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- AMA DISTRICT 1 MONTHLY ZOOM MEETINGs
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
AMA DISTRICT I MONTHLY ZOOM MEETINGS
Last Thursday of the month
(Oct- Apr or AS NEEDED)
Welcome to the Zoom meetings where the district VP and AVPs are available to discuss and answer questions from members about the status of FAA Regulations, AMA Club Programs, Remote-ID, FRIA Sites, Altitude Limits, TRUST, Pilot Registration, Membership, Events, R/C Products, Building or Flying, UAS STEAM Education, Community Outreach/Advocacy, or anything about Aeromodelling.
We welcome club/member input in advance of meetings on any subjects of interest members might like to have discussed. On occasion, Guest Speakers will be invited and announced in the invitations.
Invitations to the ZOOM for meetings the last week of the month from 7:30 PM (Other Times AS NEEDED indicated on Zoom invitations)- end of discussions will be emailed to club contacts a week before the meetings and posted on this webpage and the District 1 FB Group along with agenda items and any reference materials. Within a short time after a meeting, a recap/ take aways including: PowerPoint and/or PDF documents, Zoom video recordings of the meetings will be posted on this webpage. We welcome all members and guests to attend the meetings to enhance the discussions. After the meetings we encourage members to share this page link with their clubs to share the meeting content and videos with those who could not attend.
Continue to join us as we try our best to provide you all with accurate and interesting information and news about YOUR hobby in YOUR district and beyond!
* Please scroll down this page for invitations and all previous
meeting "take-aways" and resources including videos of the meetings.
"AS NEEDED" Zoom Meeting- District 1, Dec 2, 2024 AMA Membership Growth and Retention/ ADOT Video Debut On Dec 2, 2024 District 1 held an "as needed" Zoom meeting with District 1 ADOT- AMA District Outreach Team team members, District 1 Leadership (VP, AVPs, LM, Club Officers and AMA Leadership to introduce/ debut D1 ADOT promo video and discuss new AMA Membership Growth and Retention Plan. Guest Presenter: Mark Feist, D3 AVP, Membership and Marketing Committee Guests: AMA President Rich Hansen, AMA Interim ED Tyler Dobbs. Thank you to all who attended. We had a very informative and engaged meeting and came away with many great ideas to continue the collaboration between AMA HQ, the EC Membership and Marketing Committee and our volunteer leaders, ADOT team members, Club Officers and motivated members. Including all these different perspectives only enhances new initiatives serving our ONE COMMUNITY. Please give it a watch and share it with other members.
"AS NEEDED" Zoom meeting- DISTRICT 1- SPRING 2023 MEETING? Meeting Key Takeaways and ACTION Items for EVERY MEMBER interested in preserving and promoting this hobby and AMA. *AWARENESS- What is AMA? Who are VPs, AVPs, LMs, CDs\EMs, Club Officers. What are their roles/ significance? All are key to support the AMA mission and support the membership. Basic review: VP- or DVP- District Vice President, elected for 3 year terms, sit on AMA oversight EC- Executive Counsel with President, Exec VP, Exec Director, CFO and others. AVPs- Appointed by VPs with various skill sets to help represent the 11 AMA Districts, supporting clubs, outreach, promotion and more. LMs- Leader Members- motivated engaged member liaisons between clubs and AVPs and VPs, appointed by VP, can vote on bylaw issues, prerequisite to AVP. CDs/ EMs- Contest Directors/ Event Managers- must be approved after basic test, run events of various types. Great Outreach representatives who engage with many of our members at events. Club Officers- Run the many clubs, “Boots on the ground” and often first or second contact of new members. Members and Club Officers help set the tone for the entire organization and are vital. They need to be informed and connected to their district leadership and communities to be most effective. More info: https://www.modelaircraft.org/about-ama/organization *CONNECTION- Being informed, utilize available resources. In District 1 your best resource and “one stop shop” is our website: We ask and encourage you to bookmark it, share it with other members (in and out of D1), share on your club websites and FB Groups/ Pages. This one source gives direct access to all other district platforms: FB, YouTube, Our Outreach portal, and much much more. Think of it as an AMA/ Aeromodelling library or repository of information and tools. “SHARE” is a Powerful word in Social Media. Share appropriate information BEYOND our community to the general Public (events, club open houses, outreach activities- share on personal feeds, town and school feeds, etc), Share resources on group posts when questions or debates arise. Shift from opinions and arguments to sharing good information. Example: See a bashing post about “what AMA hasn’t done for members”. Respond with the Gov Affairs Blog link: