President’s Perspective - 2008/02
Retirement of Dave Brown from the Executive Council
AMA members who joined the association for the first time in 1980 or later haven't known a time when retiring AMA president Dave Brown wasn't serving 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 (the world air sports organization) Aeromodelling 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 Aeronautic Association (NAA), 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.
Election participation and proposed changes
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 new. Looking back over the past decade or so, an obvious trend has developed: the number of 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:
- Revisit postage-paid return ballots. In years past AMA provided postage-paid return ballots used in the voting process. Two years ago we stopped doing that because of the unusually high cost of business reply mail. I'd like to see us reconsider this option.
- Investigate electronic voting. 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.
- Improve candidate information. 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 they didn't vote because they knew little or nothing about the candidates. Candidates running for an AMA district position are currently 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 enough information for members 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.
- Use the web to expand candidate information. 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 a priority.
Radio Control Aerobatics (F3A) World Championships — Sauce Viejo, Argentina
The Radio Control Aerobatics (F3A) World Championships were 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.
See you next time ...
Dave
Dave Mathewson AMA president [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
