MustangFan

The last audited financial statement is from 2002 and is getting long in the tooth. The 2003 statement should be available at the end of March, from previous experience. Having said that, in 2002 the total revenues were about $7.8 million and the total expenditures were about $8 million. If you want more details on the numbers, you’re going to have to take a look at them on the AMA page. Everyone has their own opinion of what they mean.

It is not often anyone has to solicit my opinion, but… since you did…

I would give the AMA a passing grade, maybe a 7+. Actually, that is my rating of the leadership. I view the Headquarters Staff as doing a great job. Certainly there are inefficiencies, as there are in any business. The EC has been reduced to management by crisis. In the last several years, rather than being able to look forward, they have been reduced to taking remedial action. The current one is turbines, but there have been several over the last few years. The Safety Code and it’s concept need review. Each member of the EC is in agreement with that statement, but, each time it comes up, the allotted time has been used for more pressing issues. Each member of the EC knows that micro-managing the membership with a new Safety Code rule for the issue is not the right answer. The same can be said for an overhaul of the AMA by-laws… something long overdue. My personal favorite is the CD program. Although not in the same class with the Safety Code and by-laws, the CD program reaches down to most members and needs an overhaul.

I have questions about where the AMA has been and it’s ability to go forward into the future. As an example, there was a time when the membership was very competition oriented. In the RC community, that interest appears to be waning. Should the AMA be reducing it’s commitment to competition and redirecting resources towards the fun-fly mind set that seems more prevalent? Turning the AMA has been likened to turning a battleship… it takes time. At the same time, I wonder if the members involved in indoor, ff, or control line do not feel that competition is more of an attraction now than ever. Is it time for a new President, with a different vision, or should we keep the one we have? MustangFan, like you, I have a lot of questions… the answers to which I do not have.

JR