Flying on Military Land
Written by Tony Stillman AMA News As seen in the February 2019 issue of Model Aviation.
It looks like winter has a firm grip, at least on us living here in the Midwest! As an old Florida boy, I am not used to this (I don’t think you could ever get used to it!), but one advantage is that you do have a building season. I always struggled with finding time to build because it messed up my flying. Well, that’s not much of a problem here in Indiana, unless you have a good indoor site available to you.
I’m working on expanding my Giant Scale warbird fleet for 2019 with the addition of a Byron F4U Corsair and a 1/4-scale S.E.5a World War I biplane.
Flying on Military Land
I work almost daily with Tyler Dobbs, AMA’s government affairs and public relations representative. Tyler does amazing work on our Government Relations team, trying to keep the government from interfering with our hobby as much as possible. That’s not easy and sometimes there is just no stopping it, but he and AMA work tirelessly on this task.
One such situation has been going on for some time because of the attacks that happened on 9/11. That is the increase in security at military bases, which usually has a negative effect on flying sites on these facilities. Several AMA clubs have contacted AMA because they were forced out of a military base flying site since that time. We were able to assist several to regain their flying sites, but a recent increase in security at military facilities has had a negative impact.
Our Government Affairs and Flying Site Assistance departments met with the Homeland Defense Capability Development (HDCD) division of the Department of Defense (DoD) on November 15, 2018. The HDCD is tasked with approving waivers for extracurricular activities on military properties across the country.
We were assured that model aircraft activity can occur on military property nationwide if the base commander wishes to file for an exemption to allow the operations. HDCD said that it receives waivers on a regular basis and recently approved drone racing and a host of other events across the country. We specifically mentioned a situation at an Outlying Landing Field in Florida and were told that bases can file for an exemption to fly at outlying fields and other military-managed properties. We were also told that the filing forms could be found at the base’s Acquisition office or Spectrum office.
With that stated, there could still be confidential security issues at specific locations across the country that will remain off limits for all extracurricular activity. The director of HDCD in the office of the Secretary of Defense informed us that she can only send the required form to a DoD employee or contractor doing work for DoD.
If you are in a similar situation with your club losing access to a flying site on military property, there is a way to file for access if the base commander approves. Please contact Tyler Dobbs or Angie Martin in the AMA Government Relations department and they can provide you with the information to get the document to file for a waiver.
Now, back to the building room!
6 comments
Had to close Hill AFB Falcon Flying Field club
You guys and all of AMA does
I live in an area in New
Special Use Airspace
public parks and flying
Flying in public parks
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