President’s Perspective - 2001/05
Ah, the first signs of spring—unfortunately, those first signs are gray skies, rain, and damp, chilling temperatures.
This year spring brings a little extra excitement to AMA: the staff has the thrill of moving into the new Headquarters building in Muncie.
New Headquarters
The Executive Council (EC) had its chance to tour the nearly finished building during the EC meeting the weekend of February 10. It is a beautiful sight, and it will give our employees a workplace fitting to the pride they have shown in the organization.
I was impressed, but my impression was enhanced by having been organizationally involved in AMA long enough to realize how far we have come since the days of the rented office on Vermont Avenue in Washington, D.C., and the days when the financial survival of the organization depended on the generosity of a handful of people.
I still remember the old Flying 8-Ball Club, involving the model aviation industry, that financially supported the AMA through some tough times. As I stood in that beautiful lobby, I couldn't help thinking how many people had contributed so much of themselves to bring the organization to this point.
Park Flyers
Park flyers have been a hot subject recently, and, as is typical with many aeromodeling topics, we seem to be evenly divided between those who see them as a curse and those who see them as a blessing.
- If you are a club that is trying to attract new members, park flyers are a blessing.
- If you are a club with a "park" near your flying field, the threat of the models causing interference is a curse.
I've had a lot of email from members on both sides of this subject. I wish I had an answer for those who express concerns about interference with "real" model airplanes (their term). Some of our members seem to think we (AMA) can snap our fingers and change things, but we can't. The reality is that those who use park flyers have just as much right to use the frequencies allotted to model aircraft as do the people who build more traditional and complex model aircraft.
I think AMA might be able to work with the industry to reduce the problem—perhaps through some form of "gentlemen's agreement" regarding frequency usage—but that would not be a one-way street; it would involve many compromises. The best solution is to recruit those park flyers into our clubs and work toward finding and establishing "park" locations where we can coexist.
In many ways, this can be the breakthrough we need to get our numbers up to a point where we are of sufficient political status to get some attention. It's up to us to make it work.
Flying Site Coordinates and Interference
Speaking of interference, AMA has been gathering the latitudes and longitudes of flying sites for a few years, but we only have roughly 60% of the figures.
We have rules and guidelines that require a separation of three miles between radio-control flying sites, unless there has been a frequency-sharing agreement entered into by the clubs involved. This frequency-sharing agreement may involve some way of splitting up the frequencies or it may be as simple as testing to determine that no interference exists.
The most difficult situation we have to deal with is when a charter is granted for a new club that has a flying site closer than the allowable three miles to an existing site. This shouldn't happen, but in the absence of a way for us to determine that distance, it does. Many times this conflict occurs when the new club isn't aware of the proximity, but in some cases the club simply ignores the guidelines.
We can avoid this problem if we can create an accurate database of the latitude and longitude of each flying site, but it depends on our getting the positions of all the clubs. This is for your own protection. If we don't have the latitude and longitude of your flying site, we have no way of preventing another club from choosing a flying site close enough to yours to create interference.
We will probably need to require this information for all new charter applications. Part of the problem is that we charter clubs—not flying sites—so a club could certainly be chartered without a site. If your club is among the nearly 40% that hasn't provided AMA with your numbers, please get them to us so we can prevent a problem before it occurs.
You can determine your site's latitude and longitude with a Global Positioning System (GPS) or a map. Most computer mapping programs can zoom in to locate your flying site within about 100 feet and will show the latitude and longitude. If you are using this method to determine your site's position, zero in on the center of the flightline.
Steps to determine and submit your site's coordinates:
- Use a GPS unit at the flightline center or open a computer mapping program and zoom to the flying site.
- Read or record the latitude and longitude displayed.
- Submit the coordinates to AMA as soon as possible.
FAI Competition and Scale Team
A couple months back I wrote about the U.S.'s efforts in Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) competition, and in that column I referred to the disappointing results for our Scale team. That comment was meant to reflect the disappointment of the team members, and was certainly not meant to infer any disappointment on the part of myself or the AMA with the team.
After rereading what I wrote, it was easy to see where some people may have misinterpreted my comments. I have been proud of all our teams, regardless of their placement. Basically, the only situation where I can imagine being disappointed in a team is one in which it conducted itself in a way that embarrassed the AMA and/or the United States. This was certainly not the case here.
I apologize to anyone who read my comments and took them as a shot at the team or at the team program.
'Til next month.
Dave
Dave Brown AMA president dbrown@dbproducts.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
