Hi, JR;
I have already sent the idea on.
Perhaps the biggest problem that would have to be overcome is the idea that this would somehow be in competition with the Introductory Pilot program already run by AMA and the Chartered clubs. Some would suggest that the Intro Pilot program is a carrot to attract new members to a club and that this would somehow dilute that. I don't know.
Another big problem is that ANY program somehow "sponsored" by AMA brings with it the concern of liability! Even with this just being a MENTORING idea, sooner or later a mentor will crash a newby's airplane and then who is going to pick up the pieces.
And what happens when a MENTOR signed up through this program turns out to be a for-profit instructor? More insurance concerns.
And the beat goes on.
As to non-AMA clubs: as much as I as a modeler sympathize with that idea, it will be a cold day in H*ll when any AMA-sponsored/funded program includes the non-AMA elements in it. (Now, I am sure somebody will point out a counter example! :-) ) I stretch this a bit on the D-8 web site by including non-sanctioned events on the Calendar pages, even if not by a chartered club, but that's about as far as I would take it. (When SFA was alive, I was absolutely forbidden to list an event that was non-AMA!) I cannot imagine any approval being given to include non-AMA clubs in any AMA tool.
Giving this Mentoring some thought: I would probably have a tool like the Find a Club tool, but for the self-identified mentors. I would give back the absolute minimum of personal information, probably no more than their telephone number. Not even an e-mail address since this would provide an avenue for the spam vermin to harvest them.
Getting the place on the membership forms would not be any big deal. Capturing it in the inhouse databases IS! I really don't think it's just a question of how much it would cost, but rather anybody qualified to do it at all. Everybody at HQs has a VERY full plate and you're not going to bring in a summer intern or high school kid and turn them loose with the databases that are the heart of AMA. Still......it sure would be nice!
Capturing other data would also be very helpful, but every effort (e.g.., a crash data reporting mechanism) would have to be staffed to do. There isn't anybody just sitting around at HQs looking for work! As much as it would be a Real Good Thing, we would have to pay for the effort somehow, increased budget to cover, ..... Is this something that the SIGs should pick up rather than AMA?
I still think this is a very good idea, but the realities of cost, etc., just have to be considered. I have made the proposal to AMA leaders. It may go, it may not. We'll see.
Regards,
Bill Lee
Originally posted by J_R
Bill Lee
Sounds like you are refining the 'Find a Club' utility rapidly. That's great. We have needed this kind of thing for a long time. Is there any reason that you can see that unchartered clubs (i.e. city owned sites, etc.) could not be listed? As you know, from the recent e-mail from Dave Brown about the Axiom Survey, as many as 30% of the AMA membership may be in unchartered clubs.
IF the mentors could be included in the data. how would you purpose the contact between the newcomer and the mentor be made, if you built such a utility to 'Find a Mentor'? Would you make it available on the web site, or only to the HQ staff or ??
How could the privacy concern be dealt with?
I see that you agree that the BIG kicker is getting the information in. What do you think the costs of that might be? IF such an effort were to be made, would it make sense to solicit additional information from members to create a data base for additional functions? Maybe the SIG's belonged to or venue interests? It might be nice to know, for instance, who I can fly C/L with in my area.
Recently, Bill Vail made a recommendation that a data base be put together for crash information. His example was the JR 8411 servos that were failing in heli's. I think he submitted the idea to Sandy as a safety idea. How much would it cost to have some full time people to input the types of data and to manage them so that we could use computing power to help the organization on things like mentors, safety, SIG membership and whatever else might be really useful?
Keep up the good work, Bill.
JR