Here is a summary from the Academy of Model Aeronautics: AMA IN ACTION Advocacy for Members | Academy of Model Aeronautics
I am a member of the AMA. I was critical of how the AMA initially re-acted last January when it urged members to file a form letter to the FAA’s NPRM proceeding. We know that sending form letters are not a good approach to dealing with the regulatory process. The best is to write individual, or at least individually edited, letters with specific talking points.
That said, the AMA has done good work since then, forming alliances and lobbying Congress, and in interaction and education of FAA staff.
One year ago, the FAA’s NPRM literally spelled the end of the home built model aircraft world, and was likely to end the recreational flying of even purchased/built products due to its proposed requirement to log all flights, in real time, over the Internet. This would have likely required a monthly subscription fee.
What we ended up with one year later is vastly improved. It meets the Congressional law directive to implement Remote ID – without going beyond what Congress asked for. The final rule permits retrofitting existing aircraft with an add on Remote ID Module. It no longer terminates FRIA applications, a feature the FAA originally envisioned as shutting down home built model aircraft.
Aircraft under 250 grams do not need to have a Remote ID.
For most of us, if we continue flying at our local air field, we don’t need to do anything. If we wish – or we wish to fly elsewhere – we can add a Remote ID module to our aircraft.
We will need to register ourselves with the FAA as we’ve had to do now for several years, but will also need to add our aircraft Remote ID information into the registration database. Whereas the FAA had proposed a fee per aircraft, they eliminated the per aircraft fee.
Some existing, commercially built aircraft (such as some DJI drones) may be able to implement Remote ID via software updates. DJI’s proposal has been to embed Remote Id information inside the existing control link.
Note – I’ve seen posts on social media blaming the AMA for Remote ID. Those posts are nonsense. The AMA should not be blamed and should instead be thanked.
Congress passed a law that directed the FAA to implement Remote ID. The FAA had no choice in the matter – only the implementation.
The FAA’s original NPRM was ladled down with nonsense by the Department of Homeland Security which ran the original proposal off into nonsense.
Fortunately, the AMA, and many, many others vociferously argued against the original NPRM – and the FAA appears to have listened. In the end, the FAA implemented what Congress required it to do – Remote ID.
Don’t blame the AMA for this – the AMA helped make these regulations vastly more palatable to the R/C model community. Thank the AMA. I am thanking the AMA for the work they did on this with a positive outcome.