Focus on Competition
Technically Speaking ...
Greg Hahn Technical Director [email protected]
I know I'm not the lone ranger when it comes to wishing for better (warmer) weather. I keep hearing from everyone that "spring is just around the corner"; I wish the corner wasn't so long!
As I write this, the temperatures outside are below 0° and, with the wind chill, the feels-like temperatures are absolutely brutal. I know it will soon change and all will be well.
Speaking of changes, I thought I'd talk about the recent changes to the rules-making procedures for the competitions regulations. Last spring the Contest Board chairmen, Contest Board coordinator, and I sat down for the first time in a long while to not only meet and greet, but also to begin looking for a way to make the rules-making procedure faster and more streamlined.
I realized early on that the time involved and the steps needed to get a rules change in place were causing things to be dropped and/or forgotten. With FAI/CIAM in the mix, we felt that the two-year cycle was still really the only option, but a change in the actual timing within that two-year cycle would be helpful. Also, a format change in the submission procedure would help speed things up.
To explain the changes, I'll begin with the submissions format. It was mandated by the Contest Boards that we no longer accept rules changes in handwritten form. They will only be accepted by electronic mail. This will greatly speed up the system by eliminating the need for a staff person to transfer the form into an electronic version and by reducing errors in form and transmission.
We have made available a Word document template of the standard rules submission form on the "AMA Documents" PDF page on the AMA website. This page will need to be filled in with your detailed rules change the same as before, except you now e-mail the form to either Michelle Lamb (Sanctions Secretary) or to me instead of mailing a hard copy of the form. Hopefully this one change in submission will make the procedure much easier to operate and less time consuming.
The timing change will make the actual voting–cross–final vote segment of the cycle all take place within eight months. The main reason for this timing change is to keep the voting, cross proposals, and interim voting moving along at a good pace. In years past, the time between votes and cross proposals was so drawn out that often the ballots were lost or forgotten, which drastically slowed the entire system.
The Contest Boards decided to make the full first year of the cycle available for submitting proposals. Proposals will first be initially approved and then published for the general membership to read and consider. In February of the second year, the voting begins and will end with publishing the new rule book in November of that year.
How to submit a rules proposal:
- Download the template from www.modelaircraft.org/documents.aspx (document number 333 — Word).
- Save a copy of the template, add your proposal and details.
- Attach the completed form to an e-mail and send it to either Michelle or me at HQ; it will be entered into the system.
For your convenience, Michelle’s e-mail address is [email protected] and mine is [email protected]. If you have any problems or questions, please e-mail one of us.
See you at briefing. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
