and comments from an individual via 

email: 

“So I did as you advised me Mr. Freeman. I submitted my comments advising the FAA not to include 

Fixed Wing Model Aircraft or AMA members pilots in the required registration process because we have 

always been leaders in managing and sharing the U.S. airspace and because all of our data is already on 

file with the AMA including a registration number on each aircraft which identifies the person who owns 

it. At this time we know that the request to have our AMA number also be utilized by the FAA was 

subsequently denied. And so as required, I also registered with the FAA and got my registration number 

there as well. Can you or anyone with the FAA please tell me how this makes our air space safer in any 

way? What have we gained that we didn’t already have? Do you honestly believe that someone planning 

to use a multi copter (drone) is for delivery of drugs or for terroristic purposes is going to have it 

registered with the FAA? Or do you really believe that some dimwit who flies his quad copter into a full 

size aircraft is going to be one of the 350,000 or so who have registered? Those of us who are life time 

aviation people are now and have always been “Safety First” people. I don’t mind doing anything 

including registering my planes if it makes the national airspace safer, but honestly this just strikes me as 

another move by another government agency trying to look like they are doing something about a 

problem they don’t know how to fix. I agree with all of you, that the quad copters and multi copters 

present a safety threat, but I don’t see registration with the FAA as reducing the real threat of tragedy in 

any way. 

You missed the mark guys. I firmly believe the threat of injury or loss due to a drone is as great now as 

has ever been. When it happens, I would bet it won’t be a registered person who caused the problem. We 

police our own......always have......always will.” 

On April 20, 2016, the FAA received the following questions and comments from the same individual via 

email: 

“I submitted my comments advising the FAA not to include Fixed Wing Model Aircraft or AMA 

members pilots in the required registration process because we have always been leaders in managing and 

sharing the U.S. airspace and because all of our data is already on file with the AMA including a 

registration number on each aircraft which identifies the person who owns it. At this time we know that 

the request to have our AMA number also be utilized by the FAA was subsequently denied. And so as 

required, I also registered with the FAA and got my registration number there as well. Can you or anyone 

with the FAA please tell me how this makes our air space safer in any way? What have we gained that 

we didn’t already have? Do you honestly believe that someone planning to use a multi copter (drone) is 

for delivery of drugs or for terroristic purposes (or just stupidly flying in controlled air space without a 

spotter)is going to have it registered with the FAA? Or do you really believe that some dimwit who flies 

his quad copter into a full size aircraft is going to be one of the 350,000 or so who have registered with 

the FAA? Those of us who are life time aviation people are now and have always been “Safety First” 

people. I don’t mind doing anything including registering my planes if it makes the national airspace 

safer, but honestly this just strikes me as another move by another government agency trying to look like 

they are doing something about a problem they don’t know how to fix. I agree with all of you, that the 

quad copters and multi copters present a safety threat, but I don’t see registration with the FAA as 

reducing the real threat of tragedy in any way. 
The FAA obviously missed the mark with the requirement to register the model airplane fliers in the 

AMA. I firmly believe the threat of injury or loss due to a drone strike is as great now as has ever been. 

When it happens, I would bet it won’t be an AMA registered person who caused the problem. We police 

our own......always have......always will. Did you read about the multi copter striking the plane in 

Britain this week? It’s just a matter of time until someone does the same thing in the U.S. We must all 

work together to find a solution, and so far.....the FAA Registration of drones has been a dismal failure. 

You can’t regulate STUPID out of existence. There are just too many of them. The FAA should have 

recruited the Academy of Model Aeronautics and their members to help find a solution. Instead you 

alienated 288,000 people by approaching things as if the AMA members were the problem. We clearly 

weren’t. I hope you can mend that bridge before the relationship deteriorates further. So far the FAA has 

only agitated people who could have helped with the problem. A great deal of money and effort went into 

a registration program that has done nothing to make our air space safer. Why not use Doppler radar in 

all commercial aircraft to detect approaching objects in the sky? It seems that might be the better 

solution. After all, the newer models of automobiles are coming equipped with sensors to detect objects 

on a collision path. Can we not equip full size aircraft to do the same thing?” 

The FAA responded by stating that since the individual’s questions were not technical in nature, his 

questions and comments would be posted to the docket, although the comment period had closed already.