The FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate tests for understanding hazardous attitudes. They have a list of five:
- Macho – “Let me show you what I can do!”
- Antidote – Taking chances is foolish.
- Impulsivity – “Do it quickly!”
- Antidote – Not so fast. Think first.
- Invulnerability – It won’t happen to me.”
- Antidote – It could happen to me.
- Resignation – “What’s the use?”
- Antidote – I am not helpless. I can make a difference.
- Anti-Authority – “Don’t tell me what to do!”
- Antidote – Follow the rules. They are usually right.
Some will rail against rules being an affront to our freedom and argue that they’re “there to be broken.”
Yes, some rules are unjustified. Someone gets in power and doesn’t like something, and then since they sit on the city council, create a new ordinance or law because they don’t like something their neighbor is doing.
Rules are the essence of sport, games, and puzzles – even when their entire purpose is supposedly fun. But haven’t you seen a fan lose it when their team is called off-sides.
I teach many workshops worldwide, and the organization I work with starts each workshop by going over some ground rules. At the end of going over each direction, the leader said, “Please don’t do anything that makes us create a new rule.”
I think we would want to encourage everyone to learn the rules so that we can all enjoy flying our drones for commercial and personal enjoyment without having someone create a problem that needs a new direction.
Rules, like good policing, rely on our consent. And those that don’t have our permission can become the instruments of tyranny. So perhaps the best advice is to follow the rules, but always to ask why. Learn why a law was created.
I learned a lot this past year when I jumped onto the Drone Bandwagon. Most of the rules the FAA has created make it safer for all of us. In addition, it helps all of us enjoy this as a hobby and as a profession.