https://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amagov/ Why no outreach activity or ideas about outreach? Share our “Outreach Portal” on our website: https://www.amadistrict-i.org/OUTREACH. Click on hyperlinks. I think you get the idea. *ENGAGEMENT- Actually VOLUNTEER at your club, events, the AMA District 1 OUTREACH Team, Our outreach team is made up of all skillsets in the hobby, we have teamed up with Flight4CF foundation to be at airport open houses, airshows, community and educational STEAM events. We have a sign up genius for our events (10 so far this year) following a successful season in 2023- see recaps on our website “Outreach Portal” link. We are an extension to great clubs and utilize engaged members from many different clubs. We are support not replacements. Clubs are encouraged to join us at events to promote. Try to extend the promotion and outreach “into PUBLIC” beyond the clubs to our communities. https://www.amadistrict-i.org/Outreach-Public-Outreach Take advantage of informational/ promotional tools available. *Note- We are lobbying aggressively from D1 for more marketing “toolkits” at the district levels to help you have better resources to share a consistent message. https://www.amadistrict-i.org/Outreach-Toolkits. *PLEASE READ and share (electronically or printed) the “Tri Fold Handout” along with your club or event information. It is a great resource for existing and new members alike. Our hope is for each member to have one on them on hand or in their phone or field box as a great reference. https://www.amadistrict-i.org/.../AMA%20Tri%20Fold... *SPEAK UP AND BE HEARD! Attend Zoom meetings: https://www.amadistrict-i.org/ZOOM Please participate in and share our current survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YSWB325 *New Outreach Coordinator initiative from HQ to engage “welcome calls” to new AMA members by selected members. Contact us if interested. It’s a scripted (flexible) 3 minute call with district specific follow up info. As always- Comment here with your thoughts and reach out to your district leadership. WE ARE HERE TO HELP MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE BETTER AND HELP PRESERVE AND GROW THE HOBBY AND AMA WITH YOU. Please help us help you! Thank you to the few who attended and fully engaged. No matter how many attend we always have a productive time. We had a good meeting and we always learn from them. We do need more people to attend. Transparent stats! The numbers don’t always tell the results but…This will offer some perspective into our member engagement issues. *Disclaimer for this particular meeting. It was short notice and for that we do apologize. Our schedules have been busy and we wanted to get it in when we could. Invited: Direct FB invitations- 56, E-mail- all club contacts of District 1, plus- some guest VPs, AVPs and members from other districts. Attendees- 13! Clubs represented- about 16. We do build it but they don’t come! Help us find out why? Take the survey please. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YSWB325 Thank you, The District 1 Leadership Team, Your VP and AVPs "As needed" special Zoom meeting- District 1 OUTREACH Host/ Admin: Daren Hudson, D1 AVP- Advocacy, Outreach Join the meeting to discuss the new District Outreach Agenda: >District Outreach Team- What is it? It's purpose and scope. >District Outreach events for 2023- Currently May 6th- Plum Island "Aviation Day" (returning from several years ago), May 20th- Hampton Airfield "Celebration of Flight" (Inaugural!), Aug 5th- Plum Island Newbury Town Day, in conjunction with Plum Island IMAC contest (North end of airport on grass), * tentative Sept 9-10- Pease "Thunder Over NH" Airshow, Meeting Tues May 2 debriefing, Sept 17- Concord Wings and Wheels (8th year!). >Outreach invitations to us! Discuss trending up, the word is getting out but we need committed volunteers to take full advantage. * "Brunswick Wings n Wheels" June 17th Inaugural event, just heard about it this week! * "Joni and Friends Family Camp" June 19, 20 (all over 18), Aug 14,15 (Kids week), 21,22 (all ages)- One day outreach opportunities based on volunteer numbers. >Education Outreach activities- Discuss >Open discussion/ Q&A on Outreach Invitation: Daren Hudson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. January 2023 AMA District 1 Monthly Zoom Meeting Host: D1 VP Andy Argenio, Co- Host/ Admin: D1 AVP Daren Hudson Happy New Year! We hope 2023 is off to a great start for you. We started off our second year of AMA District Monthly Zoom Meetings on Jan 25th at 7:30 with members and guests from districts 1 and 2, representing many clubs and several of our AMA SIGs. We are pleased with the success of this initiative thus far and it appears members are enjoying the meetings while coming away better informed about AMA, their district and the many resources available to them. Your D1 Volunteer Leadership Team The planned agenda included the following. As usual discussions expanded our topics throughout the meeting. Please see the recorded video of the meeting below for all the details.
