The following is our response to the FAA FRIA-PEA document posted March, 2023.

The FPVFC disagrees with the following assumptions in the document:

1. Overall document. The PEA FRIA includes many references to the AMA. The document incorrectly references the AMA as representing 95% of the recreational sUAS population. We strongly disagree with this assumption. Using the FAA’s own projections, there are approximately 1.78 million sUAS recreational flyers in the USA as of today, May 2023. An estimate of the AMA’s paying membership is approximately 100,000. That means the AMA represents closer to 5% of the sUAS flyer population and nowhere near the 95% cited in the PEA FRIA. The other 1.68 million sUAS recreational flyers are represented by the other three FAA recognized Community Based Organizations including Flite Test Community Association, STEM+C and the FPV Freedom Coalition. No effort was made to contact any of the other three CBO’s who represent 95% of the recreational population. As detailed below, we assert the requirements of the AMA do not represent the 95% of the remaining recreational population as the remaining 95% represents a more economically diverse and younger population including underprivileged individuals.

2. Section 1.1 Overview, 3rd paragraph, 7th sentence: “While the FAA expects the majority of requests to establish FRIA locations to correlate with existing locations of hobbyist clubs associated with the Academy of Model Aeronautics, and educational institutions such as JROTC schools, not all eligible entities are yet known to the FAA. Eligible entities may include organizations who do not currently operate UA at a specific location, but which may be formed in the future and would also be eligible to establish FRIAs.” 

   
   The FPVFC asserts this assumption is invalid because the AMA represents approximately 1/20th or approximately 5% of the sUAS operators in the USA and the FRIA program should not serve only a privileged minority. As referenced in section 3.2 No Action Alternative, in this document, the FAA’s 2020 estimates are 1.32 million recreational UA by the end of 2019 and using that reports growth rate, there are 1.78 million sUAS recreational operators exist in the USA as of today, May 2023. The FRIA program would be terribly insufficient, non-inclusive and discriminatory if it served only 5% of a population.

3. Section 1.2 Background, paragraph # 5, the FAA states: “The FAA expects that the vast majority of UA will comply with remote identification requirements, thereby limiting the need for FRIAs. However, the FAA estimates that it may receive more than 4,000 FRIA applications by the full Remote ID Rule compliance date of September 16, 2023.”

   • The assumption that most of the 1.78 million sUAS operators will comply with remote identification requirements has no basis in fact. The remote ID NPRM prompted a record 53,000 comments. There is a widespread view, communicated in many of the 53,000 comments, that remote ID has no bearing on safety. The FAA has denied numerous FOIAs to produce a risk assessment of remote ID. Further, the FAA’s initial estimates that a remote ID broadcast module would cost between $30 and $50 are proving low by an order of magnitude. The cost to operators without any safety benefit to operators or crewed aircraft shows remote ID as a rule which is widely viewed as over-reach and unreasonable. As in the past, unreasonable regulations are met with widespread non-compliance. FPVFC anticipates wide-spread non-compliance with remote ID and therefore the need for FRIAs is amplified, not reduced. If the FAA were to consider twenty sUAS operators per FRIA, with a total of 1.78 million sUAS operators (the FAA’s estimate), that would result in a need for 89,000 FRIAs. The FPVC views the value of 4,000 as too small by a factor of 22.

4. Background 1.2, Existing Locations. The FAA states, “Similarly, the FAA anticipates that the VLOS boundaries of these locations, existing UA operations, UA types, and operating characteristics will remain static. Based on information provided by the AMA, the FAA estimates that approximately 2,500 existing locations associated with the AMA may request FRIAs between September 2022 and September 2023. In addition, the FAA estimates that an additional 100 locations at which UA operations currently take place but which are not associated with the AMA may also seek FRIA establishments during the same time period.”

   • This assumption defies logic. This paper identifies the FAA report which estimates Recreational sUAS operators in 2023 at 1.78 million. How could it be possible to serve 95% of this population with 100 FRIAs while 100% of the AMA’s existing 2,500 sites, serving 5% of the Recreational population? The FPVFC asserts this assumption is completely invalid and is exclusionary.

   • In a similar vein, in the next paragraph, the FAA states, “Based on the Regulatory Impact Analysis prepared by the FAA in conjunction with the Remote ID Rule, it is anticipated that, between September 2022 and September 2023, educational institutions may request to establish FRIAs at approximately 1,800 locations where UA are currently operated.” With 56 million students how is it possible to derive only 1,800 FRIAs from all the schools and educational institutions in the USA. The FPVC again asserts this assumption is low by two to three orders of magnitude. To be clear, we are stating this estimate is likely too low by a factor of over 100 to 1,000.

