| I can see that the liability for an accident could be huge--even
| disastrous for the AMA.
Why disasterous? That's what insurance policy limits are for.
A single huge claim would certainly hurt the AMA or it's insurer
badly, but they must be able to absorb at least one such claim at the
limit of the claim before going under ...
| Autonomous aerial vehicles probably should be dealing
| with the FAA and other agencies. Maynard Hill's Atlantic
| crossing was a special event
If I recall my timeline properly, it also predated the `no autonomous
flight' AMA policy. They crossed the Atlantic on August 11, 2003 --
was it the 2004 or 2005 AMA regulations that first prohibited
autonomous flight? I'm thinking it's 2005.
| (Dave Brown landed the plane in Ireland)
Of course, it shouldn't matter who landed it, as long as they're
competent to do so. (And would the AMA insurance have covered Dave if
something went wrong in Ireland? :) )
| that probably had pretty slim chance of hitting anybody en route.
Probably.
Though of course the AMA regulations don't apply if you're not a
member, and you can ignore them at will even if you are a member as
long as you realize that they won't insure you for anything.
(Though Maynard is probably a special case, and the AMA would probably
bend over backwards to accomodate any of his attempts to break world
records, even if they technically break their safety rules,
eespecially if he lets the AMA president play a public role.)
--
Doug McLaren, snipped-for-privacy@frenzy.com
After their numbers dwindled from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to
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