November 4 2018 Minutes

Executive Council Meeting

November 4, 2018

Pomona, California

1. OPENING BUSINESS
   1. Introductions: President Rich Hanson, Scottsdale, AZ; Executive Vice President Randy Cameron, Springfield Mo, Chief Financial Officer Keith Sessions, Burlington, KY, District Vice Presidents: I-Andy Argenio, Smithfield, RI; III-Mark Radcliff, St. Marys, WV; Tim Jesky, Monroe, MI; IV-Jay Marsh, High Point, NC; V-Robert Brogdon, Powder Springs, GA; VI-Gary Himes, Kansas City, MO; VIII-Lawrence Harville, Hurst, TX; IX-Jim Tiller, Custer, SD; X-Lawrence Tougas, Fairfield, CA; XI-Bryan Wood, Meridian, ID; Absent: Greg Principato-NAA Participated by phone Eric Williams-VP District II, Legal Counsel, Felix Gora. Staff: Joyce Hager, Rob Kurek
   2. Final Flight recognition (appendix I).
2. CONSENT AGENDA
   • It was approved by consensus to approve the Minutes of the July 14, 2018 Executive Council Meeting with corrections as submitted.
   • The following votes were read into the minutes:
   • Moved by J. Marsh (IV) seconded by L. Tougas (X) Move the fall 2018 Executive Council meeting to Sunday (11/4) during AMA Expo West, starting at noon and going until finished, funded by the EC budget. Passed 10 yes; 1 no
   • Moved by T. Jesky (VII) seconded by G. Himes (VI) Set August 17 as the designated date for National Model Aviation Day for 2019. Passed unanimously
   • Moved by T. Jesky (VII) seconded by J. Marsh (IV) AMA to cover the cost of the 2018 F9U Team’s world championship entry fees in lieu of the full FAI program stipend. Passed 10 yes; 3 no
   • Moved by R. Cameron (EVP) seconded by B. Brogdon (V) The remaining balance per member be provided to the USA F9U Drone racing Team once we have confirmation that the team has made travel arrangements to China. Passed Unanimously
   • Moved by J. Marsh (IV) seconded by E. Williams (II) The FAI North Coast Spacemodeling World Cup be conducted at the IAC beginning July 26, 2019 and continuing through August 3, 2019, as coordinated with, and agreed upon, by IRCHA, NAR and the AMA. The AMA Helicopter NATS and IRCHA Jamboree setup will take place July 20-23. The Helicopter NATS will be held from July 20th thru the 23rd. The IRCHA Jamboree will run July 24-27. The NAR event will run July 26 to August 3, with the exception of delaying set up until, not later than 3 pm the afternoon of July 26 to accommodate helicopter speed. Passed 12 yes
   • Two motions to approve Fellowships Awards. Passed unanimously
3. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
   • AMA President provided updates on the FAA Reauthorization bill. The bill was created behind closed doors in the House and was quickly adopted by the Senate. AMA meet with the FAA only a few days after the bill was signed and immediately created a joint AMA-FAA team and an internal AMA 202 team comprised of consultants, AMA staff, and AMA Executive Council to review the bill and help shape it as it becomes regulation. The bill does provide a 400 AGL cap in Class G, but the FAA is working with AMA to allow our operations to safely continue over 400 AGL. In addition to resolving the 400 AGL issue, the team is working on protecting and identifying AMA flying sites and establishing test questions.
   • Made several visits to D. Mathewson in Syracuse, NY
   • Committee put together to review questions for testing for FAA, (J. Rice, M. Radcliff, J. Marsh) Instructed AMA to gather information to provide to FAA concerning the flying sites flying above 400 feet Schedule for 2019 Meeting to be handle at the end of the meeting
4. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER’S REPORT
   • 2019 Budget was presented and it was:
     • Motion I: Moved by R. Cameron (EVP) seconded by B. Brogdon (V) to approve the 2019 budget as submitted. Motion passed 10 yes; 2 no
   • K. Session (CFO) continued to express his concern with membership numbers, the ability to bring in non-dues revenue; cutting costs while increasing revenue. Reducing the number of face to face meetings with the EC to three per year instead of four. AMA can’t continue to count on the interest of our investments to support operations. AMA to explore non-dues revenue.
5. INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

