Yesterday the House passed H.R. 3800 extending FAA’s funding until 2/17/2012. Lawmakers will now begin work on the broader issues of the Re-Authorization Bill, H.R. 658. The remaining issues included overall spending authority (House, $14.8 billion – Senate, $17.4 billion) and such things as how shipments of lithium batteries can […]
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Lawmakers Settle FAA Dispute
Congressional leaders on Friday resolved a bitter labor dispute that has held up long-term funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, leading to almost 4,000 federal workers being furloughed last summer and jeopardizing the timeline for a $40 billion overhaul of the nation’s aviation system. Read the full article in the Washington […]
Continue readingWait and See Mode
We now know that the release of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the small Unmanned Aircraft Systems rule has officially slipped to ‘Spring 2012’. However, there’s still a chance we may see the NPRM sooner rather than later and it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the proposed rule […]
Continue readingWhere Do We Go From Here
As AMA’s Congressional Awareness Campaign draws to a close, it’s reassuring to know that the AMA membership and the modeling community responded quickly and decisively to AMA’s call for action. Tens of thousands of modeling enthusiasts, supporters and aeromodeling stakeholders responded and made their concerns known to their elected officials. Members of Congress responded with dozens of letters of support and pledges to advocate for the hobby. Local and national media were alerted to our issues and hard-hitting articles were presented that questioned the need for such overreaching regulation.
Continue readingCongressional Awareness Campaign Marketing Toolbox
Our Congressional Awareness letter-writing campaign has really grown. To keep the momentum going we’d like to offer a marketing tool box. Thanks for helping to protect model aviation from federal regulation. Click here to visit your marketing resource tool box.
Continue reading“Freedom of Flight” Inspirational AMA Member Letter
I would like to thank everyone for the rapid-fire response we’ve seen to our recent Congressional Awareness Campaign. So far we have had over 27,000 individual letters sent to Congress… But don’t stop now. My hope is that each and every modeler and aviation enthusiast with a love for the “Freedom of Flight” will respond to this call to action.
To put it in perspective, I would like to share with you a recent letter received from Ali R. Moshiri, and AMA member. This letter touched my heart and Ali expressed better than I can why our efforts are so important.
Continue readingCongressional Awareness Campaign Initiated
On February 17, the US Senate passed S. 223, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act, sponsored by Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. Additional help in shepherding the bill came from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, and Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma was instrumental in including an amendment to the Bill that provides an exemption for aeromodeling activity “conducted in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines within the programming of a nationwide community-based organization.” We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Senators Rockefeller, Inhofe and Hutchison for their support and efforts on our behalf.
Continue readingTell Congress To Protect Model Aviation
The FAA is developing new regulations that may place onerous and unnecessary restrictions on the hobby, sport and educational pursuit of model aviation. It is extremely important that all aeromodeling enthusiasts stand up and tell Congress to protect model aviation from pending federal regulation by the FAA. Therefore, we have developed a simple, direct way to reach your lawmakers in only a couple clicks. You can begin HERE or by clicking on the ACT NOW button at the bottom of modelaircraft.org/gov page and then CONTACT CONGRESS.
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