/dist/images/branding/favicon

PARCAP - Professional Association of RC Pilots

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Ryan J. Rowe, Mar 7, 2013.

  1. Ryan J. Rowe

    Ryan J. Rowe Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2012
    Messages:
    71
    Likes Received:
    8
    Once again we can thank Andy for doing dirty work behind the scenes to help all of us move forward in this industry.

    He has tirelessly been organizing a plan and building a group of individuals to take action for you so we can build a good reputation and educate the public on the "real" community you are involved with. Not the one that the media attaches itself too.

    It takes a motivated group of individuals and an organized effort to fix the negativity that can come from one pilot that flies his "drone" near JFK for the world to see. Not to mention all the regulation that can come from such an incident.

    PARCAP - Professional Association of RC Aircraft Pilots is being established right now to educate the public and legislators with a voice at the tables to stop or at the very least guide regulations for the benefit of our community.

    I won't get into the details of what Andy has already done, but if you know Andy then I don't have to tell you how big of a difference he's already made.

    Please let us know that we have your support and add comments or suggestions to the thread.

    Thank you,
    Ryan
     
    Moe Athmann likes this.
  2. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2012
    Messages:
    3,981
    Likes Received:
    807
    To whom to I write my check and pledge my allegiance?
    Thank you for your efforts!
     
    Ryan J. Rowe likes this.
  3. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Thanks for the kind words, Ryan.

    The immediate issue is to form the organization and have people join. I'm working on a "place holder" web site just to get a foothold in cyberspace. I'll host it on one of my servers until it makes sense to move it else where.

    We're literally setting PARCAP up right now, so we'll be announcing how to join in the next 48 hours or so.

    The immediate issue is that of Oregon Senate Bill SB 71-4, other State Bills will also be in the queue. The goal is also to be able to comment on the FAA's ANPRM/NPRM when that is issued too.

    I can imagine that the other priorities for PARCAP may, in the future, also include group insurance (both liability and aircraft huill insurance, aka "inland marine").

    We're running at Internet speed, so I'm hoping that will PARCAP will become "real" in the next few weeks.

    Thanks
    Andy.
     
  4. Ryan J. Rowe

    Ryan J. Rowe Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2012
    Messages:
    71
    Likes Received:
    8
    Thanks for the support Steve! We'll update you on membership info once we get the site operational. Shouldn't be too long now. :)
     
  5. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    We've got the domain name registered and running temporarily -- Ryan and I decided it would be better long-term to have the site hosted at Godaddy.com so we're in the process of doing that. Trouble is that changing anything seems to take 24 hours or so to propagate.

    I'm hoping that several forum members will be persuaded to join. It would be nice to go to the Oregon Senate Hearing and NOT have to say, "Yes, Senator, I'm here on behalf of all six members of PARCAP." :)

    Keep you posted.
    Andy
     
  6. Josh Lambeth

    Josh Lambeth Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2012
    Messages:
    1,315
    Likes Received:
    216
    I am ready to join and help in any way possible. Thanks for doing this guys!

    Josh
     
  7. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Thanks, Josh. We're going to go "public" as soon as Ryan has a chance to activate the web site on Godaddy and build a basic web site that allows people to join. Then we could do with some help getting professional members from other forums. So, multirotorforums.com, also RCgroups, and mikrokopter.us.

    Can you help us with recruiting? More along the lines of "Hey, there's this new professional association...."

    May I ask the folks reading this posting whether they feel it would better if we focus on professional pilots (as the name implies) -- that is, those who make a living doing this, or those who intend to as soon as the FAA permits, rather than folks who are recreational fliers?

    I have no axe to grind on this -- but it would seem to pack more punch if we were just for the professional and the Academy of Model Aeronautics does a good job of representing the recreational fliers.

    Andy.
     
    Kristian C and Brad Meier like this.
  8. Janne Hoglund

    Janne Hoglund Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2012
    Messages:
    364
    Likes Received:
    23
    Don't want to be rude but how will you know who is pro and who is'nt?
    Myself I made my living by photography for more than 30 years, but I don't know of any other profession with so many Wannabies.
    There are so many people that want nothing else than being a Photographer.
    In Sweden it seems that after selling one pic or one sec of film, Semipro is what you call yourself ;-)
    Best regards and keep up the good work Andy!
    Janne
     
  9. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2012
    Messages:
    3,981
    Likes Received:
    807
    Personally, I feel like we should support the needs of professionals, but if others would like to join the organization I see no reason why we should limit membership. It's just that the charter of the group will be to lobby for, support, and assist professionals only.
     
