FYI......See attached.....If Posted elsewhere, my apologies.

Based on the summary I got from our legislative guy for the MPA the proposed rules are as good as we could have hoped for. The main one is the proposal says the commercial UAS must always be in visual contact with the operator at no higher than 500 feet AGL. Hobbyist rules would remain unchanged at 400 feet AGL. That means the operator can't use onboard cameras to watch for traffic, nor can they use ADSB for traffic avoidance. Operators also will not be allowed to drop anything from the UAS so nobody is going to get their pizza or beer delivered. The FAA did drop the proposal that operators have at least a private pilots license and medical. A private I could understand so these guys know airspace but getting a medical is a joke. All in all the FAA did a great job here so far.

Getting a medical is a joke for private airplane pilots too. When is the FAA going to drop that?

I was talking to a friend about the technology of the new UAVs. The technology is advancing very quickly. My friend's unit has a built in GPS that can return it exactly where he took off in case it loses transmission signal. It is just a matter of time before someone builds units 5-6x the size with the GPS programmed to fly into targets. A drone with 5 lbs of explosives and 5 lbs of anthrax would be a pretty devastating terror weapon. With the battery technology getting better every day it would be easy to launch one from 5 miles away from it's target running silently at night just above the ground. Since the terrain is already known and mapped it would be easy to program it to fly well below detectable levels.

Todd,

Agreed.

Terrorists, or other mentally askew persons who are so inclined, will not be constrained or concerned about compliance with FAA UAV registration, training, operating restrictions or requirements. They will simply buy, equip and release on whatever targets they desire. DHS cannot keep current technology UAVs away from the WH.

Perhaps all true, but you forgot that all we need to do is establish TFRs wherever we want to deny terrorists from flying their UAVs!! Sometimes the obvious answer is right in front of our noses!

(How do you shade text green?)

There have already been some enterprising southerners using them for small package delivery. One crashed in a parking lot. Flying their packages over 5 miles and returning all on autopilot.

Pointless. Government. Regulation.