   The Interim Executive Director shared updates on new federal regulations including Section 349. AMA HQ established a task force titled AMA 202 to help unpack, shape, and implement the bill into regulation and AMA programming. This discussion included the need to restructure AMA HQ’s workflows to accommodate the bill and capitalize on its opportunities. The Interim Executive Director also shared updates on AMA and EAA’s Young Eagle’s partnership. The AMA will be connecting clubs with EAA chapters to jointly work with youth to encourage building and flying model aircraft. The report closed with a brief discussion on the AMS including a plan to launch club roster management and the sanctioning portal.

6. EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT
   • MultiGP International went to China and took 7th place at the Worlds
   • Discussed issues with IRCHA concerning dates at the IAC
   • J. Marsh/R. Cameron met with the NAR Board of Trustees, toured AMA, reviewed the event that will happen in July 2019; NAR would like to see a joint AMA/NAR meeting, possible at the same time as our August meeting
   • Attended a fun fly put on at Horizon. Excellent job, large attendance, marketing trailer was a big hit wilth over 2,000 people going through it, gave away 500 Alphas. This is one of our success stories on a military installation; air show demo dedicated to STEM.
7. NAA REPORT
   • There was significant positive buzz at the FAI general conference last week about the presence of a US team at the drone championships, especially the fact that the team included a female.
   • Speaking of the general conference, as you know the FAI proposed an increase in the subscription payments due it by national authorities such as NAA. The US led the fight against this increase and it was voted down. We are also leading the effort (with a growing number of others it must be said) to take a fresh look at how FAI does what it does and to make changes in the way FAI is funded. Many of those ideas would result in a DECREASE in the subscription payment which would allow us to decrease what our air sport organizations pay (every penny of what our air sport organizations pay goes to fund the FAI subscription).
   • The US is far from the only place where lagging participation places pressure on air sport organizations. We will actively participate in the effort to re-shape FAI.
   • We also made the point that the FAI needs to do a better job in getting records reviewed and improved. We successfully tightened up the deadline for records to be submitted and the way in which extensions can be requested and granted. Our point is that it is the job of NAA and FAI to ensure the integrity of the records process.
   • A general sense that FAI needs to be better, and also more open and transparent, led to the election of a new President, Bob Henderson from New Zealand. He defeated Frits Brink who some of you might remember from his visit to the November, 2016 AMA Council meeting. Also, 1/3 of the FAI board membership is new. Antonis Papadopoulos was reelected to be President of the committee overseeing general sections of the sporting code, one of the most powerful positions at FAI. He is also President of CIAM, the air sport commission responsible for overseeing modeling. This gives the modeling community great representation at high levels at FAI.
   • At the World Games in 2021 in Birmingham, AL (this is a multi-sport activity modeled on the Olympic games with sports recognized by the Olympic committee but not included in the Olympics) drone racing will be included. There will be 32 total racers (at least 12 female) and 14 total officials, with one medal ceremony. The US will be able to have 2-3 drone racers participate. While CIAM will assign numbers, AMA will have the ability to select the team. I had a side conversation about this with the secretary general of FAI and talked about the hope that AMA can use this event to promote model aviation. There will be a site where air sport organizations can promote their offerings, and this would be a good pace for the AMA truck, for example.
   • Rich Hanson will continue on the NAA board and executive committee in 2019.
   • The next NAA events are our Fall Awards Dinner on Nov 27 and the Wright Memorial Dinner on December 14. Our first luncheon of 2019 will be on January 29 which Richard Aboulafia as the speaker.
8. COMMITTEE REPORTS
   • a. Education Great things happening with the B. Romash protype of the Beta-(competition airplane) is ready to be produced. This is the second education tool developed for beginners to get involved in aviation. Excellent for workshops, Stem programs, etc. Getting kids involved.
   • c. Publications