5. Background, 1.2 New Locations. The assumptions in this paragraph are stated as, “Based on information provided by AMA, the FAA estimates that approximately 80-85 new locations may seek FRIAs annually between September 2022 and September 2027. The FAA also anticipates that non-AMA member organizations recognized by the FAA as a CBO may seek to establish approximately four new FRIAs annually between September 2022 and September 2027. As with existing educational locations, the FAA anticipates that these locations would be established on landscaped school-owned property and likely to be located on open lots. It is also possible that the locations may be established on property otherwise being used for aviation-related use or where UA currently operates in compliance with legal requirements. The FAA anticipates that educational institutions may establish as many as 625 new FRIAs between September 2022 and September 2027. This assumption is informed by changes in STEM curricula being offered in primary and secondary school.” The FPVFC asserts these estimates are also too low by a factor over 10,000. Our math is: There are 1.78 million sUAS operators, the FAA is instituting remote ID in September 2023. For these operators to fly legally, they would need to either purchase a remote identification at a price which could be double the price of their model aircraft or fly in a FRIA. Therefore, a FRIA would be very attractive. As we cited above, if we were to assume 20 sUAS operators per FRIA, that would mean 1.78 million divided by 20 or 89,000 FRIAs. How the AMA and FAA arrive at an estimate of 80 to 85 makes no sense. We could look at this from the population of students. From conservative estimates, if we consider maybe 1 student in a thousand would be a recreational sUAS operator in an educational STEM program, that would be 56,000 students. If we use the same ratio of 20 sUAS operators per FRIA, that will yield a need for 2,800 FRIAs or only a factor of 35 times the FAA’s estimate of new FRIAs.

6. Section 1.2, Background. Footnote #6, page 4. The footnote reads, “The FAA estimates that AMA members comprise approximately 95 percent of the recreational flyer community in the United States.” This footnote is incorrect. By the FAA’s own estimates, there are 1.78 million recreational sUAS flyers in the USA. The AMA has 100,000 paying members. That’s closer to 5.6% and nowhere near 95%. The magnitude of this error calls into question the validity of this entire PEA FRIA as the FAA has ignored the other 3 Community Based Organizations and discussed the PEA with only one CBO who represents just over 5% of the recreational population. Further, the demographic of the AMA is monolithic in that the overwhelming majority of its members are older men.

7. No Action Alternative 3.2. 2nd paragraph. The FAA states, “Following the FAA’s issuance of the Part 107 rule and amendments, the FAA’s 2020 forecasts determined that approximately 1.32 million UA distinctly identified as recreational aircraft were owned at the end of 2019, and estimated that ownership rates would continue to grow annually at approximately 6 percent per annum before plateauing at approximately 1.5 million UA as the pace of falling prices diminishes and early adopters of UA begin to experience limits in their experiments, or as eagerness plateaus.” The FPVFC sees no evidence that sUAS growth will plateau and therefore this assumption is invalid. Flite Test, a company headquartered in Malvern, Ohio has transformed the demographic of fixed wing recreational aircraft use and has over 2.1 million followers. Flite Test has created a community it reaches directly through social media. This community is diverse and spans income brackets and spans a broad age range.

8. No Action Alternative 3.2. 3rd paragraph. The FAA states, “For example, UA operators have publicly stated that many models and types of UA can comply with the requirements of the Remote ID Rule via a software update or through the installation of an after-market broadcast module.” The FPVC strongly disagrees with this assertion. First, DJI, the largest manufacturer of video multirotors is abandoning most of its installed base of aircraft and not providing a software update to provide remote ID function. FPVFC anticipated this from DJI as DJI has a record of abandoning their installed base. In addition, the addition of a broadcast module is only applicable to aircraft manufactured prior to September 16, 2022, if the aircraft is to be used for part 107 operations and all recreational sUAS. The FPVFC therefore asserts these assumptions are incorrect. And the FAA’s assumption in the next sentence that it anticipates the “vast majority of the UA will comply with the Remote ID Rule” is not valid as it is based on assumptions which are incorrect.

9. Under the section for "Socioeconomic Impacts, Environmental Justice, and Children’s Environmental Health and Safety Risks" the FAA states, "The proposed action would not result in effects that would be predominately or uniquely borne by a minority or low-income population." However, one could argue that if the FAA does NOT approve FRIAs in specific areas, or significantly increase the number of expected FRIA locations, especially in low-income or urban areas, the FAA would be disproportionately inconveniencing people living there as most existing flying sites are quite far from these places and may be difficult to travel to.

The FPVFC disagrees with the following conclusions or actions:

1. Section 1.2 Background, paragraph #6, states, “This PEA does not include an analysis of temporary use events such as air shows or drone racing events as the FAA is not planning to approve FRIAs for temporary use events.”

   • The FPVFC asks the question: Why not? The FPVFC has been advocating the FAA to address temporary use events for over four years and the FAA’s response has been that it is working on it.

2. Section 4.4.3 Environmental Consequences, Proposed Action Alternative, 5th paragraph reads, “Therefore, because there is no change in the environmental baseline at existing flying sites, potential impacts from FRIA approvals on wildlife would not be significant. At new flying sites requesting a FRIA approval, the FAA will conduct further site-specific analysis to determine whether any wildlife or critical habitat could be affected.” This paragraph appears to contradict Table 4-1 on page 38 which indicates the FAA analysis finds approving FRIAs at UA flying locations would not cause:…”
This may be the most significant area of concern by FPVFC. If we understand the statement from 4.4.3 quoted above correctly, this means that existing locations do not require an endangered species or other wildlife investigation as described in 4.4.3 but new locations requesting a FRIA do. If we understand the statement in 4.4.3 correctly, our judgement is this will dramatically reduce the total number of FRIAs and will raise the cost of applying for a FRIA beyond any organization we have encountered in over 50 years of flying RC model aircraft.