Export limitations won't be lifted any time soon ..,
Not only, the real beef is the impending elimination of the non commercial use clause for autopilot based radio controlled flying models. My speculation .. by I can read the writing on the wall.
Ever heard of the near miss collision between a jetliner in final and a "drone" in Florida?
Well, it was not a gov licensed flying unmanned device.. so it must have been an FPV or paparazzi based model or similar and it was flying into the path of a jetliner. ..here is the possibility it was something more sophisticated, but those are all controlled. Now for a pilot to actually see it, it must have been relatively large and slow. So what was it? Apparently it came so close, the pilot said it was convince to have had a collision.
We have been flying paparazzi for quite some time .. you all know that to get a flying model to go up high and close to a jetliner , one needs to work actively to make it fly into reserved airspace quite deep . It could be an accident .. someone with an autopilot board with failing return to home safety lost radio control of an FPV or paparazzi based model. Regardless ...
Do you see where the problem is?
If , the exporter as described above, went to the extreme of recalling a package that was already out to the FedEx destination station, it means the exporter did get a phone call from someone with enough convincing power to make them stop the delivery. Really .. that's a step a business takes only if they are about to get in serious legal troubles,
Now what could they be? Read the writing on the wall.
To be frank with, if the above accident was a hobbyist, the it was a real idiot, but the reality is that the FAA won't let this happen again and controlling export of paparazzi board is just the first easy step .
This is not going to go away.
This is just the beginning .Expect to lose the ability to fly paparazzi without commercial license in the near future.
Not to mention ... commercial flight of small drone technology is about to get a official spot in the NASA/FAA plan for integration with general aviation . There is an entire industry that is waiting to get the green light and that spells troubles for hobbyists because it might well be that non commercial unlicensed autopilot based flying model won't be allowed anymore some time soon.
So, fly till you can ...