   • d. L. Harville (VIII) asked R. Kurek to report on publications. Rob talked about the MA redesign, taking effect with the January 2019 issue. Mentioned that MCI would begin selling advertising on behalf of AMA on Jan. 1, 2019. Lastly, he mentioned the MA supplement, Drone Pilot, made its debut at AMA Expo West, and passed out copies.
   • e. Marketing E. Williams (II) Good job on Expo West, thanks to the new focus and the effort put in by Erin and Mark and everyone that was involved in the Expo Need to focus on new members, Brand awareness, Partnerships Need to find sponsorships for the Truck and Trailer (previously the Ed) to cover the cost of rewrapping the trailer and purchasing a new truck; possible getting another on down the line. Also funding for attending the various functions to keep the program going.
   • f. Government Relations AMA President and Interim Executive Director shared updates on the Section 349 from the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Bill. AMA created a task force to include AMA HQ staff, EC members, and consultants/ subject matter experts to unpack and implement the bill. The team meets and works daily with plenary meetings once a week as a whole. Agenda items discussed included Remote ID, authorization in controlled airspace, AMA flying sites, and operations over 400 AGL.
   • g. PADCOM R. Cameron (EVP) a proposal to look at putting up some “cabins” for camping at the IAC was presented. These cabins would be put in at no cost to AMA; income would be divided between vendor and AMA. Cabins would be rented to non-AMA members as well as AMA; camp ground would be open longer throughout the year. As part of their contract a host is provided by the vendor to take care of the camp ground along with the cabins. HQ is to follow through and get further details on this project. This could be a non-dues revenue project.
   • f. FAI AMA sent a team for F3U (drone racing) to China to participate in the first WC for drone racing. This was 5 person team, including a female; this event had 34 countries involved and of those 13 teams had a women participating on their team. USA finished 7th out of 34. Thanks to Joyce and Colleen for assisting MultiGP in the effort of the team trials and completing all the necessary paperwork. International competition needs to increase participation to draw attention to the FAI event. We need to promote these programs more in the USA.
9. OLD BUSINESS
   • a. Update on ED Search – Executive Session
   • b. SLRP (3-5) year plan
   • After a brief discussion on the SLRP, that it was a compilation of the items written on the white paper during the strategic long range meetings. It was decided that the executive council needed more time to review the document and voting on this item was held off until the first conference call of the Executive Council
   • h. CL Collection: A member wanted to sell AMA a collection of control line items. After discussion it was Motion II: Moved by R. Cameron (EVP) seconded by B. Wood (X) to decline the offer to purchase the CL collection. We appreciate the offer and ask that he may want to consider offering his collection as a donation to the museum. Passed unanimously
10. NEW Business
    • a. Funding raising effort – Naming Committee Report J. Tiller (IX) introduced the subject of generating non dues revenue by having items like parts of the road, museum exhibits, main pond, sites, etc sponsored by corporations or individuals for a price and for a certain time frame. Donation could include a plaque, advertising or other type of signage for very little expense.
    • Motion III: Moved by T. Jesky (VII) seconded by L. Harville Direct the foundation to move forward with developing fundraising for any unnamed AMA assets. Passed Unanimously
    • b. 2019 Nats Schedule Motion IV: Moved by M. Radcliff (III) seconded by B. Wood (X) to approve the 2019 Nationals to be held in Muncie, In July 7th through August 9th, 2019 with R/C Aerobatics to be held in Blytheville, AR July 15-19 and Indoor TBA. Motion Passed Unanimously
    • i. 2019 Basic Nats Entry Fee Motion V: Moved by R. Cameron (EVP) seconded by B. Brogdon (V) to increase the Nats basic entry fee by $5.00 beginning in 2019. Motion passed 10 yes; 2 no
    • Motion VI: Moved by B. Wood (XI) seconded by M. Radcliff (III) the dates for 2019 Executive Council Meetings and the Annual membership meeting will be as follows: January 26 (tentative to be virtual); April 27-28—Muncie, IN; August 3-4—Muncie, IN; November 9-10—Muncie, IN; Annual Membership Meeting will be held in Toledo, Ohio April 6th time and place (room) will be announced. Motion pass Unanimously
11. AWARDS - No Awards
12. ADJOURNMENT - Meeting was adjourned at 6 pm