MA members who joined the
association for the first time in
1980 or later haven’t known a
time when retiring AMA president Dave
Brown hasn’t served on the AMA Executive
Council.
Dave was first elected as vice president
for District III. Later he was voted executive
vice president, and for the last 12 years—
through 2007—he has served as AMA
president. This length of volunteer service to
AMA stands in a class with few others.
Although Dave is retiring from the
Executive Council, his contributions to the
aeromodeling community will continue. He
currently serves as first vice president of the
FAI’s (the world air sports organization)
Aeromodeling Commission (CIAM). Dave
will remain as chairman of AMA’s FAI
Executive Committee and continue as
AMA’s representative on the board of
directors of the National Aeronautics
Association (NAA), which is the national
aero club of the United States representing all
air sports.
Thank you, Dave, for nearly three decades
of service as a member of our Executive
Council and for your continued efforts to help
better model aviation for all of us.
I originally intended to use the remainder of
this column to write about the direction I
hope to see AMA take in the next several
years; however, after reviewing the results of
this past election, I want to focus on that this
month.
The lack of participation by our
membership in the election process should
tell us that the system is broken. This is not
anything new. Looking back over the past
President’s Perspective
AMA President Dave Mathewson
A
decade or so, an obvious trend has developed.
The number of our members who vote in
either their district elections or in AMA
national elections has consistently declined.
We need to find a way to reverse this trend.
We will create a task force to address this
problem and find ways to fix it. Several
options may help.
In years past AMA provided postagepaid
return ballots used in the voting
process. Two years ago we stopped doing
that because of the unusually high cost of
sending and receiving business reply mail.
I’d like to see us revisit this option.
Technology has developed to a point
where AMA needs to investigate the
viability of electronic voting, either through
the Internet or possibly by using an 800
number to cast a vote. I suspect that a
greater number of members would vote and
that a majority would take advantage of
these electronic options, which would help
offset the cost of those members who still
prefer or need to use paper ballots.
Early last year AMA conducted an
online membership survey. Members were
asked if they participated in the AMA
election process and if not, why. A large
majority indicated that the reason they
didn’t vote was because they knew little or
nothing about any of the candidates running
for office. That’s a valid argument.
Candidates running for an AMA district
position are provided space in one issue of
MA limited to 1,560 characters—not
words—to outline their platform.
Candidates in national elections are limited
to 3,060 characters.
This is inadequate and doesn’t provide
the opportunity for any candidate to present
enough information that would allow a
member to make an informed decision. We
need to provide candidates in district
elections at least a half page in our
association’s publication and candidates in
national elections a full page.
Web sites provide nearly unlimited
space that candidates could use to expand
on their thoughts and present a clearer
image of their intentions if elected. The
“Members Only” section of the AMA Web
site is the ideal tool that candidates could
use to reach out to our membership.
There are several other options being
discussed. While it’s not clear that we can
have a revised process in place for this
year’s elections, it will be something
looked at as a priority.
The Radio Control Aerobatics (F3A)
World Championships was held in Sauce
Viejo, Argentina, November 8-18, 2007.
Sponsored by the Argentine Airmodelling
Federation, 82 of the world’s best pilots
representing 32 countries participated.
Quique Somenzini, Jason Shulman, and
Andrew Jesky, along with team manager Al
Glenn, represented the United States. At
the conclusion of the competition, the
United States team took second place and
the silver medal, a mere eight points behind
France.
In individual standings Quique
Somenzini captured the gold medal,
finishing first. Jason Shulman was fourth,
and Andrew Jesky, who was participating
in his first World Championships, finished
eighth.
On behalf of AMA I want to thank and
extend my congratulations to the entire
team for an outstanding job representing
the United States and our entire
aeromodeling community. MA
See you next time ...
February 2008 5
The end of an era ...
The Academy of Model Aeronautics is a world-class association of modelers organized for the purpose of
promotion, development, education, advancement and safeguard of modeling activities.
The Academy provides leadership, organization, competition, communication, protection, representation,
recognition, education, and scientific/technical development to modelers.
Mission Statement
Dave Mathewson
AMA president
[email protected]
02sig1.QXD 12/20/07 9:02 AM Page 5
Edition: Model Aviation - 2008/02
Page Numbers: 5
