I've been following this saga since the first post and out of all I've read there is one thing that really bothers me.

Does anyone remember the last time Dave had something to say to the membership about turbines? It was a little rant in Model Aviation about the night flight at Superman a few years ago. Dave has open access to the magazine and there is no requirement for equal time for our side. I see this as a major problem. I travel a lot for business and have flown with several different clubs over the past few years. I've got to tell you, most modelers haven't even seen a turbine close up, let alone know anything about them. So what's gonna happen when Dave publishes his latest rant and all the people who think you must be nuts for spending 3 grand on a model airplane engine start calling their Dist VPs?? Or what do you think is gonna happen when the club grump decides to start making noise??? You know the guy I'm talking about, he's the one who brings a Telemaster or similar plane to the field, but never flies and thinks a snap roll is an extreme aerobatic maneuver and is to dangerous for any modeler to even attempt.

In another thread there was a pitch for JPO membership to help get the numbers up and to show that they represent the majority of jet modelers. While it would be great for everyone to be a member, let's face it guys, even if everyone who has a waiver, wants to get a waiver, or even has a ducted fan in the hanger would join, we (jet modelers) would still be in a very scarce minority.

I know there a people out there that are a lot better at dealing with situations like this than I am and I would like to know what others think. If this gets going I don't think posting to RCU and a few calls and e-mails are gonna make much of an impact.

Dave may not feel the need to do what you describe since the rules change is a nonstarter now - maybe that's more hope on my part than anything else. He apparently wasn't happy with the package anyway and the decision to stand down any implementation pending further investigation might cool his jets (no pun intended). The issue for Mr. Brown seems to be the speed thing. But the make-up of the cmte advising Don Lowe and the safety cmte is top-notch and should work in our favor over the long haul. Now that they know what they have to deal with, in terms of specific issue(s) at the AMA leadership level, I think they can refocus their attention on some tweaks that will withstand Dave's wirebrush.

Aside from that, factual input to our District VPs is always helpful. Unfortunately we cannot overcome biases and opinions based on few facts or erroneous data. To combat that, we need to operate with our continued ongoing vigilence of the safety considerations we know from experience are important and self-police ourselves as best we can. It's hard to argue with the excellent overall safety record we've demonstrated to date - we must be doing *something* right.

Mike

Excellent post Mike!
Because I am lazy and tired of typing I will simply quote myself from another thread.