President's Perspective - February 2009
AMA President Dave Mathewson
I hope everyone had a nice New Year. As we begin 2009, I want to review a number of AMA activities that took place during the past year and outline where we will focus our efforts going forward.
Election participation — changes and results
In my first column as AMA president, I expressed disappointment in the number of eligible members who voted in the 2007 AMA elections. To improve participation, we reviewed the process and asked members why they chose not to vote. The most frequent response was that members felt they didn't know enough about the candidates to make an informed decision. In response we made several changes:
- Returned to including campaign statements with the election ballot (a custom discontinued in recent years).
- Ran reminder columns in Model Aviation (MA) to encourage involvement.
- Included ballots with membership renewal forms and made the ballot postage-paid for return mail.
Including ballots with renewals and using postage-paid returns actually reduced overall costs because mailing ballots separately was more expensive. The result: voter turnout in the 2008 national election increased by more than 40% over 2007. The percentage of eligible members who voted rose from roughly 8.5% to more than 12.5%, placing us in a range similar to other associations.
While pleased with the improvement, we believe we can still do better. In 2009 we'll consider additional changes, including better use of the AMA website and a closer look at electronic voting.
Park Pilot Program
In mid-January 2008, AMA introduced the Park Pilot Program membership category for members who fly slow, quiet powered models weighing no more than 2 pounds — models suitable for local parks, school yards, soccer fields, etc. The program has not yet achieved the hoped-for results, but we will continue to pursue the goals established for it.
On the positive side, Park Pilot magazine, the quarterly publication included with the Park Pilot membership, has been well received. As part of the program, AMA developed a turnkey "How to Start a Park Flying Site" package to help members approach landowners or officials. The package includes:
- A DVD to introduce model aviation to landowners and park officials.
- Suggestions for approaching property stakeholders.
- Recommendations for setting up a flying field.
- A guide on quickly organizing a club, establishing bylaws, and developing field rules.
The intent is to make it easier for members to retain and create flying sites. Upon request, we provided more than 200 of these packages to municipal officials.
Membership Dynamic and committee improvements
In March AMA launched the Membership Dynamic initiative. Many issues handled by the AMA Executive Council are addressed through committees. With 150,000 members, we have a tremendous pool of expertise. Membership Dynamic reached out to members with specific expertise and asked them to volunteer time to strengthen the committee system.
The results have been excellent. Many committees now include members recruited through this effort. For example, our Insurance Committee is chaired by an insurance executive who is a senior officer in a major national company; he brought other insurance professionals who are also active modelers. These experts are guiding our insurance program, resulting in increased and better coverage while containing costs.
Strategic long-range plan and priorities
In 2008 we began developing a strategic long-range plan for AMA. The Executive Council identified and prioritized goals to focus on over the coming years. The top three priorities are:
- Flying-site acquisition and development.
- Positive promotion of model aviation.
- Building stronger relationships with government agencies.
The underlying theme of these goals is to structure AMA to be a stronger advocate for model aviation and for our members.
Flying-site outreach
Members consistently identify finding new flying sites and retaining existing ones as their number-one concern. Urban sprawl continues to erode sites and pushes open land farther from population centers. In many areas, municipal property has become a practical resource for flying fields.
To reach municipal leaders, AMA attended League of Cities conventions and the National Recreation and Park Association convention. Using AMA staff, district vice presidents, associate vice presidents, and local volunteers, we presented model aviation as a viable and appropriate use of public land. The intent is to give local clubs an advantage when approaching community leadership to secure fields. The response has been positive, and we will build on this program in 2009.
Media outreach
In May we partnered with a media relations firm to promote the positive value of model aviation and to build credibility for aeromodeling among the public and government officials. As a result, model aviation was featured in several magazines and in radio and television interviews. We also secured a short clip on ESPN. We are targeting non–model-aviation publications such as Women in Aviation, Children's Digest, and Senior News to reach diverse age and gender demographics.
Government and regulatory affairs
One of our biggest challenges over the next several years is dealing with government agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To position AMA for these challenges, in July we created a new position: Government and Regulatory Affairs Representative.
To date, much of our effort has focused on the FAA and the Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC). Having a seat on this committee alongside federal and sUAS industry representatives allows us to advocate for model aviation and to help define the distinction between hobby modelers and commercial sUAS activities.
The advent of spread-spectrum technology has expanded opportunities for RC modeling. However, a significant number of members still fly on 72 MHz and don't want to render perfectly good equipment obsolete. These frequencies are increasingly attractive to other interests, including the wireless industry. While not an immediate large threat, as more modelers move away from 72 MHz it will become harder to justify retaining them. We intend to continue to fight to retain these frequencies for the foreseeable future.
Bylaw changes and insurance protection
In August the Executive Council approved two bylaw changes, both of which were ratified by our Leader Members — the first amendments sent for ratification in more than a decade.
- Created the position of chief financial officer and modified the job description of the executive vice president (who had previously been responsible for association finances).
- Made the liability insurance coverage AMA provides to chartered club officers primary for the vicarious acts of others, giving greater protection to club officers acting in an official capacity on behalf of their clubs.
First-person video (FPV) policy
Flying model aircraft by first-person video (FPV) is a rapidly growing activity. In October we adopted a policy allowing FPV to be flown by members under certain conditions. This was a significant step that was taken after careful consideration of how FPV might impact our other efforts, especially in dealings with the FAA. Model aviation technology is constantly changing; to remain relevant, AMA must adapt.
International events
AMA submitted bids to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) to host the Electric World Championships in 2010 and the Radio Control Precision Aerobatics World Championships in 2011; we expect to be awarded both. This year we will host the RC Helicopter World Championships. These events draw the world's best pilots and provide a great opportunity for members to visit competitions at the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana.
Closing
AMA tackled several other issues in 2008, but those covered here are among the most visible and will have the most positive impact on model aviation and our membership. As we move forward in 2009, we will continue to build on what we began in 2008 and add goals that will benefit all of us. We will reinforce AMA's position as we continue to work toward being a more progressive organization.
See you next time.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
