COMPETITIONS
REGULATIONS UPDATE
By Tony Stillman, Safety & Flying Site Assistance | fsac@modelaircraft.org
I want to take some time this month to discuss AMA competition. As you are probably aware, AMA has many competition events throughout the entire spectrum of model aviation. Let’s break some of these down. There are three basic types: Free Flight (FF), Control Line (CL), and RC.
In FF, we have indoor and outdoor events. CL has various events from Scale to Aerobatics. RC also has many events of all types.
AMA Competition Regulations are established for each of the various special events within the three main categories of model competition. These regulations, commonly referred to as “rule books,” are established and managed by specific Contest Boards. A representative from each of the AMA districts, selected by the AMA district vice president, comprise the Contest Boards. Their purpose is to review and vote on new rules proposals that are sent in during the Rules Proposal Cycle.
The cycle is a two-year process that starts by allowing any AMA members to submit rules proposals for consideration by the event-specific Contest Board. There is a 15-month window when proposals can be submitted. This starts on January 1 of even-numbered years and goes through March 15 of the following year.
When the window closes for rules proposal submittals, the Contest Boards become involved by voting on the proposals. There can be up to three votes in the process of ratifying new proposals. The initial vote is where the boards review all proposals and deny any proposals that they deem unworthy.
The next vote is the intermediate vote, which allows members to modify proposals that passed the initial vote, if the boards find that they have small issues that need addressing. These modified proposals are referred to as cross proposals. Cross proposals are accepted through July 15. The Contest Boards will review any cross-proposals and determine which proposals will move forward to the final vote.
The final vote occurs on August 31. All proposals that are approved in the final vote will go on to become part of the Competition Regulations, beginning on January 1 of the following year. This completes a rules cycle.
With this background in mind, I want to alert our competition-minded members that we have recently completed the initial vote for proposals that are anticipated to become part of the 2022-2023 AMA Competition Regulations. If you are interested in being a part of this process, I recommend that you review the proposals that have been submitted by going to the AMA website at www.modelaircraft.org and logging in.
Move your mouse over the Events heading and in the blue box that opens, find Rules Proposals and click on it. This will take you to the main rules landing page, where you can select the specific type of competition, and then review all of the proposals that are in play.
Under the Events heading, you can also find the listing for members of each of the Contest Boards that are voting on these proposals. There is even a link to their email addresses, where you can communicate with them about any concerns or proposal preferences that you have.
They really want to hear from the membership for guidance on how to vote on these proposals. Of course, they have their own opinions, but they would like to hear yours as well! Your communication might often be the only opinion they hear, so please reach out to them if you have concerns.
Because this is a two-year process, it is important to look to the future and try to see what can be done to improve an event. This is a time-consuming process, and that is on purpose. Rules should have some stability, and by only changing them every other year, competitors can design and build models knowing that what they have will be competitive.
If you have any questions about competitions or competition regulations, please feel free to reach out to me!
