I agree with you but until people become active and form a group that can and will "lobby" politicians things won't change. Some of us tried that and formed a group to gather members for that purpose. The problem is that kind of work requires time and travel. A lot of both. They cost money that I personally don't have in the quantities necessary to both promote our work and support my family. Getting people to join something for free is easy, especially if they get something for the nothing they spend on it. Getting them to pay for those benefits is a completely different matter, especially when the results of the efforts are slow in delivery because of a political process that has to be followed.
The AMA is a good example. They have a couple hundred thousand members to support a hobby organization. They provide a secondary insurance policy that forms the primary basis for many to join. Doesn't matter that it is secondary and only pays in the event no other personal insurance covers, it's still liability, injury and theft insurance. People complain about the annual dues, but they pay. The only reason a hobbyist can fly higher than 400' is due to the AMA. The only reason a hobbyist does not have to obtain an FAA waiver is because of the AMA. A hobbyist can even fly at night without first being blessed by the FAA. The AMA spent a lot of money sending people to Washington and attending meetings. The rules we have today impacting what we do kicked off with meetings in 2007, taking to 2012 with one set of rules and 2016 for another to get what we have now. It cost a lot of money to have people in attendance and meeting behind the scenes with other power players.
Trade organizations can do a whole lot of good if people joined them, supported them, and let them do their work. I could start the ACUAS up again right now and would if I thought there was a chance in Hades I could fund the operation and retain the right people. At this point in time there is still no organization representing multirotor operators. Sure, there's the AUVSI and sUAV Coalition but their concern is only for the big businesses and high end parts makers. Nobody is there for the little guy. Nobody.
BTW, Trappy Pirker went free after all his exploits through cities and college campuses but that freedom came at a price. A couple years worth of pro bono representation from DJI's current corporate attorney and a $10k fine without admission of guilt. The feds own ALL of the airspace and the only way to deal with that is to establish the means to carve portions of it up for use leveraging the FAA's standards to be used as permissions. With nobody looking out for the professional operators there's nobody speaking the right language to the FAA. Hobbyists are covered as long as their interests align with those of the AMA.
. Couple feet of snow, freezing rain, and temps in the single digits. I'm hibernating.
