President's Perspective
I'll say one thing about being president of the AMA: it's not a good position for those who have an aversion to traveling! The month got its start in Lausanne, Switzerland, where I served as the US voting delegate at the CIAM, the Aeromodeling Commission of the FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale). If all of those acronyms confuse you, don't worry; they are really harmless parts of the international aeromodeling bureaucracy. Of all the countries in the world, the United States takes part in the greatest number of aeromodeling events, and has historically done quite well in most categories. Influence that the US has on the formation and rules of international aeromodeling has been the subject of many a discussion among those members involved in this activity.
President's Perspective
"IT'S A SMALL world after all," goes the Disney song, and a more true statement could hardly be made. It's amazing to travel and to talk to many people in the sport aviation world, and to find out just how close this group really is. A relatively new friend, who is involved in full-scale aerobatics, roomed with an old teammate of mine on a world championship team. A guy from whom I bought a canopy happens to work with a guy whose airplane was destroyed, along with mine, in a tornado nine years ago. Another coincidence: that guy had just agreed to sell it to another guy, who works for me part-time!
President's Perspective
THIS HAS BEEN a month of emotional highs and lows. One of the nice things I get to do as AMA president is present the Hall of Fame awards to many inductees. This is one of the things I look forward to. Unfortunately, sometimes this means making a posthumous presentation to the family of the inductee. John Grigg, with whom I served on the Executive Council for many years, died in August, 1996. He was voted into the Hall of Fame this past year, and a celebration banquet was held in Lockport NY for the presentation. It was great to see the number of people who attended.
President's Perspective
ONE THING about being the president of the AMA is that it makes some demands that cannot be met. It is common to be "required" in two places at once, and not that uncommon to need to be in three! And you can never get as much done as you wish you could. Sometimes a really great idea comes along, and I would enjoy being able to focus on pursuing it, but as the president, setting the other things aside is impossible. It really doesn't matter if it is an idea that the president comes up with, or if it is an idea that comes from a member, a Special Interest Group, or any other source.
