District V
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands
Welcome back everyone!
I haven’t been to many events this month because of the summer heat, but I want to give a shout-out to Gateway RC in Jacksonville, Florida, and Contest Director Mike “the Grizz” Odom for running a great event.
I’m writing this as I watch the news while Hurricane Ida slammed into the Gulf Coast. My thoughts and prayers to go out to everyone in the path of this catastrophic storm. I mention this because, if you are unaware, the AMA has a disaster assistance grant program that offers clubs as much as $500 in emergency relief assistance to reopen following some sort of natural disaster.
This is a grant, not a loan, so it doesn’t require repayment and is intended to be used for things such as a tree blowing down over an access road, repairs to shelters, etc. Email Austin Perlee at AMA Headquarters at austinp@modelaircraft.org for the paperwork or to answer any questions you might have about the Club Disaster Relief Program.
TRUST Exams: FAA’s The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST) exam has been live for some time now. There were a few hiccups with the server capacity when a high volume of users hit the first day, but AMA offers the test for members, and I encourage all of you to take it.
Why? Because it’s federal law for one thing. This isn’t an idea that the FAA cooked up to punish recreational modelers. This was mandated by Congress during the most recent FAA Reauthorization Act. The idea was was for it to be similar to the Part 107 exam.
Because of much hard work by the AMA Government Affairs team and others, it is, at worst, little more than a 15-minute inconvenience, and, at best, an opportunity for you to learn a few things that apply to the recreational UAS laws. The test is a no-fail educational experience. You read a few paragraphs and answer a few questions then do it again a couple of times. If you get a question wrong, it gives you the chance to answer it again until you get it right then it moves to the next question.
I’ve had a few calls asking about the deadline for taking the test, and the answer from Government Affairs is, “as soon as practical,” so, the sooner you take it, the better.
Why am I writing about this? Because the number of TRUST exams is far fewer than the number of AMA members, and as an organization, we need to show the FAA that we are the ones willing to comply with federal law.
Here’s a suggestion: Take a laptop and a printer to a club meeting, connect to the internet, and walk everyone who needs to take the test through it. If they aren’t technologically adept, print off the certificates and stick them in their transmitter cases. I saved mine as a PDF and sent it to my phone, along with my FAA registration card.
Until next month, stay safe and keep ’em flyin’!
