February 2006 5
n my time as AMA’s president, I’ve
had to write some columns which I
knew would create some
controversy, but this one will probably
do that more effectively than most!
Before you read this, make sure to hide
this magazine from your wife or you
may be inundated with grief in the form
of “I told you so.”
Aeromodeling is principally a male
sport, although we do have a few women
involved. In most cases, this would not
create any great deal of problems since
there are many activities in which the
majority involved is of one gender. In
our case, however, this concentration of
men creates a significant safety problem.
Before you get out the white coats
and come after me, consider this: there
seems to be an unwritten rule for men
that reading the instructions is the
course of last resort. It ranks right up
there with asking directions when we
become “navigationally challenged.”
You probably have had to assemble
some of the Christmas gifts your family
received, and I’ll bet most of us didn’t use
the instructions when doing so. After all,
reading instructions is, well, only for those
who don’t understand how things work.
Most instructions are written by men
to help women who don’t have a man to
help put things together, right? (Now
you know why I wanted you to hide this
from your wife.)
President’s Perspective
AMA President Dave Brown
I
In the old days that might have held
a lot more credence than it does in
today’s world, where holding down
button A, while tapping button B three
times, enables button C which … you
get the point. In the time in which we
live, it is only by reading the
instructions that we can have a clue
about the features of many of the
devices we use.
The year 2005 will go down in
history as the year of the electric
revolution in aeromodeling. Electric
aeromodeling grew so much in this past
year that it is now the dominant method
of propulsion of models sold in the
United States. With this growth has
come a new era in the need for reading
instructions as the charging systems
become more technologically advanced.
Technology is a funny thing. It
allows many complicated processes to
become more automated which would
seem to reduce the need for the
instruction manual. However, that
advanced technology can also lure us
into a sense of security with the
assumption that it is foolproof.
I have a favorite saying: “As
technology makes things more idiotproof,
God seems to be creating more
capable idiots.” The charging systems
for electric models are only one of
many new toys we may have acquired
that have the potential to hurt us if we
do not completely understand their
features and operation. Newer radios
have far more components than that
VCR we all stare at flashing 12:00, yet
few of us understand all of the features
they afford us.
It is winter and most of us are not
going to the flying field as often this
time of year. That makes this a good
time to search for those instruction
manuals which came with all of the
devices we use and read them.
Many of us received some new
goodies from Santa, and I’m sure that
he left the instruction manuals with
those gifts. We need to read and
understand them. I hope those manuals
didn’t get thrown out with the wrapping
paper!
In some correspondence with
members of the AMA Frequency
Committee, one of the members pointed
out that the most effective way to
reduce accidents which occur as a result
of incorrectly setting fail-safe features
would be to mandate that members
“RTFI.” I’m sure he meant “Read the
Full Instructions.”
Hey, at least I didn’t ask you to turn
around! MA
Til next month.
Dave Brown
AMA president
[email protected]
“As technology makes things more idiot-proof,
God seems to be creating more capable idiots.”
02sig1.QXD 12/22/05 10:11 AM Page 5
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/02
Page Numbers: 5