View from HQ - 2004/12
Joyce Hager Executive Director
Membership renewals and cards
Each year at approximately this time, I write about the same thing. As in the past, membership renewals and new memberships are arriving steadily at AMA Headquarters. The Membership Department is extremely busy with the mail and the telephones. Please have patience with these individuals; they really try hard to process applications as quickly as possible.
New members will receive a 2004 license card, and they will get a 2005 card when those are produced. AMA will receive the 2005 license cards sometime in November and mail them in a large batch. After the first group goes out, we will mail cards roughly every other day.
When you are waiting to receive a product you ordered, it seems to take a long time. But consider that if you mail your application in, it takes at least four days for it to get to AMA Headquarters. Once applications have arrived, we process them in received-date order, print the cards, and then a mailing house sends them out. If you are renewing your AMA membership, you can go online to see if your membership status has been updated. As a reminder to chartered clubs, 2004 membership is good through the end of December.
If you need to contact AMA Headquarters, you can call (800) 435-9262. Please have your card available so that you can give the customer-service representative your AMA number.
How to renew or join
There are several ways to renew your membership or to join AMA:
- Mail in your application or renewal.
- Fax in an application.
- Call (800) 435-9262 (have your old card available and any address changes).
- Join or renew online at www.modelaircraft.org/preapp.aspx.
If you use the online system, at the present time it will not allow you to join or renew for more than one year or make a partial payment. If you want to do either of those things, you will need to renew by telephone, fax, or mail. We hope to be able to accommodate these requests in 2006.
Trial Membership
If you know someone who is not quite sure if he or she really wants to become a full member and is new to your area or club, AMA offers a Trial Membership. It costs only $19.95. The person will receive a full three-month membership, including MA. He or she must apply online at www.modelaircraft.org/trialmemberapp.aspx. This program is only for new adult members, and they must have an email address. All information and the three-month license are sent via email. Should the trial member decide to continue membership in AMA, he or she has the option to renew before the expiration date of the introductory program and can apply the full $19.95 to the normal cost of membership. This is a good opportunity to see what AMA is all about and gives prospective members a chance to read our publication. If you know anyone in your area who may be interested, please pass this information on.
Sport Aviator website
One other piece of information that would be useful to a new member is AMA’s new Web site: Sport Aviator. It is designed to help a newcomer because it contains many construction articles, reviews, how-to articles, and good information. Beginners and seasoned modelers should check it out at www.masportaviator.com.
Visitor story: High Country RC Club
Guess what happened while on vacation? Mary Hurn, our human resources director, and her family were on vacation visiting her sister in Colorado, and they happened upon the High Country RC Club. Its members welcomed Mary and her family with open arms, which delighted them. I have included a couple pictures of club members. Mary was impressed with the flying site and the warm reception.
Scholarships
Did you know that AMA offers college scholarships each year? The application is on AMA’s education Web site at www.buildandfly.com. Eligibility requires that the applicant have been an AMA member for 36 months, will graduate from high school in the year in which the award is to be granted, and has been accepted by a college or university offering a certificate or degree program. All awards are announced in July of each year.
The National Free Flight Society (NFFS) also offers a scholarship. Its application is posted on the NFFS Web site at http://freeflight.org.
Community outreach — Madison Elementary School flight day
An invitation from the School Administrative Unit #13 of Freedom/Madison townships asked us to provide a flight day for students of the Madison Elementary School.
Led by Ed Moore, retired engineer of Hamilton Standard; Police Commissioner Paul Whetton; contractor Stephen Middleton; and retired minister James Waugh, the three-hour morning was filled with the excitement of young minds eager to learn. The day before the session, more than 100 copies of RC modeling magazines were distributed to the youth so that they might be primed for the next day.
Ed Moore began the session with a brief history of aviation and included demonstrations of the basics of what makes an airplane fly. A static display of models from hand gliders to 1/4-scale gas models and backyard-flying electrics was available for the children to examine.
After a break, the youth retreated to the school parking lot where Ed Moore flew his park flyer. Returning to the gym, more than 20 youngsters flew electric CL models, made gliders from plastic meat trays, and bombarded the club members with questions.
During the past four years, the Mt. Washington Valley R/C Club has supported an after-school flight class for youth of the Ossipee Middle School. From this Aeronauts class, led by Ed Moore, one of the earlier students now in her young teens has begun the book work of learning to fly. Her goal is a career in flying!
This experience with the youth at the Madison School left four of us feeling that the greatest part of the morning was the gift of attention and respect received from the students and staff of Unit #13.
Thank you, James, for sharing this story with the rest of the membership. Programs such as the one you describe are what AMA needs in terms of gaining younger members and as a good community project.
Membership age breakdown
- Younger than 20: 18,520
- 20–40: 30,693
- 41–60: 61,317
- 61–70: 26,057
- 71 and older: 23,267
Happy flying,
Joyce Hager Executive Director jhager@modelaircraft.org
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
