President's Perspective-2007/12

Two to go ... It is hard to believe, but I
have only this column and one more
to write before there will be a new
AMA president responsible for the
“President’s Perspective.” For 28 years I have
penned a monthly column for MA, although
for a few years we only did 11 columns a year
in order to dedicate a full issue to Nats
coverage.
Between MA, other AMA publications,
and my time writing for Model Builder, I think
it is a good bet that I have written more than
350 columns so these last two are a drop in the
bucket.
I’m using these last two columns to reflect
upon where AMA has come in those 28 years,
and where I hope and think it is going in the
future.
In 1936, nine years before I was born, a few
pioneers got together and decided it was time
to separate aeromodeling into a dedicated
division of the NAA (National Aeronautic
Association), whose mission was to support all
aspects of aviation. Part of what drove this was
some proposed legislation in Massachusetts,
which would have banned the use of “gas”
engines in model airplanes.
Willis C. Brown was elected president and
the Academy of Model Aeronautics was born.
I don’t know many details of that proposed
legislation, but it was defeated. Although the
first president and I share the same surname
and home state, it is coincidental; as far as I
know, we are not related.
At the time, rubber was king and the
premier class of aeromodeling was Wakefield,
named after Lord Wakefield who donated the
international cup representing the World
Champion. FF was the mainstay until the
1940s and along came CL.
Who “invented” CL flying is a disputed
fact, but from the period after World War II
until approximately 1960 CL was king. It
provided an opportunity for modelers to fly in
confined spaces and brought aeromodeling
back into the metropolitan areas.
Remarkable advances were made during
this period. The glow plug was invented,
eliminating the need to carry a coil and
condenser, and the first throttles were
available.
Modelers were and are a creative lot and
President’s Perspective
AMA President Dave Brown
T new ideas seemed to come from everywhere.
One of those ideas was to put a radio into a
model airplane and fly it the same way as an
FF model but under control so that it could be
flown back to its owner.
The Good brothers first flew RC in the
1930s with the Guff, which is in the
Smithsonian today, but it wasn’t until the late
1950s and early 1960s that RC started to
become practical. By the mid-1960s
proportional, multichannel RC systems were
available and you did not need to be an
electronics guru to fly RC. The sport
experienced exponential growth.
AMA grew with the sport but was still a
small, fledgling organization that faced
enormous political and financial challenges.
It had managed to secure one license-free RC
frequency during the 1950s and had
expanded to five, but if this sport were to
grow then more frequencies would be
necessary.
Financially, AMA was broke and the
picture was anything but rosy. Fortunately
the model airplane industry saw the value in
AMA and organized a “dump the deficit”
campaign that kept AMA afloat.
In the mid-1960s AMA petitioned the
government for the first 72 MHz frequencies
and AMA began a growth pattern that was
little short of remarkable.
I joined the AMA Executive Council in
January 1980. AMA was already a great
organization but it had no “home.” It existed
in a small, rented office in downtown
Washington DC with a dedicated staff but
not much in the way of assets. That was
about to change!
In the early 1980s the EC decided to buy
a piece of property in Reston, Virginia, and
commit to building a headquarters facility on
the property. This was a huge commitment
for AMA; the organization was hard-pressed
to pay for the property, much less a building.
I still remember the meeting in which we
made that commitment and thinking, “I hope
we haven’t bitten a hog in the butt with
this!” We were unanimous in our support for
the project, but I’m sure I wasn’t the only
one with reservations!
As it turned out, buying the Reston
facility proved to be a pivotal decision and
one that would save AMA in a few years
when the insurance market went “hard” and
we were unable to buy conventional
insurance for our membership.
Fortunately, in only a few years the
property rapidly inflated in value and we
were able to use the equity we had in the
building to obtain a letter of credit to back a
self-funded insurance program. That program
ran for approximately 10 years and, along
with a great deal of luck, it put AMA solidly
into the black in terms of assets.
AMA went back to purchased insurance
when the market went “soft” and it became
economically advantageous, but by then we
had built up significant reserves. The reserves
were needed to back the insurance plan but
they didn’t need to be in cash—in fact, cash
was making AMA the target for lawsuits.
The EC decided to fulfill a dream of
owning a national flying site. After looking at
61 places, AMA decided on a location in
Muncie, Indiana. The Muncie facility has
grown in the 15-plus years we have been
there, and it has received international
acclaim as the finest model airplane site in
the world.
How does all of this serve the average
member? There are myriad answers.
Flying model airplanes is a privilege in
the United States, not a right. There isn’t a
clause in our constitution that states you have
the right to fly model airplanes. Even if there
were such a clause, an advocacy organization
such as the NRA (National Rifle Association)
would be necessary, but without that clause,
it is even more important.
AMA is dedicated to doing whatever is
necessary to sustain the sport of model
aviation in the United States. Many members
look toward AMA as primarily being for
insurance, but insurance is but one small part
of its services.
Insurance for site owners, clubs, and
individuals is necessary in our society, but it
isn’t the reason AMA exists. It is one element
in a complex program to do whatever is
necessary to sustain the sport in the United
States.
If an insurance plan that covered all that
AMA’s does, including site owners, clubs,
and individuals, were available commercially
at an acceptable price, I do not think AMA
President’s Perspective continued on page 163
would need to provide one, but I don’t see
this as a likely scenario.
Insurance is useless unless we have sites at
which to fly, and AMA is actively involved in
many programs to find opportunities for clubs
to obtain sites. The program in which we have
joined with the EPA (Environmental
Protection Agency) is a perfect example of
how AMA helps local modelers obtain flying
sites.
Frequencies are another issue where AMA
safeguards modelers to ensure they have
usable frequencies that are protected from
outside threats.
Airspace will be a big issue in the future.
None of the aforementioned will mean much
if we lose the legal right to operate in the
airspace. That right is dependent upon laws
that the government establishes. One stroke of
a pen, and we could be out of business. It’s
important to ensure that legislation and rules
include a usable place for us in the airspace.
There are many challenges ahead, and
AMA will be there to meet those challenges. I
have often stated, “AMA is there to provide a
buffer between the modelers and reality.”
That has raised a few eyebrows, but I think it
declares a reality that most do not understand.
AMA deals with issues that should be
invisible to the modelers so that they can
enjoy the sport they love. Flying model
airplanes is an activity that presents
challenges in our society; AMA’s job is to
minimize those challenges for the average
member so he or she can enjoy the sport. MA
Until next month.