By Greg Principato
President, FAI
When I began my job at the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) in 2016 I quickly found out that it included membership on the Academy of Model Aeronautics Executive Council. AMA has a good reputation in Washington, so I knew a bit about the organization. I also learned that NAA is the U.S. member of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale or FAI, about which I knew little.
Fast forward eight years and I found myself standing for President of the FAI at the general conference last year. I was honored to be elected and am in my first term as FAI President.
During my nearly seven years on the AMA Executive Council, I learned that there is a range of views in the AMA membership, and on the EC, about the FAI.
The FAI was formed in 1905 to promote this new technology called aviation and, on a global level, recognize and reward great achievement. Over time, FAI was recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the global federation overseeing air sports. It is in this role that AMA interacts with FAI.
Aeromodeling, including drones, is one of the 12 air sport commissions in FAI. The commissions oversee competitions (the aeromodelling commission holds more than any other) and also writes the sporting code that must be followed in order to set world (and national) records.
Aeromodelers are the largest group of air sports participants among all the commissions, and therefore, a VERY important part of FAI.
One of the things I saw in my years on the AMA Executive Council, is that most AMA members do not know much about the FAI. Frankly, that is more the responsibility of us at FAI. As I stood for FAI president, I heard a lot about how the FAI can better support elite participants and competitors in its competitions and record setting activities. What I also heard, was that FAI needs to do much more to promote our sports and show value to all air sports persons, whether or not they will ever compete or set a record.
To be perfectly honest, I heard A LOT about this when I was on the AMA Executive Council.
Over the years I have been fortunate to meet people from every corner of aviation, from bag slingers at airports to astronauts who traveled to the moon. The vast majority of them first became involved in aviation because of air sports, with a large number of them having started in model planes, helicopters and rockets. The community represented by AMA forms a major portion of the gateway to the aviation world and aviation careers.
Most of you reading this have not competed or set a record. I would be delighted if ALL of you wanted to do this. But if you do not, we at FAI are working on ways to help you further develop your love for the hobby and sport of aeromodelling. We have members in 90 countries and on every continent. There are amazing things being done all over the world, including in Muncie and in flying sites all over America. We want to help share this information, so that ALL of you can benefit. We want to do more to highlight people at elite levels who are accomplishing amazing things to help inspire modelers of all abilities and interests.
I would love to hear from any or all of you who have ideas on how we can do this. My email address is at the bottom of this article. I will be in Muncie at the FAI F3A World Championships to open the competition on August 9. I look forward to meeting everyone there.
FAI, like the NAA, was founded in the early days when powered flight ONLY had a future. We have done a great job recognizing the past and recognizing achievements in the present. We do not want to lose any of that, while also focusing on the future. Among your 110,000 members are future pilots, astronauts, mechanics, engineers and so forth. I am willing to bet that some of them will walk on the Moon, as Neil Armstrong did, and on Mars.
I want to thank the AMA for the opportunity to introduce FAI to you in this way. I want to thank all of you for your passion for aeromodeling and for aviation. I work FOR each of you. Please let me know how we can do better and support your growth in this hobby, this sport, this community.
Greg Principato
President
Federation Aeronautique Internationale
president@fai.org