Remote Controlled; Scale Jets

Europe has rules too. The majority of all laws and rules on this planet are written in my language anyhow .

The EASA countries have developed a specific set of laws and regulations for RC planes and helicopters / multicopters / remote piloted air vehicles.

- RC planes under o.25 kg OUW are free and basically unregulated. Only restrictions are: The RC operator has to keep line of sight to the flying vehicle and the max height of the model above the RC operator is 120 Meter.
The term "above the operator" was specially invented for slope soaring with RC gliders. The RC vehicle is concidered a toy and therefore covered by the operators private Liability Insurance.

- Between 0.25 kg and 25 kg max. OUW, the vehicle must be operated on dedicated RC airfields or certified airfields, the operator older than 16 years and must have a RC pilot license. The model has to be inspected (means a simple type of certification). Same altitude restriction as above and the RC vehicle must be opreated in RC Club enviroment. The RC vehicle has a registration number which has to be placed somewhere on or in the vehicle. Each of those models have to have individual Liability Insurance. The whole regulation body is delegated to the national Aero Clubs with its associated model plane organisations.

- Between 25 ks and 150 kg (most likely the RC Hawk above is within those 150 kg) it gets more complicated. The RC air vehicle has to be type certified and the RC operator needs a real license. A registration number has to be shown on the vehicle. Operation only on dedicated airfields or RC airfields certified for those large and heavy models. The RC flying events with those large models have to be registered and have to be covered by NOTAM.

All of the above vehicles have to be privatly built / assembled and operated non commercial.

- Above 150 kg AUW its easy. They are concidered as remotly controlled certified aircraft. They need a type certificate and the operator a real operator (flying) license. And a flight plan has to be filed for every single flight or on Air Shows they are covered under the general NOTAM for the Air Show.

The biggest problem with larger RC vehicles is the operation of foreign (non EASA) large RC planes within the EASA countries. Especially those Russian professional demo RC pilots with their non certified and / or inspected planes with mostly unknown airworthyness and Insurance satus. The regulations for foreign aircraft and pilots paticipating on Air shows are still under developement.

I say again, I would hate to crash one of those expensive toys. I remember my older brother flying his RC acrobatic plane high speed through the (closed !) drivers door of a parked big BMW. Luckily the car was owned by the father of his girl friend and he had a good liability insurance. That was a very expensive crash at that time.

That Bae Hawk is a beautiful model and well flown. You can tell be watching it flying, it is not built for high speeds. The little jet engine has some hard work with the heavy air frame. The gear and gear door management seems to need some improvement. Good show and a great find, Ron!