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December 2022 District 1 Monthly Zoom Meeting
Date/ Time: Dec 28, 2022 07:30 PM Eastern Time
Host: D1 VP Andy Argenio, Co- Hosts: D1 AVP Tom Siwek, D1 AVP Daren Hudson
Happy New Year! We wish all a happy and healthy 2023. Hopefully we’ll meet up at a club or event somewhere.
We held our 7th Monthly District Zoom Meeting on Dec 28th. This closes out the first full official year of our Monthly Zoom meeting initiative. We hope you will agree that they have been productive and allowed us to gather more members and club representation in one spot than ever physically possible in the same time frame. We intend to continue meetings Oct- Apr and as needed while expanding to offer topics of your interest and those brought to you by AVPs, CDs, SIG representatives, Club Officers, Members and other guest speakers. We want your participation in this district community communication process.
Attendance at this meeting was good for being placed in between major holidays. We will always provide a meeting video, resources used and any added information for all to share from this page. Please share it with your fellow members and clubs. Thank you to all who attended.
Special thanks to AVP Tom Siwek for presenting a wonderful power point on Youth/ Aeromodelling Cultivation and Promotion efforts. Also many thanks to our Special guest, AMA Education Director Kyle Jaracz who joined us to discuss the state of AMA Education Programming and plans for 2023. AVP Daren Hudson introduced the new AMA Youth Advisory Board initiative and encouraged clubs and members to provide candidates 12-18 for this exciting new program. A large amount of valuable information and resources were presented this month, it is all available below.
Thank you from your District 1 Volunteer leadership team.
TAKEAWAYS:
1. Youth Membership Cultivation/ Promotion- AVP Tom Siwek
"Youth" does not only mean youth. Consider this presentation a checklist for attracting ALL ages to AMA and Aeromodelling. PLEASE share with your clubs!
2. State of AMA Education Department- AMA Ed. Dir. Kyle Jaracz
AMA has dozens of fantastic programs geared for K- Collegiate student activity. Check them out and PLEASE share with your clubs, fellow members, educators in your local communities and any organizations interested in a productive, effective, safe, and fun activity for learning and recreation.
*See program direct links below.
3. Youth Advisory Board initiative- Introduction from AVP Daren Hudson
"Youth leading and teaching youth." Let's help the youth help us attract them to the many benefits of membership in AMA and our club COMMUNITY!
4. OPEN FORUM FOR Q&A AND DISCUSSIONS
Many great discussions in this meeting video. Use the "chapters" function in the video "Description" section to navigate around the meeting. One wonderful takeaway brought up by AVP John Yassemedis during these discussions after one of our participants offered a fantastic TESTIMONIAL at 25:28 in the meeting video from Denise, a D1 member's wife, as she describes what modelling has done for her son. We thank her for sharing the inspiring story. John suggested that we try to collect testimonials (forward written or video testimonials to your District leaders; VP and AVPs) so we can showcase them in our multi media resources. Identified or anonymous to honor personal feelings and privacy but to share the inspiration.
*Standing takeaway- Please share what you do as members and clubs in our district community. Cross sharing on our district multi media resources: D1 FB Group, Website, YouTube channel and your personal social media feeds allows a greater audience to see your good works through aeromodelling. Your Passion Your Hobby ONE COMMUNITY. The more we share, the better informed our hobby and general public communities become and the stronger we get to face the many challenges ahead. Thank you for all you do for the hobby and AMA. Fly Often, Fly safe, Have Fun. Here’s to an exciting 2023!
