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ifconfig recently (November 27, 2019) submitted an Area 51 proposal for a new Stack Exchange site: Drones and Model Aviation.

There's no clear consensus on what questions about model aircraft are on topic for this site, Aviation.SE. As of right now, the top answer on Are remote controlled aircraft on-topic? says that "Questions about construction or operation of small RC airplanes/helicopters/quadcopters are probably outside the scope of this site," whereas the top answer on Are model airplanes on topic here? says that "The site is about Aviation, and I think that model airplanes fit quite nicely here."

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Best of luck to the proposal.

If the community wants to revive the topic of on-topicness here, I don't see why not.


The following is a remark on the unclear consensus point you've raised:

Something that Bret Copeland said 6 years ago:

(...) it's unlikely we'll maintain a solid base of experts in that area to answer those questions (...)

There is some truth to the "unlikeliness," based on the previous proposal's lack of traction.

Imagine that it's been decided that all RC drones questions are on-topic, and people started asking those questions, but no experts answered, or the quality of answers was lacking, then we would have provided a platform for a topic that can't be served well, which could be of negative impact on the community's image and future visitors.

I believe that's why Area51 waits for enough experts to be around, so my point is:

► If for the second time the Area51 proposal didn't make it, and you are (anyone) a drone expert, let us know.

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  • $\begingroup$ "it's unlikely we'll maintain a solid base of experts in that area to answer those questions" that sounds a bit like a catch-22: we're unlikely to ever have an expert base if we do not host and attempt to answer those questions in the first place. However, a brief search has not shown any model aircraft questions that got undeservedly closed, thus far. Also, I am not an expert myself, but I have worked on both large drones and small RC aircraft, and outside of software development, they have little mystery to your average aerospace engineer. $\endgroup$ Dec 6, 2019 at 8:51
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    $\begingroup$ I also think that Area 51 is kind of “hidden away” from most SE users, so it’s unlikely many experts are going to find it. Due to the name I didn’t know for a long time what it was and even now have only checked it out once or twice. There are certainly experts out there. I have been to many drone forums and there are plenty of people that know their stuff, but forums are not the greatest place to get questions answered like SE is. You end up with tons of opinionated responses and undocumented advice. $\endgroup$
    – TomMcW
    Dec 7, 2019 at 17:57

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