President's Perspective - 2008/02

here will the Academy of Model
Aeronautics be in one year? In three
years? Five years? All organizations
need a well-thought-out strategic
plan to help answer those questions. All
strategic plans are based on the organization’s
mission, a vision, and a set of defined goals.
AMA is developing its strategic plan.
Several months ago we conducted a
membership survey. Some of the questions
were devised to see what issues our
members felt were important. Other
questions asked what our members felt
would present the largest hurdles for model
aviation in the years ahead. Still others
revolved around our members’ thoughts on
what part AMA would play in the future of
model aviation and what AMA would need
to do to be able to play that part.
The results of this survey are an important
part of the development of our overall
strategic plan. Our members indicated that
there were four issues that concerned them
most: flying-site acquisition and
development; our relationships with
government agencies including the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), and the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS);
the lack of young people becoming involved
in model aviation; and a need to focus on
promoting model aviation as a recreational
and educational activity. Our members want
to see us become more of an advocate for
model-aviation enthusiasts.
Even as our strategic plan is being drafted
we’ve begun to move in a direction to meet
some of these objectives. At the recent AMA
Convention in Ontario, California, we met
with AMA’s Flying Site Assistance (FSA)
coordinators, Wes De Cou and Joe Beshar, to
talk about the future of AMA’s FSA
Department.
President’s Perspective
AMA President Dave Mathewson
W
Joe and Wes have done some good work
during the past few years developing
relationships with two of the largest landfill
operators in the United States: Allied Waste
and Waste Management. As you might expect,
closed landfills make nearly ideal model flying
sites because the allowed uses of these facilities
are limited and they are usually located away
from heavily populated areas.
Joe Beshar has worked closely with
representatives of the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to enter into a Memorandum of
Understanding in which the EPA will endorse
the use of closed Superfund landfills as modelaviation
flying sites.
The Ocean County Modelers (OCM) in
New Jersey was one of the first clubs in the
country to be allowed access to a Superfund
site for purposes of building a flying facility. In
October 2007, Joe, former AMA president
Dave Brown, and members of OCM were
involved in filming a DVD that will promote
the use of similar facilities for modeling
activities. The film was professionally
produced and entirely funded by the EPA. This
is the type of activity we will become more
involved with in the future.
AMA will continue to build relationships
with government agencies. It’s apparent that
the FAA will be drafting new rules to regulate
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Our job
will be to continue to keep that line between
what we do as model-aviation enthusiasts and
the truly commercial and military-type UASs
that concern the FAA secure.
Spread spectrum technology is clearly the
future for RC modeling, yet a large number of
our members own significant amounts of radio
equipment on 72 MHz and are happy with that
equipment. They have no intention (or do they
want the added expense) of moving to spread
spectrum. AMA must continue to work to keep
the current frequencies on 72 MHz for the
foreseeable future.
It’s unfortunate that we have to include the
DHS in our efforts to interface with
government agencies, but by working with the
organization we will become an asset to its
efforts to control certain activities and be an
entity it can look to for help as opposed to
being looked at with suspicion. We have
always worked closely with these agencies;
however, our plans are to step up those efforts
as a way to continue to support and protect the
opportunity for all of us to enjoy model
aviation.
Next month I’ll write more about AMA’s
plans to address our members’ concerns
regarding introducing young people to model
aviation and doing more to promote it.
I want to mention AMA’s committee
structure. Much of the work of the Executive
Council (EC) is conducted through a system of
committees. In the past, most of our
committees were composed of council
members and several longtime AMA
volunteers.
From 2005 to 2007 I chaired the AMA’s
Insurance Committee. In selecting members to
sit on that committee I looked for experts
within the general AMA membership who
would be willing to volunteer their time to
serve on the committee. We were fortunate to
have this offer accepted by two active
modelers who have been longtime AMA
members. As a result, the committee
functioned better because we had the expertise
needed to help guide us in the proper direction.
In some areas we streamlined our insurance
program and at the same time added coverage
to help better support our members, our clubs,
and their officers, as well as AMA’s Special
Interest Groups. As these improvements were
made, our annual premiums were being
reduced.
When I appointed chairpersons to various
AMA committees, I extended the latitude to
the chairs to select individuals with whom they
felt they could work well and do the best job
for the organization. I’ve asked each of the
chairs to consider looking to the general
membership for people with backgrounds
appropriate to their committees who are
willing to become involved. We have a
tremendous resource in our more than 150,000
members, and I’d like to see us tap into them
more as we move forward. MA
See you next month.
March 2008 5
We have a tremendous resource in
our more than 150,000 members ...
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]
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