Focus on Competition
Technical Director — Steve Kaluf
Another month has flown by. By the time you read this, the new Competition Regulations will be available on the AMA Web site. Remember that this is the official version of the rule book.
The new Rules Change Cycle has also started; we are now accepting Rules Change Proposals for the new cycle. This process will be continuous until September 30, 2005. No proposals will be accepted after that postmark date.
Please take the time to read through the new Contest Board Procedures. They are available on the AMA Web site at: http://www.modelaircraft.org/comp/Contest%20Board%20Procedures%20Changes...
AMA Leader Member Robert Spahr sent me a concern about the manner in which pull tests are done, especially in Control Line Speed, which can involve very high pull loads. According to him, "The way Control Line Speed fliers are performing the pull test could be extremely dangerous, possibly fatal."
Mr. Spahr references a picture from Speed Times (the North American Speed Society SIG newsletter) showing a flier pulling the aircraft with the aircraft and all the rest of the apparatus in front of him. He wrote that if the line(s), thong, handle, or scale should fail, the wing or part of the model could impale the modeler in the gut, chest, or heart with disastrous results. He recommends the modeler position inside or between the model and the pull-test scale, thus pushing the model away from his body while performing the test. He personally uses this position and finds it much safer and also easier.
Even though I'm not a Speed flier, what Mr. Spahr states certainly makes sense to me. The only disadvantage I can see is that if you did have a failure, you'd likely fall on the model. I guess that's better than it sticking you in the chest, however!
Speed, Carrier, and some Scale models can have some pretty high pull-test loads. What do you think? If this seems like a better, safer way of doing a pull test, how about someone authoring a Rules Change Proposal?
Team membership and citizenship
AMA has been taken to task recently about the requirements (or lack of requirements) for being a member of, or trying out for, a spot on a US aeromodeling team.
Currently AMA follows FAI policy, which in simple terms means:
- You do not have to be a citizen of the country you are competing for in an FAI-sanctioned event.
- You must not have competed for another country for three years.
- You must reside in the country you represent for at least 185 days per year.
AMA has followed this policy for years. Some feel that a team member should be required to be a citizen of the country they are competing for. Changing the policy now could make some current or past competitors ineligible to compete on our teams, which would be disruptive. I can certainly also see the citizenship argument.
Interestingly, from a small amount of research I've done, the Olympics do require citizenship, but in most Olympic-associated sports the world championships or world cup events do not require citizenship.
So what do you think about this? Let me know your thoughts on the topic.
'Til next time ... MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
