192 MODEL AVIATION
Joyce Hager Executive Director
View from HQ
BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ is the sound we’ve
been hearing at the International
Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana.
I am only going to cover a few highlights
of what has been happening here on-site;
full coverage will appear elsewhere.
The first week of the Nats began June 25
and the Control Line World
Championships (CLWC) started July 4.
The opening ceremony of the CLWC
began with a dedication of the new CL
facility to Willie McCool, pilot of the
Columbia and member of the AMA.
Willie’s father Barry McCool was here for
the unveiling of the monument.
After the dedication, the parade of
teams was held. Team members from 28
countries walked in their uniforms and
each country’s national anthem was
played. It was quite impressive.
Afterward, it was on to eating good
food, listening to a local country-andwestern
band, and concluding with the best
fireworks I have ever seen. Much hard
work goes into organizing the Nats, then to
host one of the largest World
Championships in the middle of the Nats ...
A big thank you to all the AMA staff
involved—especially the Competition and
Maintenance departments—and to all
those volunteers who made it work. I
appreciate the hard work and long hours
that are put in to make these events
happen.
As I write this, we are well into our
second week of the Nats, which will
continue until August 6.
Attention Chartered Clubs: In 2005,
chartered clubs will be required to
designate someone in the club to take the
position of safety coordinator. This person
should be familiar with the AMA Safety
Code and safety regulations for the
individual club site, be able to look for
potential safety hazards at the field, watch
for unsafe flying, etc.
If you check out the AMA Web site
(www.modelaircraft.org), document #537
provides a guideline for the duties of a
club safety officer and a club field
marshal. I welcome any suggestions or
input about how your club views safety.
Does your club have a safety officer, and
what are his or her responsibilities?
In 2005, clubs will be required to submit
the latitude and longitude of their flying
sites. Throughout the years, AMA has
tried to collect this data on a voluntary
basis but has been unsuccessful.
For those of you who do not read the
Executive Council (EC) minutes that are
posted on the AMA Web site, this issue
was discussed and passed at the April
2004 meeting. This item stemmed from a
previous meeting at which the EC
discussed a club that wanted to establish a
flying site in the proximity of an existing
site. The motion states that all chartered
clubs will be required to supply this
information when rechartering for 2005.
The latitude and longitude location is to
be taken at the center flight station. If you
have questions regarding the preceding,
please contact your district vice president.
Only AMA Headquarters will use this
information.
Vote, vote, vote! This is the year for a
national election, so all open members can
vote for the office of president and vice
presidents in districts I, V, and IX. Please
take time to read each candidate’s
campaign statement that will be included
in the renewal notice mailed out in
September.
If you have questions concerning a
candidate’s campaign, there will be plenty
of time to contact that individual and get a
response. Read, ask questions, and be an
informed voter. Remember, any ballots not
mailed directly to the auditor will not
count for that candidate. You need not
renew your membership to vote.
Membership renewal this year should be
easier. The new online system will speed
up the processing of your membership
renewal, but there is one catch. Members
must have an E-mail address on file at
AMA Headquarters and they must sign up
for a password. If you haven’t done that
yet, you need to do so. If you have a
problem, please contact the Membership
Department.
I want to say thank you for all the
comments, both positive and negative,
concerning the “Chaplain’s Corner” that I
ran in the August issue of MA. The piece
was not intended to offend anyone, and
actually, if the title had been anything
other than “Chaplain’s Corner,” nothing in
the text indicated any religion.
People have asked how this item came
to be. It began when an AMA member
passed away during the Nats. One of our
members offered his services as chaplain
on an as-needed basis and the EC
approved the unpaid position.
The volunteer chaplain, Alan Goff,
asked if he could occasionally publish
some text, and I wanted to see what type
of response I would receive. I included his
first submission in my August column.
Again, there was no intent to offend
anyone. MA
Read, ask questions,and
be an informed voter.
Happy flying,
Joyce Hager
Executive Director
[email protected]
Visit these AMA Web sites:
www.buildandfly.com www.modelaircraft.org
www.masportaviator.com
10sig6.QXD 7/23/04 9:11 am Page 192
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/10
Page Numbers: 192