View from HQ
Dave Mathewson
Recognizing AMA as a community-based organization
I had hoped to have some good news as a result of our efforts with the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office (UASIO) to write about this month.
However, first sequestration, and then the government shutdown have considerably slowed progress and, in some respects, put us in a holding pattern. Some progress has been made, and although the end of the tunnel hasn’t gotten any closer, there is at least a light there that we can see.
One of the projects currently nearing completion is the FAA acting on the AMA’s request to be recognized as a community-based organization as defined in Public Law (PL) 112-95, enacted by Congress in 2012. AMA submitted its request earlier this year and expects to soon receive a letter from the FAA recognizing our organization as such.
After this step is complete—which at this point we believe is a formality—the next phase would be to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the FAA and AMA outlining the relationship between the organizations. The MOU will address safety, procedural, and even bureaucratic issues that may develop in the future.
The MOU is nearly finalized. The AMA and the UASIO agree on the language in the document, and it is now working its way through the FAA hierarchy for final approval. After that happens, the MOU will be signed by Jim Williams, UASIO manager, and AMA President Bob Brown.
I ask that our members remain engaged and current on this issue.
Another document being drafted is a policy statement that will be released as a notice in the Federal Register. Its purpose will be to explain PL 112-95 (the special rule for model aircraft), and to provide policy guidelines for modelers to operate within the safety programming of a community-based organization as well as for those who choose not to operate within such a program.
Much time has been spent on this document and, although progress is being made, it was still going through revisions when the government shutdown occurred, but we expect this to be quickly finalized.
We shouldn’t forget about the impending small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). The NPRM was supposed to be released for public comment in approximately 2009. The NPRM has been postponed many times, and was last scheduled to be released in late 2013 or early 2014.
Although PL 112-95 addresses some of the issues we expect to see in the NPRM, there will still be a set of rules concerning model aviation. Even with PL 112-95 in place, we ask our members to be cognizant of what is in the NPRM and be prepared to react to it if necessary.
We don’t know yet whether the government shutdown will affect the release date of the NPRM, but logic says it likely will. As always, I ask that our members remain engaged and current on this issue. Members should regularly visit www.modelaircraft.org for updates.
There are a couple of other quick things that I would like to discuss this month. On October 10, 2013, AMA hosted its first online webinar. The topic was “Building From Plans” and was hosted by AMA employees Jay Smith, Greg Prater, and Greg Hahn. Early responses indicate that the webinar was well received and successful.
Our intent is to regularly conduct similar informational and educational webinars on a variety of topics. As the program ramps up, more information and schedules will be posted on AMA’s website at www.ModelAviation.com.
Finally this month, congratulations and thank you to each of the AMA chartered clubs that participated in the inaugural National Model Aviation Day. As a result of our efforts, more than $75,000 was donated to the Wounded Warrior Project in support of its mission.
The date for the 2014 National Model Aviation Day will soon be announced, as will the organization we hope to support next year.
See you next time.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
