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... AMA is there to provide a buffer
between the modelers and reality.
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Two
to go ... It is hard to believe, but I have only this column
and one more to write before there will be a new AMA
president responsible for the "President's Perspective." For
28 years I have penned a monthly column for MA,
although for a few years we only did 11 columns a year in
order to dedicate a full issue to Nats coverage.
Between MA,
other AMA publications, and my time writing for Model
Builder, I think it is a good bet that I have written more
than 350 columns so these last two are a drop in the bucket.
I'm using these last two columns to reflect upon where AMA
has come in those 28 years, and where I hope and think it is
going in the future.
In 1936, nine years before I was born,
a few pioneers got together and decided it was time to
separate aeromodeling into a dedicated division of the NAA
(National Aeronautic Association), whose mission was to
support all aspects of aviation. Part of what drove this was
some proposed legislation in Massachusetts, which would have
banned the use of "gas" engines in model airplanes.
Willis
C. Brown was elected president and the Academy of Model
Aeronautics was born. I don't know many details of that
proposed legislation, but it was defeated. Although the
first president and I share the same surname and home state,
it is coincidental; as far as I know, we are not related.
At
the time, rubber was king and the premier class of aeromodeling was Wakefield, named after Lord Wakefield who
donated the international cup representing the World
Champion. FF was the mainstay until the 1940s and along came
CL.
Who "invented" CL flying is a disputed fact, but from
the period after World War II until approximately 1960 CL
was king. It provided an opportunity for modelers to fly in
confined spaces and brought aeromodeling back into the
metropolitan areas.
Remarkable advances were made during
this period. The glow plug was invented, eliminating the
need to carry a coil and condenser, and the first throttles
were available. Modelers were and are a creative lot and new
ideas seemed to come from everywhere. One of those ideas was
to put a radio into a model airplane and fly it the same way
as an FF model but under control so that it could be flown
back to its owner.
The Good brothers first flew RC in the
1930s with the Guff, which is in the Smithsonian today, but
it wasn't until the late 1950s and early 1960s that RC
started to become practical. By the mid-1960s proportional, multichannel RC systems were available and you did not need
to be an electronics guru to fly RC. The sport experienced
exponential growth.
AMA grew with the sport but was still a
small, fledgling organization that faced enormous political
and financial challenges. It had managed to secure one
license-free RC frequency during the 1950s and had expanded
to five, but if this sport were to grow then more
frequencies would be necessary.
Financially, AMA was broke
and the picture was anything but rosy. Fortunately the model
airplane industry saw the value in AMA and organized a "dump
the deficit" campaign that kept AMA afloat.
In the mid-1960s
AMA petitioned the government for the first 72 MHz
frequencies and AMA began a growth pattern that was little
short of remarkable.
I joined the AMA Executive Council in
January 1980. AMA was already a great organization but it
had no "home." It existed in a small, rented office in
downtown Washington DC with a dedicated staff but not much
in the way of assets. That was about to change!
In the early
1980s the EC decided to buy a piece of property in Reston,
Virginia, and commit to building a headquarters facility on
the property. This was a huge commitment for AMA; the
organization was hard-pressed to pay for the property, much
less a building.
I still remember the meeting in which we
made that commitment and thinking, "I hope we haven't bitten
a hog in the butt with this!" We were unanimous in our
support for the project, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one
with reservations!
As it turned out, buying the Reston
facility proved to be a pivotal decision and one that would
save AMA in a few years when the insurance market went
"hard" and we were unable to buy conventional insurance for
our membership.
Fortunately, in only a few years the
property rapidly inflated in value and we were able to use
the equity we had in the building to obtain a letter of
credit to back a self-funded insurance program. That program
ran for approximately 10 years and, along with a great deal
of luck, it put AMA solidly into the black in terms of
assets.
AMA went back to purchased insurance when the market
went "soft" and it became economically advantageous, but by
then we had built up significant reserves. The reserves were
needed to back the insurance plan but they didn't need to be
in cash—in fact, cash was making AMA the target for lawsuits.
The EC decided to fulfill a dream of owning a national
flying site. After looking at 61 places, AMA decided on a
location in Muncie, Indiana. The Muncie facility has grown
in the 15-plus years we have been there, and it has received
international acclaim as the finest model airplane site in
the world.
How does all of this serve the average member?
There are myriad answers.
Flying model airplanes is a
privilege in the United States, not a right. There isn't a
clause in our constitution that states you have the right to
fly model airplanes. Even if there were such a clause, an
advocacy organization such as the NRA (National Rifle
Association) would be necessary, but without that clause, it
is even more important.
AMA is dedicated to doing whatever
is necessary to sustain the sport of model aviation in the
United States. Many members look toward AMA as primarily
being for insurance, but insurance is but one small part of
its services.
Insurance for site owners, clubs, and
individuals is necessary in our society, but it isn't the
reason AMA exists. It is one element in a complex program to
do whatever is necessary to sustain the sport in the United
States.
If an insurance plan that covered all that AMA's
does, including site owners, clubs, and individuals, were
available commercially at an acceptable price, I do not
think AMA would need to provide one, but I don't see this as
a likely scenario.
Insurance is useless unless we have sites
at which to fly, and AMA is actively involved in many
programs to find opportunities for clubs to obtain sites.
The program in which we have joined with the EPA
(Environmental Protection Agency) is a perfect example of
how AMA helps local modelers obtain flying sites.
Frequencies are another issue where AMA safeguards modelers
to ensure they have usable frequencies that are protected
from outside threats.
Airspace will be a big issue in the
future. None of the aforementioned will mean much if we lose
the legal right to operate in the airspace. That right is
dependent upon laws that the government establishes. One
stroke of a pen, and we could be out of business. It's
important to ensure that legislation and rules include a
usable place for us in the airspace.
There are many
challenges ahead, and AMA will be there to meet those
challenges. I have often stated, "AMA is there to provide a
buffer between the modelers and reality." That has raised a
few eyebrows, but I think it declares a reality that most do
not understand.
AMA deals with issues that should be
invisible to the modelers so that they can enjoy the sport
they love. Flying model airplanes is an activity that
presents challenges in our society; AMA's job is to minimize
those challenges for the average member so he or she can
enjoy the sport.
MA
Til next month.
Dave Brown, AMA president
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