Carl is the Director of the Special Services Department. His boss is the ED. The ED, and not the EC, is charged with running the AMA. As such, Carl has the power to make some decisions about the running of the AMA. Setting policy is another matter, supposed to be left to the EC. In the past, some of the relationships became fuzzy. I no longer believe that to be the case. I can not see, regardless of the time reference, that Carl set policy, in this instance.

Having said that, and I say this only somewhat tonuge in cheek, Carl would, in my opinion, left to his own devices, never allow any new aircraft within 10,000 feet of anyone or anything not absolutely necessary for a first flight.

Carl is one of very few individuals that have an understanding of the AMA's insurance policy. Not to have him on the safety committee could be a disaster. The safety committee has no power. It can make recommendations to the EC. I have a hard time seeing that sitting on a powerless committee is a conflict of interest, by any definition. He gets no vote in the EC.