April 2005 179
DOUG “CHIEF” POWELL, District
VIII’s RC Contest Coordinator, sent the
following suggestions to help you navigate
the event sanctioning process.
“I have been wearing this particular
volunteer hat now for nearly nine years.
There have been some changes in the
sanctioning procedure that are intended to
help people get sanction applications
processed as easily, completely, and
correctly as possible. I want to share some
of those changes with you.
“AMA began accepting fee payment for
sanction applications via MasterCard and
Visa a while back. With that came the
ability for people to fax their completed
applications directly to me. This saved the
hassle of making out a check and sending it
and the application forms to me via snail
mail for district contest coordination before I
send them on to AMA for the issue of the
actual sanction and CD event package.
“Is this a help? I have to say that it is,
since I must process applications in the
order that I receive them.
“I routinely advise CDs during telephone
or E-mail conversations, of the availability
of the dates on which they wish to hold their
events; however, I cannot hold the dates
open for them unless I have the hard copy of
their application in my possession. The
ability to fax the application directly to
me—with or without payment included—
means that within minutes, I can confirm
their event date for them.
“Some opt to mail a check for the fee
payment at a later date. The credit card
number and expiration date confirms the fee
payment and essentially, the process is
complete.
“This sounds good unless the CD does not
have fax capability. Then what do you do?
“Lately, several CDs have started using
E-mail to send their applications to me
almost instantly. They are using the PDF file
of the Sanction Application form (302)
downloaded from the AMA Web site.
“Using their Adobe Acrobat program to
fill in the information, they include the
credit card number and expiration date on
the form. They then save the completed PDF
document and E-mail it directly to me.
“Since I have high-speed Internet
capability, receiving and downloading these
sometimes large files presents no problem. I
print out the application at my end and
again, it’s a done deal! I can readily verify
the sender’s E-mail address as that of the
CD, and therefore the electronic signature is
entirely acceptable.
“Both of these methods can ensure the
virtually instant confirmation of a requested
event date and lock it in for a club. This
allows the club members to start advertising
their event immediately. With the standard
sanctioning process, confirmation of the
requested event date(s) and subsequent
advertising is delayed until the snail-mail
process has run its course, and I mail, call,
or E-mail confirmation of the requested
date(s) back to the CD.
“Whichever method you use to submit
your sanction application is fine with me,
but please, use only the latest version of the
application form. Trash all of the older
forms you may still have stashed away
because they are outdated and do not reflect
current events.
“If you are unable to download form 302
directly from the AMA Web site, please just
call or write to me and I will be glad to
provide you with a few copies from which
you can make additional copies as you need
them.
“I realize that this information may be of
little interest to those readers who are not
CDs; however, there are some people out
there who have been considering becoming
one.
“I hope this information will enlighten
some of those people as well as current CDs
and help simplify the process for them. I
also hope that this gives the rest of you a bit
of insight to the event-sanctioning process.
“If you have any questions or concerns
regarding your event dates or the
applications, please feel free to contact me at
any time by snail mail, telephone, or
(preferably) E-mail. My contact information
is listed in each issue of MA in the
Competition Directory, and I have included
it here: Douglas “Chief” Powell, 5218
Kingston Dr., Wichita Falls TX 76310;
(940) 691-8348; Fax: (940) 691-8348;
Email: [email protected].
“I shall look forward to hearing from
y’all as the need may arise.”
District VIII’s webmaster, Bill Lee, sent
me this reminder. The District VIII Web site
has a very good calendar of events.
Continually maintained, the calendar
contains sanctioned events often before they
appear on the AMA Web site and always
months before they appear in MA.
However, we do not have a good handle
on the non-flying events such as swap
meets, mall shows, and unsanctioned flying
events in the district.
We need every club to notify the District
VIII webmaster when you have such an
activity scheduled. Sending him the
information about these events will get them
added to the District VIII Event Calendar.
Please send the information to Bill at
[email protected].
This note is from Don Nix, District VIII’s
Safety Coordinator.
“Sandy Frank asked me to take this job a
year ago, and it’s been interesting.
“Here is my background: I got my first
model engine in 1948, started in RC 20
years ago, founded Powermaster Fuel in
1986, and sold it in 1998. I have been a fullscale
pilot since 1961, holding a
Commercial License with Instrument, Multi-
Engine, and Glider ratings.
“Having owned businesses that
manufactured ‘hazardous materials’ for
many years (including one before
Powermaster), and managing to survive as a
full-scale pilot for 44 years, by necessity I
have spent much time giving close attention
to safety.
“For decades, the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has
made information on full-scale accidents a
matter of public record. Having read
countless such reports has been a major
factor in my still being alive after thousands
of hours of flying. Often I’ve found myself
considering ‘pushing the envelope’ just a
little too far, but then remembered where
some pilot had died doing the same thing. It
almost always changed my mind in a hurry!
“I want to see the AMA publish similar
reports in the hope they would have the
same effect on modelers when they are
about to do something foolish. The reports
wouldn’t have to include the person’s name,
or even his or her location (although the
NTSB’s reports do). There would be nothing
gained by embarrassing someone.
“I invite modelers everywhere to contact
me to exchange information. My E-mail
address is [email protected].”
Flying, fun, and fellowship, Dr. Sandy
Frank.
Arkansas / Louisiana / New
Mexico / Oklahoma / Texas
Dr. Sandy Frank
Vice President
105 N. Brazos St.,
Weatherford TX 76086-3207
Tel./Fax: (817) 599-7131
www.AMA-Dist-8.org
E-mail: [email protected]
Associate Vice Presidents
Buzz Averill, 11608 Singing Arrow Rd SE,
Albuquerque NM 87123; Tel.: (505) 298-6870
Lester L. Barry, 4808 N. Rockwell Ave., Bethany
OK 73008-5373 (405) 789-5373
Max Blose, 1001 N. Betsy, Waco TX 76706
(254) 662-5587
Bill Fulmer, 356 Bellemeade Blvd., Gretna LA
70056; Tel.: (504) 392-3620
Bill Lee, 601 Van Zandt County Road 4815,
Chandler TX 75758 (903) 852-5599
Jim D. Marshall, Box 9092, Mission TX 78572
(956) 585-6446
Douglas E. Powell, 5218 Kingston Dr., Wichita
Falls TX 76310; (940)691-8348
Randy Randolph, 4873 Fallon Pl., Dallas TX 75227
(214) 381-7624
Jim Rice, 118 E. Wright Blvd., Universal City TX
78148 (210) 945-8221
Ron Stanfield, 26 Oak Ridge Dr., Maumelle AR
72113-6846 (501) 851-1697
Charles Stevens, 226 Delta St., Pasadena TX
77506 (713) 473-4995
Frequency Coordinator
(North): Joe DuMond, 6731 Bridge Street, PMB-
224, Ft. Worth TX 76112 (817) 457-6685
(South): Gene Kent, 19531 Stamford Dr., Tomball
TX 77375; Tel.: (281) 255-4805
AMA Display Coordinator
Karen Hopkins, 5515 Bridgeton Avenue, Arlington
TX 76018 (817) 467-9211
District VIII Report
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/04
Page Numbers: 179