I had to send photos and specs for every piece of my unit to include my ground station. They wanted weights on everything and the total weight of my helicopter. The wanted, max range, max height, max speed, turn speed, climb and descend rates, max wind, weather types it can fly in, and max heat and cold temps for the unit. Needless to say I had a few months just in test flights to get the figures they wanted.
I will get a training COA first allowing me to train with my team to develop policies for use. Once I am comfortable they will send two men from the Washington FAA department to go over the helicopter for inspection and to check my ability to fly safe. That should answer part of the question you asked.
The other part is about actively going after violators. My answer is yes, he said they are doing what they can and they will investigate complaints by people who make them. I know the guy I work with in manufacturing my hornets had two FAA guys visit a friend of his because he posted a video of him flying over 2000 feet in Columbus Ohio. He just received a strong warning. People are starting to get charged with flying over crowds and near manned aircraft. They are being charged with reckless endangerment but as of yet I haven't seen any dispositions on their cases.
I think the main issue is that for the most part model aviation was for a long time only pro-sued by people who had a true love for flying just to see their craft in the air. Then cameras got attached and prices started dropping which brought them into the hands of people who don't really care about losing a few hundred dollars if their carelessness losses their craft.
I think if someone was to buy one of my units at a price over $2,000.00 they would think twice before doing some of the crap I see people doing with the cheaper versions.
Let be honest here. If the FAA has a rule that says don't fly over 400 feet and the bottom ceiling of class E air space is 700, why go over. They are clearly trying to separate us modelers from Manned aircraft by 300 feet. I see guys flying their quads up into the clouds and manned vfr flights aren't even allowed to fly into clouds without an instrument rating. You are not under any circumstances allowed to fly 5 miles from an airport but people are doing it as well. I know I have a had time seeing my unit sometimes while I fly so why should we think a real pilot in a manned aircraft is going to see our little bird size unit.
I don't want more regulations because we don't need them. I just wish people would actually take it serious enough to educate themselves prior to sending their helicopters up and follow the rules already in place so we don't give the criers a reason to make us look bad in the media and push legislature to make more restrictions.
I am pretty sure that most people flying their new units haven't tried to purchase insurance for them. I sure have because I know things go wrong. I have been doing this to long and I have had fly-a-ways and I have crashed many birds in my quest for finally producing a unit FAA worthy.
Most new fliers have know idea to check the internet first for solar flare storms in their area prior to flying because they don't mention it in any manual I have seen but solar storms are a huge cause for fly-a-ways from the autonomous units and units controlled by GPS. If you watch some videos on youtube of unexplained crashes from their new unit and research the day of upload and their area you might be surprised what you find in their weather for that day.
Now I am just ranting so I will stop for now. I just wish the new so called drone flyers would use their heads a little before we get un needed regulation placed on us. I totally understand me have to go through all the hoops because I want to use mine for Law Enforcement and I want the public to understand I wont be using mine for surveillance of law-biding people. If I have probable cause and an actual search warrant to look over a persons property then I will certainly have a look but not without a valid search warrant.
