By Randy Cameron, AMA Executive Vice President | flyrc@modelaircraft.org
As seen in the December 2024 issue of Model Aviation.
As I write this, the temperatures are starting to drop as we are getting closer to the holidays and build season. Hopefully, Santa will be good to you all and provide plenty of gifts that will keep you in the air during next year’s flying season.
Now is also the time to plan club events for next year and to start thinking about grant and scholarship applications.
On the subject of clubs, keep in mind that AMA will mail out the renewal kits in early December, and mid-January starts the club charter renewal season. The current charter and flying site insurance certificate(s) are in effect until March 31, 2025, but we encourage clubs to renew well ahead of time to ensure continued insurance coverage.
The easiest, fastest, and most convenient way to renew your club charter is to do it online by going to www.modelaircraft.org/charter-renewal. (Note: You must have an account on www.modelaircraft.org and be logged in to use the online renewal process).
Select your club, and then click on Renew Charter. It will take you to a page that shows your club number and the date your charter expires. Click continue, elect the Insured Certificate that is needed for your property owner, and then continue to see the fees and proceed to checkout. During the checkout process, you will need to select the billing contact, and how you want to pay. You can pay via Discover, MasterCard, PayPal, or Visa.
During your event planning for 2025, you might want to consider doing an open house event to involve your community in model aviation if you are not already doing so. AMA Flight School (www.amaflightschool.org) has a “How Do I?” section that has an article on how to host a club open house.
Community involvement is particularly important in many ways. Simply showing that you are involved in your community could save your flying site—it has saved many in the past. It can also help grow your club by bringing in new members. Showing community involvement is also important if you want to apply for an AMA Flying Site Improvement grant and/or a Take off And Grow (TAG) grant.
Fly safely.
Randy Cameron