A Note From the Technical Director
Bob Underwood
After a year in the position of Technical Director for the Academy, I can begin to see certain patterns in the needs of its members relating to my services. This column has addressed those needs, to some degree, during 1985–86. Interestingly, at least half of the questions — probably more — concerning the AMA rule book have come from non‑competitive members. They fall in the field‑layout and model‑identification areas and actually relate to the "AMA Membership Manual" section found in the very last pages of the book.
The biggest problem with these questions is that the information on pages 123–133 is very often treated as rule‑oriented when, in fact, most of the things presented are recommendations.
That fact is very evident when it comes to treating field layout. Many persons or clubs have requested that the Academy stamp their field layout with a seal of approval. This is an impossibility, since we do not have the personnel or funds to travel to each field. The primary concern is that your field allows you to fly safely using the AMA Safety Code (page 133) as your governing set of operational rules. Additional field rules are almost always required in order to fit your specific club situation. Remember, well‑thought‑out rules are not necessarily more restrictive in nature, but rather can actually produce a flying atmosphere which is more free.
The question of model identification has been treated in one of my earlier columns. In the simplest form, the only consideration you need to make is whether it is a rule‑book competitive event or sport flying. The "General" section on page 8 and the specific rule‑book event handles competitive flying. Anything other than a rule‑book event is handled by the Safety Code on page 133. Just as in rowing a boat, pay close attention to the "ors" in item 6 of the General Safety Code.
A very high percentage of the letters and phone calls deal with radio‑frequency concerns and errors. There are many misconceptions floating about in regard to this part of our hobby/sport. The range is from a lack of any information on the subject to misinformation which circulates freely. Experience has shown that even when individuals have gone to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for help, they have sometimes received incorrect information.
In one notable case, an insurance company was told by an FCC field office that the operation of a robot on 72 MHz was perfectly legal. While we were able to get the field office to reconsider its advice, it consumed much time and energy.
Contact AMA headquarters with your radio‑frequency questions. I don't guarantee that we will have an answer for every one, but I do guarantee that we will make a dedicated effort to find the answer from an authoritative source.
Many other areas of interest comprise my working day. The requests and concerns are interesting, challenging, and much too numerous to list here. A number of projects are in the works, including a Contest Director's Guide, a Fun‑Fly Guide, and others.
Competition Newsletter
Academy of Model Aeronautics 1810 Samuel Morse Drive Reston, VA 22090
Note: Technical Director W. Bob Underwood
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
