View From HQ
If you have ever competed in an event, the categories are Open, Junior, and Senior. A senior citizen's license card will indicate "Open" as the category.
Affiliate members must belong to their own national aeromodelling clubs. If there is no national aeromodelling club in their country, they should state this on their application. The price for an Affiliate membership is the same regardless of age.
AMA membership only applies to an Affiliate member when he or she is flying in the US. The applicant may pay for the basic membership or choose to purchase a subscription to Model Aviation. The membership card will list the category as Affiliate and will state that the insurance coverage is applicable only while the member is in the US.
There is a separate application for Affiliate U.S. military or U.S. residents temporarily living abroad. If you fit in this category, our policy has certain restrictions—"limited worldwide coverage"—for accidents occurring worldwide. Liability protection applies only to the AMA member whose permanent residence is in the United States, its territories, possessions, or Canada. All applications are posted on our website.
AMA has introduced a new type of membership for the first-time member. Its purpose is to introduce the new person to AMA and what it has to offer. For 90 days this individual will have full AMA benefits. He or she will be able to enter competitions, receive Model Aviation, and be eligible for all other benefits available to our membership.
After the 90-day introductory membership, it is hoped that this person will want to become a standard member. If the 90-day member chooses to become a regular member before the three months are up, all fees from the introductory membership will apply to the regular membership fee.
This is a one-time offer, and the price is the same for all U.S. residents. It is not offered to Affiliate members or members in Canada.
There is one catch to this new program: to keep costs down, individuals who take advantage of this temporary membership must apply via e-mail. They will apply via e-mail, receive a confirmation by e-mail, and then receive an e-mail license card.
Election year: Up for election this year are the offices of AMA president and vice presidents for Districts I, V, and IX. If you are interested in what it takes to do these jobs or to qualify for nomination, you can locate this information in the AMA Bylaws on our website at www.modelaircraft.org/templates/ama/PDF-files/namunual04.pdf. You may also request that a copy be mailed.
Because of medical losses reaching unacceptable levels in recent years, AMA's medical insurance provider asked for a significantly higher premium to renew coverage for 2004, along with an increased deductible. AMA's insurance broker solicited premium quotes from several companies and presented them to AMA. The best proposal was selected; however, this still resulted in the deductible being increased to $750 per claim. The personal injury limit remains at $25,000 and the death benefit at $10,000.
Enough for this month. Happy flying,
Joyce Hager Executive Director [email protected]
View from HQ
Joyce Hager — Executive Director
Patience is the key.
This year has started off busy. It is the end of the season for membership renewals and we got a late start mailing the club chartering kits. By the time you read this column, all chartered clubs should have received charter renewal packages.
The AMA Convention was held at its new location in the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, California. The January event was a great success.
I attended the 50th anniversary of the King Orange International held in Jacksonville, Florida—at least the weather was warmer than in Muncie, Indiana. John Brodak and I presented the awards. Afterward the club presented me with its 50th-year banner.
I wish I had taken a tape recorder because I met a lot of great people, several of whom had flown at the first King Orange event and were still participating or had a grandson flying in it.
In early February in Muncie, Indiana, AMA had a Frequency Committee meeting, a combined Contest Board meeting, and the first Executive Council meeting of the year.
I had a crew attend the Northwest Model Expo in Puyallup, Washington, and as I write this I am preparing to attend the Westchester Radio Aeromodelers (WRAM) show in White Plains, New York. I am tired already and it is only February!
If you have had a hard time reaching individuals at AMA, all of this travel is the reason. Most of my executive staff who travel frequently have laptop computers and check their e-mail on a regular basis. In the event of an emergency, call AMA Headquarters. The staff knows how to reach us.
On the Web: For information concerning the Executive Council meeting, you can go to our website: www.modelaircraft.org. Under the heading "About AMA" you will find a link to Executive Council information. This is where all the motions, agendas, and the minutes (when approved) are listed. If you are concerned about where AMA spends its money, another good area to check is the "Members Only" area. Each year the audit is posted there, and Executive Vice President Doug Holland prints it in his column in the "AMA News" section. There is no reason a member shouldn't know what AMA does; almost everything that is printed can be found on the website.
On the subject of the Web site, have you checked out Sport Aviator—Model Aviation's new e-zine for the new model pilot? The URL is www.masportaviator.com.
The mission of Model Aviation's Sport Aviator e-magazine is to help, inspire, and entertain newcomers and potential newcomers by providing a wide variety of useful information in one location on the AMA website, to create a bridge or transition point to more traditional forms of aeromodeling, and to assist AMA to gain and retain more new members.
Check it out; there should be something there for all types of flying. Let me know what you think. Whether you feel the site is great or could be improved, I would appreciate the input.
If you are looking for a program that your club can get involved in, check out AMA's Education website at www.buildandfly.com. There is a lot of good information there. Surf the site using "Web talk"; I am sure you can find something you didn't know was going on!
Club charter kits are finally in the mail. By the time you read this, most clubs will have returned their charter kits with updated information.
All club kits are mailed to the contact people we have listed in our files. You may want to check with one of the club officers to see if a renewal has been received and completed.
Club bylaws are required only for new clubs and for clubs that have made changes since last year; for all others, what you submitted last year will be fine. Any questions concerning club chartering or additional insurance for clubs should be addressed to Club Secretary Lois Pierce at [email protected]. Lois is busy during February and March processing clubs and getting the new charters out, so she may not respond to your e-mail as quickly as you would like, but she does handle as many calls and e-mails as she can in a day. Patience is the key!
Many people are confused about the types of memberships AMA offers, so I have outlined them here:
- Types of members:
- Adult (Open): those older than 19.
- Youth: those younger than 19.
- Affiliates: individuals of any age who do not live in the United States and are not U.S. citizens.
- Adult membership classes:
- Open: people older than 19 but not yet 65; receive all AMA benefits including Model Aviation.
- Senior citizens: eligible for a $10 reduction in dues and receive the same benefits as Open members.
- Household adult: an adult who resides in the same household with another adult member; receives the same benefits but does not receive a magazine.
- Youth membership options:
- Basic youth membership (no magazine).
- Youth membership with Model Aviation magazine.
- For competition purposes, Youth membership is broken into:
- Junior: younger than 15.
- Senior: 15 to 18 (older than 15 but not yet 19).
When young people receive memberships that read "Senior" on them, many are confused and think it is intended for senior citizens. This is not the case; in the youth classification, "Senior" refers to the older youth category.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
