AMA District VI—Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri
As published in the April 2016 issue of Model Aviation Magazine.
As I write this, we are just wrapping up the month of January and it has been a busy one. January 8-10 was the 2016 AMA Expo. This year was probably the best Expo ever. I talked to many people about FAA issues and a few about the AMA dues increase.
The AMA Executive Council met with Marke Gibson from the FAA. Marke also took the stage and answered questions from members who were present.
The result of the 2015 National Model Aviation Day fundraiser was a check presentation for $92,000 to Wounded Warrior Project. Another check presentation was made from Horizon Hobby to the AMA Foundation in the amount of $16,000 that resulted from the sales of the UMX B-17G.
Another exciting activity was the family make-and-take area that was run by the Flite Test team. The group worked with families to build a Flight Test Mighty Mini Sparrow glider. Flight Test also built a blimp to launch the gliders, which everyone enjoyed as well.
I talked to a lot of children carrying gliders through the show, and each had a smile on his or her face. They were very proud and excited about the guilders they had built. Many demonstrated how well they flew.
It sure put a smile on my face to see them so excited about airplanes.
To the Flite Test crew, all I can say is thank you and great job. It was a huge success.
AMA on the Hill, took place January 26-29, 2016. Many of you are aware that several of us were able to get to Washington, D.C.—the week after the area had 2 feet of snow—to talk with members and staff of the U.S. House of Representatives about the Aviation Innovation Reform and Reauthorization Act that was released on February 4, 2016, from the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. We have concerns related to Section 336 of the 2012 FAA Reauthorization Bill, which provides the exemption, or special rule, for model aircraft.
Overall, our team spoke with 37 legislators and staff members about our organization, and changes we would like to see made to the Special Rule for Model Aircraft in Section 336, including exemptions for educational use of model aircraft for STEM-based programs.
We also want a definition of what a community-based organization is, and give the FAA the ability to recognize such an organization. The FAA has claimed that it doesn’t have the authority to recognize AMA as a community-based organization, which has been problematic. We would also like the phrasing model aircraft changed to model device.
As many of the District VI contest directors (CDs) are aware, we have recently had some issues with contest coordination. We have this under control at the moment, but it has caused some changes to be made.
First, we would like all sanction applications to be done electronically through the CD Portal on AMA’s website. This is a much better way to sanction your events. One benefit is that the site remembers data about past events, so it is simple to update the date, and make any other changes you want to a past event, and hit submit.
It is also a much faster process than using the postal service, because you mail the paperwork to the District Contest Coordinator, and then the coordinator mails it to the AMA Competitions department in Muncie, Indiana, which takes a minimum of a week—if everything goes right.
With the online process, there are no issues with slow or lost mail. When you submit your sanction via the Web portal, the District Contest Coordinator gets an email notification that your sanction is available to process, and it can be completed that same day.
CDs, if you have problems with the Web portal, contact me or the AMA Competitions department staff. We are happy to assist you in getting this process started.
With all of the negative press about drones, it is imperative that you plan events to help save your flying site now––do not wait until it is in jeopardy of being lost. If your club is doing good things for your community, make sure to brag about it to the news media and try to get news coverage for your events. We need our communities to know we are there and doing good things.
Invite your parks department, mayor, or city council members to your flying site for lunch, put them on a buddy box, and show them what you are all about. Let them know about our education programs, etc. It could very well save your flying site in the future.
Last item: make sure that your email address is current with the AMA. There is a lot of good information being sent out to members via email. If you are not getting information that others are, it is either because of an incorrect email address or you might have opted out of AMA sending you email.
I hope that by the time you get this, the weather will be getting warmer. If you would rather see your pictures in this column than read my ramblings, send me event photos and a short paragraph or two to go with them.
Until next month, happy flying
- Randy Cameron
Vice President
flyrcam@gmail.com