February 2012 President's Perspective

AMA President Bob Brown	My sincere thanks to all who participated in the Academy’s voting process. I hope my term as president will illustrate why I had so much positive support. I would like to highlight the individuals who provided assistance, but it is impossible because there are so many. However, my main supporter, my wife JoAnne, deserves a special thank-you. My gratitude is extended to Bill Oberdieck and Bruce Nelson for their years of service to the AMA Executive Council. Several new people have been added to the council and others have changed responsibilities. I welcome former District II Vice President (VP) Gary Fitch as AMA’s Executive Vice President.
AMA’s new district VPs include Eric Williams, District II; Mark Radcliff, District III; Tim Jesky, District VII; and Mike Mosbrooker, District XI. The new members have extensive credentials and will prove to be positive additions. In the upcoming months, the FAA will certainly be the major focus for our entire membership. Our campaign to resist undeserving federal regulations will undoubtedly require input from all who care about aeromodeling. Everyone must meet the challenge this will present. We must act in a swift, professional, mature manner. Because of the lengthy lead time required for this magazine, please visit our government relations section of the website regularly. There you’ll find the most up-to-date information and calls to action. Your government relations team has been fighting hard to preserve your flying privileges for the past three years. Much talent and treasure has been expended on our behalf. When the call to action to write letters of protest to Congress and the FAA comes, please heed that call. I know you will, and thank you heartily in advance. Additional membership programs will be generated in the near future. If the Academy has any real pitfalls, it is the fact that it relies on dues for its major source of income. We will begin a concerted effort to generate non-dues revenue. Various avenues will be approached. More information about this will be presented in the near future. As I write this column, I am attempting to populate the committee structure of the Academy. Fortunately, we have a large number of willing and capable members. If you have the desire to serve, please advise your district vice president, Executive Director Dave Mathewson, or me. The Academy has numerous benefits that seem to be unknown to its members. One of those is our perseverance to obtain flying sites. This past fall, District IV VP Bliss Teague, several AMA members, and I proudly represented the Academy at the Soaring 100 on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. One of our locations was Jockey’s Ridge State Park. This park has the tallest natural sand dune system in the Eastern United States. While there, we became friends with Debo Cox, the superintendent of the park. We have been granted the right to fly electric-powered models and gliders on the dunes. I am sure this will entice several of our members to vacation on the Outer Banks. Model Aviation is planning a distinctive new look. Rob Kurek and the MA staff have worked hard to generate these changes. Rob has also negotiated a contract with a new printer to reduce the cost and generate a more pleasing publication. This effort will evolve over the next few months. I am sure you will like the new look. The AMA Headquarters computer system is also being improved. New equipment will allow us to increase our productivity and generate a more efficient online profile. Some of our software is at least 25 years old. This is being updated as quickly as financially possible. I am sure you will see positive changes here, too. I look forward to meeting you! I will be at several different activities including the Westchester Radio AeroModelers (WRAM) Show in Secaucus, New Jersey, February 24-26 and the Weak Signals Expo in Toledo, Ohio, April 13-15. Stop by the Academy’s booth and say hi! As your new president, I’m here to serve you the best I can. Please communicate with me early and often. We’re all in this together. MA Bob Brown AMA Executive Vice President [email protected] Back To This Month's Issue of Model Aviation