I have rc cars, boats, airplanes and "drones." They're not really drones by the way, they're multi rotors to hobbyists. I try not to get involved in these types of discussions, but this is all getting out of hand in my eyes.

First, the AMA regulates ALL RC flying, in order to be covered by their insurance you must fly at an AMA registered field, be a paying member and remain under a 400' ceiling in class G airspace just to name a few of the rules. SO, as with guns, the folks who fly outside of these fields (myself included) are NOT going to pay to register an aircraft.

Now I will agree that there are some morons flying multi rotors, but there are idiots involved in literally every hobby and profession in the world. I hinted earlier that I fly my "drone" outside of the AMA fields, do I do it all the time? No. Do i fly dangerously or over people? No. In fact when flying at the park near my house I land if people walk in to the space I'm flying, and have had a very positive reaction, everyone from kids to grandparents want to look through my goggles and see what this is all about. Most of them (the ones who remain balanced) really enjoy the experience of flying while standing on the ground. they appreciate the views offered and realize VERY quickly that these $40 cameras are not good enough for me to spy on your daughter, nor are the "drones" quiet enough to sneak up on anyone anyway! Honestly even the people that have initially approached me in a hostile manner quickly changed their tune after a quick flight.

Even some of the cheapest hobby grade multis are equipped with GPS and will return to the sight of launch in case of radio failure. They don't typically 'crash' when power is lost via dead battery, rather they land rather ungracefully, not even damaging it. Catastrophic failure will see the "drone" fall from the sky like a brick, but here we go back to the common sense method of not flying over people/houses and the fact that hobbyist who fly outside of AMA fields will not register their multis. The VAST majority of hobby grade "drones" are 250 sized racers nowadays, they're about 10 inches long and weigh a pound or so, these craft are not flying distance, nor are they flying high, they're racing around with 5 other people weaving through obstacles less than 10 feet off the ground.

Finally as a private pilot, I'd be FAR more concerned with colliding a plane of any size with my 40% scale Edge 540. It's composite, weighs 30 pounds, easily capable of 100+ mph, has a 150CC twin cylinder brick in the cowling spinning a 32 inch carbon fiber blade at 8,000 RPM and is capable of going straight up as high as I dare for the the 12 minutes it has fuel. If I were the average person, I'd also be more concerned with a 12b monster truck shattering my ankle at 60 mph, or a carbon fiber 100 MPH twin cat hitting me while swimming. "Drones" do not concern me as far as flying, a goose would almost certainly do more damage than the popular hobbyist drone, and no we're not spying on you in your backyard either.

While we're on the RC subject, anyone here fly? 

Awesome! They are a good fight huh? My first trip to the ocean I caught one of similar size. It was so much fun I've been thinking about going back just to target them!

WST120,

Thanks for the link. I managed to look at the wrong town entirely!

Just checked out the site and I now know where my next reel will be coming from! Looks like an awesome product, can't wait to see more of them out here!

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Sounds like a good time! I'll be watching for more details, maybe I can make it out Sunday in my kayak (read: aircraft carrier), depending on where you head on the delta!

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Holy crap! Glad to see that turned out the way it did and not the other way! Mondo was this your group or another? Hope everything is ok man!

Glad I found this forum as I was almost completely oblivious to the hazards of Tomales Bay. My first and only 3 times on salt with the kayak so far have been on Tomales bay alone. Nothing ever happened and I caught some fish but I'm beginning to understand just how dangerous it can be despite it's mild appearance. Just lurking on these forums has taught me much I didn't know about safety and what to bring along. The forum also cost me a lot of money looking at all these shiny kayaks and "just having to have one of my own" but I'd say it's done more good than harm 

I just left active duty Air Force in Feb. Now I'm a reservist at Travis AFB and working full time at anheuser-busch and about to start college on top of that in the spring!