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The Academy’s Safety Code is the cornerstone
of our national safety program and is the
foundation upon which our organization is
anchored. As such, it requires occasional
revisions to keep up with changes in
technology and lessons learned.
As the AMA National Model Aircraft Safety Code
workgroup reviewed all of our programs in
preparation for presentation to the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA), some
modifications seemed necessary. After much
wordsmithing and debate, a proposed revision
was presented to the AMA Safety Committee,
which reviewed and tweaked the recommended
changes.
Then the document was given to the AMA’s Insurance
Committee for comment, after which it was
submitted to the Executive Council (EC) in
July. Not to be outdone, the EC made some
alterations of its own during the meeting.
The new Safety Code was adopted with an
effective date of January 1, 2010.
The Safety Code is presented in its entirety on page
162. It will be included in every club
charter kit, on every membership
application, available on the AMA Web site,
and in poster form for display at club
fields.
Following is a review of the changes that were made to
the Safety Code. Foremost, the definition of
a model aircraft should not be a numbered
item in the Code. Therefore, it was pulled
and made a general statement, with
adjustments to follow the terminology used
by the Aviation Rule Making Committee in its
recommendations to the FAA.
In the “General” section:
• Paragraph 1 was moved up from the body of
the Code, because it is the most significant
paragraph and sets the tone for the rest of
the Code.
• Paragraph 2 was extracted from the middle
of paragraph 5 of the old Code and moved up,
to demonstrate its importance to all
modelers.
It also introduces a new term: “See and Avoid.” This
technique for ensuring the safety of other
aircraft in the National Airspace System
(NAS) is outlined in detail in a new PDF
that can be found in the documents section
of the AMA Web site at
www.modelaircraft.org/files/540-D.pdf.
• Paragraph 5 added piloting skills and
intended maneuvers into the airworthiness
paragraph for sanctioned events and air
shows, and combined the old paragraph 3 from
the “Radio Control” section.
• Paragraph 7 deleted reference to
tetranitromethane and hydrazine. Although
they are still hazardous for use, they have
gone out of favor and their reference in the
Code is antiquated.
• Paragraph 9 combined alcohol and drug use
into a single paragraph, and the eight-hour
statement was deleted.
• Old paragraph 11 was deleted. This does
not mean that the flightline is a playground
for children younger than 6, but it allows
the parents, club officers, and safety
coordinators to establish their own
procedures.
In the “Radio Control” section:
• Paragraph 1 was changed for grammatical
reasons, with no change to intent.
• Paragraph 2 added that the ground-range
check should be done in accordance with
manufacturers’ recommendations.
• Old paragraph 3 was deleted and combined
with “General” paragraph 9.
• Paragraph 7 added, “This does not apply to
aircraft flown indoors.”
• Paragraph 8 deleted reference to speed.
Clubs have no easy way to measure the speed
at night, and there is no conclusive
evidence that speed is more important than
pilot skills, wing loading, or anything else
in flying at night.
Changed wording from equipped with lighting to “a
lighting system must be utilized that
provides the pilot with a clear view of the
model’s attitude and orientation at all
times.” This allows lighting from the
ground. It also requires aircraft,
regardless of speed, to be
visible/controllable at all times, which
should self-regulate speed by requiring
better lighting for faster aircraft or
slower speed to stay within sight.
• Paragraph 9 added new terminology, First
Person View (FPV), used with this
technology.
• New documents are referenced throughout
the Code and are listed in the document
section on the Web site.
The goal of this round of changes was to clean up the
Safety Code so that it better presents our
program to modelers and the FAA. As a part
of the process, there was an intent to
shorten the overall document, to make it
easier to understand and read. It is hoped
that those efforts will encourage modelers
to follow the Safety Code more closely and
make it easier to enforce.
The Safety Code will be reviewed annually, and future
changes will have the same goal of
shortening and strengthening. They will also
try to give flexibility to modelers and
clubs, to incorporate new ideas and flying
styles into their modeling activities.
The EC and the Safety Committee want to find ways to
allow aeromodelers to have fun in a safe
manner, as opposed to saying no because it
is the easy thing to do.
Fly safely. MA
—Jim Rice
AMA Safety Committee Chairman
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