President’s Perspective - 2009/10
Our goal is to provide the highest level of member support.
World Championships and IRCHA Jamboree
It's been a busy summer! The 13th FAI World Championship for Model Helicopters has just concluded and the AMA staff is working hard to turn Site 4 around at the International Aeromodeling Center (IAC) for the annual International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association (IRCHA) Jamboree.
Twenty-one countries were represented at the World Championship and the competition was outstanding. Results included:
- 1st — Hiroki Ito (Japan)
- 2nd — Scott Gray (Canada)
- 3rd — Ennio Graber (Switzerland)
The United States took the team Gold Medal; team members Curtis Youngblood, Wayne Mann, and Dwight Shilling finished fourth, eighth, and 10th, respectively.
All of the competitors, their families, friends, and other guests who were on site for this World Championship had nothing but positive things to say about the AMA staff and members of IRCHA who worked tirelessly to make sure this event was a success. This clearly speaks highly of all of these people and their dedication to model aviation.
A world championship is a unique experience and an opportunity to see some of the best model aviation pilots in the world compete against each other in their given discipline. In 2010, AMA and the United States will host the World Championships for Radio Controlled Electric Powered Flight, and in 2011 will host the World Championship for RC Precision Aerobatics. These events will provide a great opportunity for our members to visit the IAC and see the best in the world compete.
Claude McCullough Educational Facility
The new addition to the National Model Aviation Museum at the IAC, the Claude McCullough Educational Facility, is coming along nicely. Groundbreaking took place on July 7 before representatives from the local news media, school administrators, and other dignitaries. The project is scheduled to be completed sometime in the early fall, and a grand opening dedication is scheduled for the latter part of October 2009.
This new education wing was made possible by an extremely generous donation from the estate of Claude McCullough, who was well known in model aviation circles as a model aircraft designer and a world-class builder and flier of scale model aircraft.
The Claude McCullough Educational Facility will open up a number of new opportunities in education outreach for AMA. The facility will accommodate school groups as well as adult programming. Long-range plans for the wing include possibly conducting weeklong model aviation camps where interested youngsters will visit the IAC and participate in a series of programs designed to introduce model aviation and take advantage of the learning opportunities the sport/hobby has to offer. This new facility will allow us to plant the seed that may lead to a future career in the aviation or aerospace fields.
sUAS Rulemaking and AMA Safety Guidelines
As of the beginning of August, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) appears to be delaying its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning new regulations for small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) by at least one quarter. The NPRM was originally scheduled to be released in the Federal Register in the second quarter of 2010; it now looks likely to appear in the third quarter of 2010.
Meanwhile, AMA continues to develop a set of safety guidelines that we will present to the FAA in late 2009 or early 2010. The foundation of our presentation will be the current National Model Aviation Safety Code along with all supporting documents, including:
- the Experimental Aircraft Program
- the Turbine Aircraft Program
AMA has created a working group charged with developing the safety guidelines. Currently there is a link on the AMA website for submitting comments and suggestions. The initial organizational effort of the workgroup is being handled within the committee; however, as the document nears completion, the workgroup will vet aspects of the draft through AMA's Special Interest Groups and other segments of the modeling community.
AMA has set up a dedicated discussion forum on its website where ideas can be presented and discussed. We have also created a Twitter account to provide updates on the progress of the Safety Guidelines Workgroup and the rulemaking process.
We are considering creating an "opt-in" survey element to examine new ideas and concepts as they are brought to the table. This component may be particularly useful once the safety-guideline document is submitted to the FAA and we begin conferring on specific aspects of AMA's safety program.
Member Support and Surveys
Those who have contacted the AMA Membership Department in the last several months and have a good email address on file have received a short survey request after their contact. Taking the time to answer the survey lets us know how we performed in addressing the reason for your contact.
Eventually our plan is to implement this survey system within all departments at AMA Headquarters. Our goal is to provide the highest level of member support that we can. If you take the time to answer the survey, it will help us do that.
See you next time.
Dave Mathewson AMA president [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
