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Our goal is to provide
the highest level of
member support ...
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It's
been a busy summer! The 13th FAI World Championship for
Model Helicopters has just concluded and the AMA staff is
working hard to turn Site 4 around at the International
Aeromodeling Center (IAC) for the annual International Radio
Controlled Helicopter Association (IRCHA) Jamboree.
Twenty-one countries were represented at the World
Championship and the competition was outstanding. The 2009
F3C World Champion is Hiroki Ito from Japan. Canadian Scott
Gray was second, and Ennio Graber from Switzerland finished
third. The United States took the team Gold Medal; Curtis
Youngblood, Wayne Mann, and Dwight Shilling finished fourth,
eighth, and 10th, respectively.
All of the competitors, their families, friends, and
other guests who were on site for this World Championship
had nothing but positive things to say about the AMA staff
and members of IRCHA who worked tirelessly to make sure this
event was a success. This clearly speaks highly of all of
these people and their dedication to model aviation.
A world championship is a unique experience and an
opportunity to see some of the best model aviation pilots in
the world compete against each other in their given
discipline. In 2010, AMA and the United States will host the
World Championships for Radio Controlled Electric Powered
Flight and in 2011 host the World Championship for RC
Precision Aerobatics.
These events will provide a great opportunity for our
members to visit the IAC and see the best in the world
compete against each other.
The new addition to the National Model Aviation
Museum at the IAC, the Claude McCullough Educational
Facility, is coming along nicely. Groundbreaking took place
on July 7 before representatives from the local news media,
school administrators, and other dignitaries. The project is
scheduled to be completed sometime in the early fall, and a
grand opening dedication is scheduled for sometime in the
latter part of October 2009.
As I wrote in an earlier column, this new education
wing was made possible by an extremely generous donation
from the estate of Claude McCullough, who was well known in
model aviation circles as a model aircraft designer and a
world-class builder and flier of Scale model aircraft.
The Claude McCullough Education Facility will open up a
number of new opportunities in education outreach for AMA.
The facility will accommodate school groups as well as adult
programming.
Long-range plans for the wing include possibly
conducting weeklong model aviation camps where interested
youngsters will visit the IAC and participate in a series of
programs designed to introduce model aviation as well as
take advantage of the learning opportunities the sport/hobby
has to offer. This new facility will allow us to plant the
seed that may lead to a future career in the aviation or
aerospace fields.
As of the beginning of August, it appears that the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is pushing back its
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning new
regulations for small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) by
at least one quarter. The NPRM was originally scheduled to
be released in the Federal Register sometime in the second
quarter of 2010. It looks as though this won't happen now
until sometime in the third quarter of 2010.
Meanwhile, AMA continues to develop a set of safety
guidelines that we will present to the FAA in late 2009 or
early 2010. The foundation of our presentation will be the
current National Model Aviation Safety Code along with all
of its supporting documents, including our Experimental
Aircraft Program and Turbine Aircraft Program.
AMA has created a working group that is charged with
developing the safety guidelines. Currently there is a link
on the AMA Web site for submitting comments and suggestions.
The initial organizational effort of the workgroup is being
handled within this committee; however, as the document
nears completion, the workgroup will vet aspects of the
draft through AMA's Special Interest Groups as well as other
segments of the modeling community.
AMA has set up a dedicated discussion forum on its Web
site, where ideas can be presented and discussed. We have
also created a Twitter site where you can receive updates on
the progress of the Safety Guidelines Workgroup and the
rulemaking process.
We are considering creating an "opt-in" survey element
that can be engaged to examine new ideas and concepts as
they are brought to the table. This component may be
particularly useful once the safety-guideline document is
submitted to the FAA and we begin conferring on specific
aspects of AMA's safety program.
Those who may have contacted the AMA Membership
Department in the last several months, and have a good
e-mail address on file with us, have received a short survey
request after your contact. Taking the time to answer the
survey will let us know how we performed in addressing the
reason for your contact.
Eventually our plan is to implement this survey system
within all of the departments at AMA Headquarters. Our goal
is to provide the highest level of member support that we
can. If you take the time to answer the survey, it will help
us do that. MA
See you next time ...
Dave Mathewson, AMA president
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