Reuter to Step Down from DC Drone User Group

 

One of the most prominent and active members of the drone community, Tim Reuter will be stepping down as President of the DC Drone User Group. Reuter founded the group which now claims over one thousand members. Reuter is moving from the DC area and explained his decision in a letter to the membership.  DC’s loss will be another location’s new Drone User Group!

 

Dear Drone Lovers,

Approximately two years ago we held the first DC Area Drone User Group event with seven people showing up at a bar. At the time, we never imagined that our group would grow to over 1000 talented inspired people, teach numerous individuals how to build and operate their own drones, complete community service projects, all while having an incredible amount of fun in the process.

After serving as the group’s president for two years, my family is moving away from the area for a new adventure. Leadership of DC DUG has always been a group effort, and Christopher Vo will be assuming the role of DC DUG President. He has taught more people than anyone else in the area, and possibly the country, how to build their own drones, and I know he will do an incredible job guiding the group.

CALL TO ACTION:

As many of you may have seen, the FAA recently issued an “Interpretation of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft” that you can read by clicking here. Our community and others that fly UAVs are deeply disappointed that the FAA has decided to take a very restrictive approach to this technology. Particularly problematic is their statement that flying with first person vision (FPV) goggles is not allowed. FPV has become a popular way for members of our community to experience the joys of flight and the FAA offers no basis either from a legal or safety perspective for its sudden effort to outlaw use of that technology for recreational flight.

We are going to need to band together to make sure that this technology that we’ve all worked so hard on doesn’t get regulated out from under us. The FAA interpretation is open to public comment, and we strongly encourage you to post comments on the regulation.org website expressing your frustration with what is being proposed.

The DC DUG leadership is in the process of drafting a response on behalf of our group that will be provided to the FAA. We will be posting relevant documents and discussing steps you can take over the coming days on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DCDrone. Overall, we believe that the FAA’s approach to regulation has been arbitrary, impedes the ability of Americans to benefit from civilian UAV technology, and has hurt our international competitiveness.

The current regulatory climate shows the importance of community groups such as ours in making sure that the interests of people using this technology are represented. We also have an important role to play in creating a culture of safe and respectful flight practices that demonstrate we can police ourselves to make sure the technology we are so passionate about is used in a respectful manner. Thank you for being part of our community, and I am excited to see us continue to grow and evolve.

Timothy Reuter
Founder
DC Area Drone User Group