UAS ARC 2.0
In June of this year a FOIA request was made on behalf of the sUAS News for a copy of the UAS ARC charter and membership list. At the time of the ARC’s convening, rumors where that no one had yet seen the charter. It’s a strange concept to put something together for supposed public benefit without going public with the why.
Section 5’s a keeper:
5. Objectives and Scope of the Committee.
b. Coordinate the resolution of any comments on related proposed rulemaking.
The membership list is another story.
How and what was the determining criteria for membership? Running down the list, one will quickly deduce that the lobbyists have been hard at work earning their high fees. What’s missing is representation for commercial users or end user associations. The manned aviation groups have ample representation, so why not UAS users? Again we have the military industrial complex weasel(s) guarding the commercial hen house. Only problem now is that the domestic chickens face extinction while they’ve waited for the FAA to work in the public’s best interest.
It does help to shed light on the causes of some of the maladies affecting the community. Unfortunately, I do not see this situation changing anytime soon.
Also missing are the names of most of the FAA folks that where on the first ARC, with the exception of Gary Michel. Why leave all of the experience and reference out? Again, we have another glaring example of the public interest taking a backseat to special interest, and questionable leadership from the FAA.
