With so much negative media attention polluting the otherwise clear skies of the commercial done revolution (and much of it overblown), a New Hampshire town may provide a unique solution to diffuse the tension building between ground-pounders and UAV fans – a quiet, safe place to fly.
The Tyngsboro Conservation Commission is working with a hobbyist group to offer up a conservation tract designated for drone flying.
According to the Lowell Sun, the commission is working with the River Bend RC Flyers to locate a parcel just months after the group thought they had sealed a deal on an eight-acre tract, despite strong neighborhood opposition.
However, that plan crashed and burned in August after the Conservation Commission was overruled by the town’s Board of Selectmen, which decided to suspend flights for the time being in order to review the plan – a decision that miffed Flyers president Ken Pappas.
“That to me was like an entire setup against us because we were not asked to be at that meeting,” Pappas said in media reports. “I was told that it wasn’t going to be a discussion, the Conservation Commission was simply going to hand over the field-use rules that we came to an agreement with to town council and that was it.”
So for now, the club will work with the town to develop a list of possible fields designated for UAV hobbyists even as Conservation Director Matt Marro reviews how other towns in the region are balancing neighborhood concerns with the needs of drone hobbyists.
For twelve-year-old Alex Brown, the now-suspended field helped spark his interest in drones – so much so that he wrote a letter to officials following the land suspension.
“Now I feel discouraged from going there because of your decisions on the matter of the RC Club,” Alex wrote. “All I want is a spot to fly my new RC plane and continue learning from my fellow RC club members.”
“It’s really, really nice, it’s big, it’s pretty hard to crash,” he added. “I talked to a bunch of them and they really taught me a lot, even in the two or three times that I met the people.”
Jason is a longstanding contributor to DroneLife with an avid interest in all things tech. He focuses on anti-drone technologies and the public safety sector; police, fire, and search and rescue.
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Bordering on the absurd. Education on use and misuse of drones is crucial to there acceptance in today’s crowded skies. Only an active club can do this effectively. Someone has a grudge against drones. For whatever reason it is futile (like trying to stop the digital track in the music industry).
Operated responsibly drones can be an invaluable tool in Search and Rescue, Security, Movie Production, Policing, First Responders, Volcanologists Air Ambulance and that is just naming a few. Whoever kiboshed the drone field must be a very bigoted person because drones are here to stay. Simply too useful and cost efficient. Whoever the individual was that vetoed this club’s field …take the blinders off buddy. Realize the enormous savings and advantages cities, teams, businesses can benefit from.
Its the same old story when you have something technologically new that offers so much there is always a select few who ruin the tech by it’s misuse and once the press gets a hold of the “danger” (read sensation sells media), the damage is done.
Clubs are essential in undoing this damage because they uphold the safe sensible use of this transformative technology.
Tyngsboro is in MASS., not N.H.