Dave Brown

ONE THING I’ll tell you about the job of
being AMA president—or being the
president of virtually any association—is
that you have to like people.
Oh sure, there will be those times
when you feel as if you want to box
someone’s ears. And there will be a few
people who get under your skin so much
that you just want to scream, but you had
better be able to get over it, as this is a
“people” kind of job.
In dealing with people, you find that
some of those with whom you have the
most intense disagreements are the ones
for whom you ultimately develop the
greatest respect.
One such colleague was Ed
McCollough, with whom I argued during
most of his long career on the Executive
Council. Please understand that Ed and I
could disagree about the direction from
which the sun would rise!
Last year, when the vast majority of
the world accepted the year 2000 as the
start of the millennium, Ed was among
the first to argue that 2001 would be the
start of the millennium.

FAI—just three letters, but three letters
which can surely liven up a conversation
among competitive aeromodelers.
For those who might not know what the
letters stand for, they are the acronym for
the Fédération Aéronautique
Internationale, the international
organization representing aerosports in the
world, to include aeromodeling.
Recently, US success in the
international arena has been a mixed can
of worms, with huge success in some
areas, Indoor Free Flight for example, and
huge disappointment in other areas, such
as Scale. In between is the gamut of
emotional states.
Unfortunately, some people seem to
think that anything less than a one-twothree
sweep of a World Championships is
failure. Those critics are quick to point out
that we have some high level competitions
in this country, which “rival” the World
Championships.