Tim,
I have some comments inserted. I don't disagree in principal with your
ideas, however this method would be completely impractical.
My issue with the organization of AMA is that AMA is governed by an
executive council made up of elected regional vice presidents. These
officers are elected by AMA members within a geographic area regardless of
their interest in the various disciplines of the hobby. For the most part
geographical areas are irrelevent to the issues affecting AMA. It is clear
to me that this system is doing a poor job of representing and dealing
with
the needs of a large portion of the hobby, including soaring. Model
aviation has evolved into a diverse set of disciplines with many AMA
members
specializing in just one or a small subset of these disciplines. There do
not seem to be many pylon racers who fly sailplanes, helicopters, indoor
free flight, and control line carrier as well. How effectively are they
represented by their regional vice president?
You answered your own question in one of your sentences, "model aviation has
evolved into a diverse set of disciplines with AMA members
specializing....." For this reason alone having reps for each discipline is
impractical. Also, maybe you are involved in one aspect, but I would
disagree and say that there are many more multi faceted modelers than ever
before. Example, I do soaring, GS aerobatics and have ventured back into
helicopters.
I believe that this system should be replaced by a realignment of the
governing board along the lines of special interest groups representing
the
modeling disciplines. Each special interest group should function as a
separate division of the organization with its own funding and staff. The
executive council should be made up of the heads of these groups with some
form of proportional representation based on the number of members in each
group. Members having interests in multiple special interest groups should
be given the opportunity to join multiple groups paying dues reflecting
these multiple interests.
Sigs are involved in virtually every aspect of the AMA. The fact is
competition is a very small part of the AMA. I think the stats are something
less than 2% of AMA members compete.
The current organization of AMA is a legacy of the state of the sport in
the
1930's and 1940's when the academy was formed. Just making a model fly
was
a major achievement in those days. With rare exceptions, free flight was
the
only choice. Competition was primarily segmented along the lines of the
age
of the flyer and how the free flight models were powered. Junior, Senior,
and Open flyers flew glider, rubber, or gas free flight models in AMA
events. The interests of modelers in Virginia were different from those
in
California and representation was needed primarily to address those
regional
interests.
Again, to diverse to have representation in this manner.
Today, age group competition is almost non-existent. Flyers travel the
whole country to fly in AMA events within their special interests. There
are at least eight different segments of RC soaring each having their own
needs regarding safety, insurance, flying sites, air space, competition
regulation, radio frequency control, and launch equipment issues. These
segments include electric, flat land thermal, slope, dynamic, hand launch,
aero-tow, F3J, and F3B. AMA's regional vice presidents, for the most part,
have no awareness let alone informed positions regarding any of these
segments or their specialized issues and yet they govern our sport.
The leadership is charged with overseeing the general interests of modelers.
To have specific knowledge of each discipline is unrealistic. Just like a
CEO of a big company, he/she doesn't have intimate knowledge of every aspect
of the corporation. Not possible.
The AMA contest sanction packages I have received recently have each had
several pages of information and a waiver form regarding the use of jet
turbine engines in my sailplane contests. AMA says we should not fly
gliders
higher than 400 feet AGL, but those same packages also included forms for
measuring and filing for altitude records for models flying up to several
thousand feet high. The safety column in Model Aviation has a lot of
information about people cutting their fingers on propellers, but nothing
about a dynamic soarer traveling at speeds so fast that if its wing were
to
hit you in the neck it would remove your head without knocking you off
your
feet (300+ MPH).
The soaring community needs AMA to address these issues and represent
soaring's needs more than it needs to represent all the flyers from region
7
versus those from region 8. We need representatives that know that a hand
launch glider doesn't use a jet turbine engine. We need to not be paying
insurance premiums for helicopters and fifty-pound, multi-engine meat
grinders when we fly ten ounce floaters.
This is a matter of economics. To break out each type is impossible. As I
noted, I do three different aspects of RC, how do I pay? One bill for
everyone is the only way to manage the insurance.
Just some thoughts. I am putting on my flame-proof suit now.
I think your thoughts are very valid but impractical. If you really want to
instill change, do with your ballot. That is the other scary thing, only a
very small percentage votes. I would be the ones who vote in higher
percentages are the FF folks. Why, because they are generally older and grew
up with the AMA.
Great dialogue.
Darwin N. Barrie
Chandler AZ
Soaring- Model Aviation
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