Ed McCullough AMA VP, District XI
Recently, there has been a flap about the IMAA and its status as an AMA Special Interest Group. The following was written to a specific newsletter editor, in response to something he published. It is followed by another short piece that I supplied in response to a question about "what does the IMAA get by being a SIG?". That question came up because the IMAA, being non-competitive, doesn't seem to fit into the normal SIG pattern.
The first part describes how the IMAA became a SIG and the last gives some reasons for retaining that status. Naturally, not all of you are either Big Bird clubs, nor do you have any interest in the subject. The material is offered for you to use or not; comments would be appreciated.
The IMAA has been a Special Interest Group since the early 1980s. The IMAA officers, Prez. Don Godfrey (IMAA Founder) and other officers in ‘82 or ‘83 came to the AMA HQ in downtown Washington DC and asked to be made a SIG. This was an very unusual request, since SIGs are by their nature composed of those who compete and IMAA didn't compete. What the IMAA realized was that they could have a much better working relation with the AMA, and that they could make things better for their members, if they were a SIG. A major improvement for their members happened early in the relationship, when the aircraft weight limit was increased from 20 to 55 lbs, thus allowing the IMAA members to realize their desire to build large a/c. After time, the officers that made the agreement went out of office and the new group apparently had either no knowledge of or appreciation for what had gone before and, without telling the AMA, made a bylaws change and wrote in the SFA insurance company. That had the effect of allowing some IMAA members to not be AMA members which is in direct violation of the basic rule that all active SIG members must be AMA members. That change was made some years ago, but just came to our attention when someone finally got a copy of the latest bylaws, something we hadn't seen in a long while.
At the EC Feb meeting, two IMAA delegates were there and took the information back to the IMAA board that, in order to be an AMA SIG that all active members had to be AMA members. We were told that the IMAA board had decided to wait until their next meeting to discuss the item. Since they'd had several months to discuss the item and were putting it off even longer, and because of treatment given an AMA VP at their ‘98 winter meeting, it seemed that the IMAA board was no longer interested in the SIG relationship, so they were given a deadline. As it turns out, their board voted to remain a SIG and to require AMA membership of all active members. There was one vote against remaining a SIG, and that was the District XI IMAA board member, A. Henson.
From my own standpoint, when I learned early this year that the bylaws had been changed, I decided to not renew my IMAA membership.
While some benefits are tangible: the space in Model Aviation (which is not cheap); the ability of a SIG to run its own part of the Nationals; some major benefits are less tangible. Every SIG, by virtue of being one, has a greater influence on the actions of the AMA Executive Council, than either individuals or non-affiliated groups. Certainly, the larger issues, such as rule making and rule writing and contest board membership do not relate directly to the IMAA. On the other hand, the very reason the IMAA became a SIG (in the early 1980s) was to be able to lobby effectively for the needs of those who fly large aircraft. That new arrangement led to the raising of the weight limit from 20 to 55 pounds. If you weren't around during that time, you cannot know about the letters and phone calls that came from people who said that it would be the death of the hobby and that we could expect carnage at every gathering of large models. The ability to lobby effectively may still be the most important benefit, both immediate and potential. For example, getting the 56-100 pound area insured was due to the SIG status of IMAA. Any further changes in the weight limit will be influenced by reasoned input from the IMAA.