t’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. The 2009 F3C
World Champion is Hiroki Ito from Japan.
Canadian Scott Gray was second, and Ennio
Graber from Switzerland finished third. The
United States took the team Gold Medal;
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 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 against
each other.
The new addition to the National Model
President’s Perspective
AMA President Dave Mathewson
I
Our goal is to provide the highest
level of member support ...
October 2009 5
Mission Statement
The Academy of Model Aeronautics is a world-class association of modelers organized for the purpose of
promotion, development, education, advancement, and safeguarding of modeling activities.
The Academy provides leadership, organization, competition, communication, protection, representation,
recognition, education and scientific/technical development to modelers.
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
sometime in the latter part of October 2009.
As I wrote in an earlier column, 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 as well as 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.
As of the beginning of August, it appears
that the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) is pushing back 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 sometime in
the second quarter of 2010. It looks as
though this won’t happen now until
sometime 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 of its supporting
documents, including our Experimental
Aircraft Program and Turbine Aircraft
Program.
AMA has created a working group that is
charged with developing the safety
guidelines. Currently there is a link on the
AMA Web site for submitting comments
and suggestions. The initial organizational
effort of the workgroup is being handled
within this committee; however, as the
document nears completion, the workgroup
will vet aspects of the draft through AMA’s
Special Interest Groups as well as other
segments of the modeling community.
AMA has set up a dedicated discussion
forum on its Web site, where ideas can be
presented and discussed. We have also
created a Twitter site where you can receive
updates on the progress of the Safety
Guidelines Workgroup and the rulemaking
process.
We are considering creating an “opt-in”
survey element that can be engaged to
examine new ideas and concepts as they are
brought to the table. This component may
be particularly useful once the safetyguideline
document is submitted to the FAA
and we begin conferring on specific aspects
of AMA’s safety program.
Those who may have contacted the AMA
Membership Department in the last several
months, and have a good e-mail address on
file with us, have received a short survey
request after your contact. Taking the time
to answer the survey will let us know how
we performed in addressing the reason for
your contact.
Eventually our plan is to implement this
survey system within all of the 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. MA
See you next time.
Dave Mathewson
AMA president
[email protected]
10sig1.QXD 8/24/09 11:07 AM Page 5
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/10
Page Numbers: 5