Originally Posted by SayAlt

Thanks for sharing what bothers you. What bothers me is anyone who calls passenger jets "drones" (like you just did) and think people who "fly" drones are real pilots in an attempt to equate the two (as you are trying to do).

People who fly drones are not pilots, they are RC operators of RC drones. And since the drones we are talking about can fly and can be operated in airspace that real pilots fly in with passengers on board, they need to be strictly and stringently regulated. And they will be, rest assured.

Your next question is going to be "why aren't RC operators 'pilots' "? The answer is simple. Because they won't die if/when something goes wrong and their drone crashes, as well as the fact that their 'skills' do not allow them to fly a real airplane. Not even close. A real pilot can fly a drone with some minimal training. An RC operator would require a great deal of training in order to competently fly a real airplane safely.

So no, they are not one and the same. And never will be. Ever.

Furthermore, what also bothers me is that RC operators (like yourself) desperately want to co-opt the credibility and legitimacy of real pilots and the real aviation community to legitimize their toys. So you get "idiots" (your term) who say BS like "we as an aviation community" have no business "belittling another segment of aviation".

The problem, sir, is being created EXCLUSIVELY by the RC community, and as such it is exclusively theirs to "work". Real pilots and the real aviation community have every right to go to Fox News or any other media outlet to inform the public of the real and present danger the currently unregulated and out-of-control RC community represents to the flying public.

What is laughable is an RC operator coming onto a professional pilots forum and spewing the pablum you just did and telling everyone he is bothered by the "it finally happened" mentality, then presuming to lecture professional pilots to "work the problem".

Talk about out of control egos. Geez.