As a long-time RC hobbyist who designs, builds and flies small, short-range battery-powered foam aerobatic planes and gliders for fun and relaxation, it sounds like yet another engineering-centric, technical hobby is about to have their fun ruined by lack-of-understanding, politically-driven performative "safety theater" and media-fueled runaway paranoia.
For proof of this just check these HN threads where many commenters think this balloon was a danger to commercial airliners. And this is a forum populated by nerds.
I've been wondering about the nerd/engineer mindset when it comes to rules and regulations. I've always leaned toward curiosity, freedom, experimentation, and logical reasonableness and thought this was common among the nerd set. Unfortunately, it seems there are a lot of people who bring their desire to control objects into the regulatory realm and lean toward engineering society - favoring manipulation, control, and centralized planning at the expense of reasonableness, the free market, and social benefit.
Yep. When I heard the description of this balloon I was sure it was a picoballoon. Having done balloon flights and dealt with the regulations and reporting etc. I can see how this hobby is going to get shut down for no good reason. Sucks.
I agree. People seem to be quick to propose regulations to monitor and control every inch of airspace. No sense of cost/benefit, one of the costs being to curiosity, learning, and fun.
