President’s Perspective
Good things are on the way.
I'll begin this column by welcoming five-time Space Shuttle pilot and commander Robert "Hoot" Gibson as AMA's first Ambassador. In this volunteer role, Hoot will be AMA's national spokesperson—representing AMA to the media, participating in various functions, and especially focusing on education to promote model aviation as a fun, recreational, and educational family activity.
In addition to being a member of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, Hoot is a longtime modeler and AMA Life Member. He has competed in a number of AMA National Aeromodeling Championships and other AMA-sanctioned competitions.
While he was a Navy test pilot, Hoot built and flew a model F-16A. This aircraft was one of the early turbine-powered jets to fly at the RC Scale Nats. Today, Hoot enjoys flying electric-powered jets.
We are looking forward to working with this naval aviator, airline pilot, astronaut, world-record holder, and avid model flier to build the credibility of model aviation and promote what we do as model aviation enthusiasts.
There is not much new to report this month on the FAA's ongoing sUAS regulatory process, although there has been much activity resulting in some progress.
On March 23, 2010, AMA's Government Affairs Representative Rich Hanson, District VIII Vice President and Safety Committee Chairman Jim Rice, and I met in Washington with a number of representatives from the FAA's Unmanned Aircraft Program Office (UAPO).
The purpose of the meeting was to meet with the new UAPO manager, Rick Prosek; UAPO's team leader for the sUAS rulemaking process, Steve Glowacki; and Majid Kamalabad, who has been assigned to work with AMA to provide FAA support in developing our guidelines for model aircraft.
We were able to discuss a number of AMA's concerns that arose from the FAA's presentation at our January Executive Council meeting. Additionally, we discussed the timeline of the process going forward as well as the form and format the FAA would like the documents that we will eventually submit for consideration to follow.
Earlier that day, we met with our Washington consultant Mitch Rose to continue bringing him up to speed on the issues and discuss the role he will play as the regulatory process plays out. Mitch attended the afternoon meeting with the UAPO and was introduced to the members of that office.
Sometime in May—possibly by the time this issue of MA reaches you—the internal workgroup drafting our initial documents will be meeting in Muncie, Indiana, accompanied by Majid from the FAA. As the process evolves, I want to assure you that the final documents will be presented to the entire modeling community for review and comment before we submit them to the FAA.
In early April, Mitch Rose attended the Toledo Weak Signals R/C Expo and had the opportunity to meet with representatives of many of the major entities in the aeromodeling community.
The show provided the perfect opportunity for us to introduce Mitch as well as give others an opportunity to ask questions, hear Mitch's thoughts, and gather insight as to where the regulatory process may take us in the future.
It's important that the entire aeromodeling community works collectively to ensure that model aviation activities are allowed to continue much as they have in the past. Toledo presented an opportunity to continue bringing the community together.
Last in the FAA arena, I attended a National Aeronautic Association luncheon in Washington, D.C., in early April. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt was the keynote speaker.
I was seated at the same table as Administrator Babbitt and former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey. This provided me with an opportunity to speak briefly with the current and former administrators concerning their vision for how sUAS will integrate into the national airspace and how model aviation fits into that vision.
I can tell you that both, as you might expect, were well versed on the sUAS issues. However, they also had good insight into what we do as model aviation enthusiasts. The message I conveyed was that model aviation has an impeccable seven-decade history of operating safely in the national airspace. The recent proliferation of public-use, commercial sUAS doesn't change that fact.
Although we understand the need for safety and the FAA's responsibility to ensure safety in the national airspace, we need to be careful. We cannot let what we do as model aviation enthusiasts get caught up in the black hole of regulation that has come about because of the need to address safety concerns brought on by this new era of sUAS.
There are signs that economic recovery in the U.S. may be underway, at least in the model aviation community. I attended the Toledo Weak Signals R/C Expo. It was busy, and I understand that attendance was up.
Most of the vendors I spoke with were pleased with the show. This compares to the AMA Expo in Ontario, California, in January where we broke attendance records. I heard that the organizers of the Northwest Model Hobby Expo in Washington State were pleased with their event, and the Westchester Radio AeroModelers Show had a positive bump in 2010. Good things are on the way.
See you next time.
Dave Mathewson AMA President [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