  10. Jean Gabriel Taboada

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    72
    Likes Received:
    2
    count me in from Bogota, Colombia
     
  11. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2012
    Messages:
    5,211
    Likes Received:
    460
    Is it about 'professional' or is the challenge we face the 'commercial' use of our craft? Whether you charge one flight a year or are billing for flights every day does it make a difference?
     
  12. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2012
    Messages:
    3,981
    Likes Received:
    807
    Gary, with respect to the issues and challenges that we folks face, I'm not sure there's a distinction. I think "professional" and "commercial" mostly overlap. For example, I consider Andy a professional, although the work he does is maybe not strictly commercial. The work that I do more clearly fits the traditional definition of "commercial". Yet I can't think of a potential issue that would affect one of us and not the other in the context of my idea of PARCAP’s charter. Does that make sense? PARCAP should be advocating for clear legal guidelines, safety procedures, liability concerns, professional standards, etc...

    I think the distinctions should instead be made between "professional/commercial" and "hobby" pilots.

    And I just realized as I was reading this that there is a 3rd class of RC pilots: educational/research work. Right?
     
  13. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2012
    Messages:
    5,211
    Likes Received:
    460
    Steve I'm just reminded of all of the 'noise' over in the still photography world as mentioned by Janne. I started shooting weddings while I was still in high school a long time ago. Even back in the dark ages there was the discussion of professional vs amateur. It's been there forever regardless of the equipment. I think of professional as someone that follows standards, supplies a product that the customer is willing to pay for and conducts themselves in a safe/legal manner. So yes I agree there is an overlap.

    It will be interesting as PARCAP drafts a charter/mission statement. Seems to me that a few of fundamentals are the promotion of the use of our machines for commercial purposes, operating them in a professional manner, help build public awareness of the what we are doing and encourage reasonable commonsense legislation. We would want to promote responsible use and discourage/disassociate from those, like the NYC yahoo, that are of a different mindset.
     
  14. Colin Snow

    Colin Snow Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2012
    Messages:
    259
    Likes Received:
    26
    Count me in too.

    Colin
     
  15. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Thanks for the comments guys. It seems that the best course of action is to have the organization's primary goal to be that of the professional/commercial/researcher pilots but welcome recreational fliers too.

    Initially Ryan and I will cover the costs for setting things up, but the hope is that we might also be able to charge a modest membership to help defray the costs. Once we have the web site up and running (which I hope will be in the next few days once we crack the logic for allowing people to join, the first few members will be charter members and thus can make some organizational decisions.

    I appreciate all the thoughtful comments you took the time to write.

    Andy (and yeah, I'm in the professional/researcher group right now. My day job precludes me being commercial. ;)
     
  16. Michael McVay

    Michael McVay Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2012
    Messages:
    416
    Likes Received:
    91
    Andy,

    I think this is a fantastic direction to be going in. I am 100% ready to contribute time and money for anything you need to help the professional/commercial/researcher use of our equipment. Just let me know what you need first.

    Michael
     
  17. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Hi Michael:
    Thanks for your enthusiastic support.
    I'll let you know what we need as soon as we're up and running.

    Andy.
     
  18. Marty Ferris

    Marty Ferris New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2012
    Messages:
    23
    Likes Received:
    0
    I wish you all the utmost success.

    In the Uk we have the Bnuc-s qualification: http://www.eurousc.com/mainwebsite.html ,to allow us to work commercially. I don't know if something similar could be introduced in the US? Again I wish you every success:)

    Will it just be US members allowed? If you are accepting international members then please count me in.

    Marty
     
  19. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Hi Marty: As a Brit myself (I got lost on a trip and ended up in Portland, Oregon ;) ), I've been following the Civil Aviation Authorities progress with interest. As you say, the BNUC-S system seems pretty good.

    Do you have a link to the actual BNUC flight competency tests, perchance? I seem to recall seeking but not finding...

    Speaking for myself, there is no intention to exclude any professional, or would be professional, pilot. We welcome even the recreational flier although their interests might be better represented by the Academy of Model Aeronautics in the USA and similar organizations in other countries.

    Cheers
    Andy.
     
  20. Katya Nelhams-Wright

    Joined:
    Jul 8, 2012
    Messages:
    216
    Likes Received:
    9
    Count me in too:)
    Katya
     

Share This Page