Joe Nall Week
The AMA national and district elections are well underway. If you are an Adult or Senior member, and haven’t yet voted, please do so. It is your right and duty.
We often hear that the AMA Executive Council (EC) is a “good ol’ boys club,” but the reality is that we have seen a great deal of change in council members since the EC passed term limits.
Please take a look at what the nominees say they stand for, and an even closer look at what they actually have done for our members. All EC meeting minutes are on AMA’s website. Your vote counts, so please exercise your right to vote.
This is my first chance to weigh in on an extremely important two-page letter we received from the FAA. We have been involved and working with the FAA since 2008. In 2012, we were successful in getting Section 336 inserted into the FAA Modernization and Reform Act that Congress passed and the president signed into Public Law 112-95.
This law established the criteria and premise of a community-based organization (CBO), which AMA has always been, allowing CBO members to fly their model aircraft according to the CBO’s guidelines and rules.
So what is so special about the FAA letter? Since 2012, we have been looking for the FAA to recognize AMA as a CBO. In January of this year, Rich Hanson, Chad Budreau, and I traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with the FAA director of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office, to discuss issues with its new registration requirements.
At this meeting, we made an emphatic point that, to date, we haven’t received anything in writing from the FAA actually recognizing AMA as a CBO. I am including an excerpt from the letter:
“Section 336, the provision specifically addressing model aircraft in the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act, does not contain a definitive altitude limitation for model aircraft operations. Rather, it requires operation of model aircraft [in accordance with a community-based set of safety guidelines] … Community-based organizations, such as the Academy of Model Aeronautics, may establish altitude limitation in their safety guidelines that exceed the FAA’s 400-foot AGL altitude recommendation.
“Although such safety guidelines may provide for flight above 400 feet AGL, Section 336 also protects the safety of manned aircraft operations by requiring that model aircraft not interfere with and give way to manned aircraft. The statute also explicitly affirms that the FAA may pursue enforcement action against model aircraft operators who endanger the safety of the national airspace.”
AMA’s policy with manned aircraft is simple—see and avoid. We support the FAA’s right to enforcement when safety is compromised. Our safety policies are only as good as our members and clubs enforcing them.
It is up to each of us to speak up if a member flies in an unsafe manner. This is especially true for our contest directors, whose sanctioned events and fun-flys are often attended by many spectators and government officials.
Safety while flying is key!
According to our bylaws, AMA must hold at least one annual membership meeting. We typically hold one in January at AMA Expo in Ontario, California, for our West Coast members, and another during Joe Nall Week at the Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, South Carolina.
This year, we were only 10 minutes into the outdoor meeting when Mother Nature decided that it was over. The following day we had an opportunity to talk with many of our members and answer their questions.
Joe Nall is where old friendships are renewed and new ones made. I was able to get together with a couple of former club members of mine who moved away two decades ago. They are still active in the hobby and come to the Joe Nall event to see friends and fly at this famous venue.
It is certainly the place to come to talk with distributors and manufacturers and see their latest offerings on the ground and in the air. The noon show is the best anywhere in the world.
The legendary hospitality of the Joe Nall volunteers parallels that of site owner Pat Hartness. If you haven’t been to the Joe Nall event, you are missing one of the finest experiences our hobby has to offer.
AMA’s membership continues to grow for the fifth year in a row. Our final membership numbers are typically calculated in September, and I am proud to say that as of the middle of July, we have exceeded last year’s record-setting total, which neared 189,000 members. It is possible we could break the 190,000 member mark in 2016.
Membership numbers are the strongest indicator that modelers believe AMA is on the right track and providing worthwhile membership services. We can thank our executive director and AMA staff in Muncie, Indiana, for this, along with the EC for providing the vision to move forward.
Thanks for reading! Please help secure our future and take a youngster flying! ✈
