AMA’s work in 2017
View From HQ by Dave Mathewson, AMA Executive Director
Happy New Year. I hope 2017 will be a happy, healthy, and prosperous year for everyone.
AMA has a challenging year ahead of us. By the time this issue of Model Aviation reaches you, an early January meeting with the FAA will have taken place. We have a number of items on our agenda to deliberate, including the FAA’s Interpretive Rule and discussing a proposal where an AMA membership would be an alternative means of compliance to the current FAA registration requirement.
Another hot topic for 2017 will be Congress’ work to pass the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act of 2016. As you might recall, discussion about the act within Congress stalled in 2016, resulting in an extension of the current bill, the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, until mid-September 2017.
Several provisions included in the 2017 reauthorization act involve full-scale aviation as well as commercial and recreational model aviation. AMA has been actively involved in working with Congress on the reauthorization act. Our intent is to clarify some of the details in Section 336, the Special Rule for Model Aircraft (the AMA amendment) included in the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act as well as address other areas of concern to protect AMA members and recreational enthusiasts from unnecessary and potentially onerous oversight.
Addressing proposed state and local legislation and ordinances that have the potential to impact model aviation enthusiasts will also be an important part of AMA’s work in the coming year. Although a few years ago, most of AMA’s work did involve federal issues, in 2016 AMA monitored and responded to more than 275 pieces of proposed legislation and local ordinances that affected recreational modelers. We expect these concerns to grow exponentially in 2017.
AMA will continue to work to represent all model aviation enthusiasts because we believe it is important to our future as well as the future of the modeling community and the industry that supports it.
AMA’s new president took office on January 1, 2017. Rich Hanson brings a wealth of experience to the position, having served in the past as AMA District X vice president, and most recently as AMA’s Government and Regulatory Affairs representative. Rich is generally considered to be AMA’s foremost expert on legislative and regulatory issues and will bring that experience to his role as AMA president.
AMA also has a new vice president in District V. Bob Brogdon was elected to serve a three-year term beginning on January 1, 2017. Bob is a longtime, active modeler who primarily flies RC Pylon and is well known in the district. Bob will bring his experience to the AMA Executive Council and be a good addition to the AMA board. If you run into him, welcome Bob and thank him for volunteering his time and effort in support of AMA and our members.
Although AMA membership grew in 2016 for the fifth year in a row, it appears to have been a difficult year for the modeling industry in general. I recently read an article about associations such as AMA that really summed things up in the following quote: “Associations can provide immeasurable benefits to their members. But if the associations are incapable of adapting to changes, they’re on borrowed time.”
The face of model aviation is changing, and to remain relevant, both AMA and the modeling industry must evolve. This is no different from what has occurred in the past with the evolution of new modeling disciplines. AMA will continue to work to represent all model aviation enthusiasts because we believe it is important to our future as well as the future of the modeling community and the industry that supports it.
I’ll round out this month’s column by asking you to join me in thanking the members of the AMA staff for their hard work in support of our membership during the last year. We have a great team at AMA that is committed to making your involvement with model aviation a positive and great experience. If you visit the International Aeromodeling Center, I encourage you to stop in the administration building and meet these fine people.
And, finally, thank you all for being members. AMA’s members are the backbone of our organization.
See you next time ...