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AVP Tom Siwek presents- Attracting Youth to Model Aviation Click on photo for pdf presentation |
AMA Ed. Dir. Kyle Jaracz presents- AMA Education Programs Click on photo for pdf presentation |
November 2022 District 1 Monthly Zoom Meeting
Andrew Argenio, D1 VP, and Daren Hudson, D1 AVP Hosted the scheduled November 2022 Zoom meeting Wednesday, November 30th, 7:30 PM (ET). We welcomed 36 members and guests including: AVPs, Club Officers, Leader Members, CDs and EMs and visitors from other districts representing at least 15 clubs. We welcomed several first time attendees and enjoyed a productive meeting with informative discussions and engagement from the group. See the agenda, the resource documents and the video of the meeting *Introducing "Chapters" on the YouTube video to jump to your preferred topic. See "Description" in the video for time links or hover your cursor over the video timeline and click "Chapters" to bring up a chapter list.
Thank
you to all who attended. Please share these resources with your
clubs. As always, if you have ANY questions concerning AMA, District 1
and aeromodeling do not hesitate to reach out to your district volunteer
leadership.
TAKEAWAYS: Please share with your club officers and fellow members.
1. AMA Receives First US FAA CBO AUTHORIZATION- Very optimistic news to celebrate with important benefits:
*Formally Codifies AMA Roles *AMA Safety programming is the Gold Standard * CBO Status Validates, gives Credibility to Safety Programming among Stakeholders and Regulators * AMA gets Formal seat at the table when FAA addresses recreational operations *Opens the door for advocacy efforts, securing altitudes, and creates pathways for FRIAs and *Help members fly as they always have with the same equipment they already use at FRIA sites.
2. AMA Club Preparation for FAA FRIA.
a) Identifying the Primary Point of Contact (PPOC) club person: Clubs will determine the best person for the PPOC position: Reliable, Tenured, Reachable (email/ phone), pluses- FAA interaction background, club officer, AVP, LM, CD.
*Contact/PPOC email suggested best practice - supply an email address that can also be directed to club officers for redundancy of communications. Servers such as Google Gmail, Dual Rates, and others can provide this functionality.
b) Completing the Initial AMA FRIA Questionnaire/Survey - This is an initial data collection in preparation for a formal FAA FRIA Application Process which will be administered only through AMA HQ on behalf of chartered clubs. Expect communication between PPOC and AMA as the process develops.
*Note: Members/Clubs are not recognized CBOs and therefore will not deal directly with FAA in the application process.
c) Identifying Flying sites on AMA Questionnaire/survey- Recommended to use “polygon” (via Google Maps) vs radius method (see “FRIA Location” document on “AMA D1 Zoom page of D1 website- below)
Best Practice- We are trying to depict not only the location of our flying sites but the ACTUAL space occupied and airspace used with consideration for any future use (don’t cut your club short with space). According to the AMA Safety Programming we do not fly over occupied buildings, groups of people, pit areas, or behind our designated flight/ safety lines. Depicting this with a polygon is much more accurate than a simple circle which is not how we operate, generally (few exceptions).
d) Temporary sites utilized for annual or infrequent events should have a process for temporay FRIA status. Examples - Sanctioned AMA Float Fly events at a pond or lake, or Airport outreach events at temporary sites? These will still need to be considered for tempoary events and their flight operations not to require remote-ID. Now that AMA has Authorized CBO status and a “seat at the table” these discussions/requests can take place on a much more productive level. This subject is top of mind for District 1 leadership and AMA HQ. “Incremental Implementation Process.” Stay tuned as this develops.
e) Issues for clubs with multiple sites chartered under one location. Example - AMA club sites on large sod farms where the site flight box and boudaries are moved considerable distances as farming of the sod is removed and grass replanted. We are waiting to determine if AMA club site boundaries can be enlarged to encompass mutiple sites within an entire farm/location or if boundaries for each active site can be updated online without having considerable FAA delays to get approved by having FAA pre-approved the entire farm site area locations for flight operations.
3. Return of
the D1 Sponsored Annual Events – “2023 District Fun-Fly
& Airshow Event”- Initial stages are underway to determine a site location and dates. We are currently considering
Gardner Airport, Gardner, MA where many different district events have been held over
the years as well as other locations offering similar amenities. A district committee has been formed and will be providing progress reports.
4. District 1 Outreach Team. Discuss FB Group and increasing interest. Please contact Daren Hudson or Andy Argenio if interested. Formed a Private FB Group in Oct to gather interested members and discuss how best to proceed. For examples of the vision see the 2022 Concord Wings & Wheels event posting recap and these “Reels” at the D1 FB Group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/amadistrict1/permalink/5460532820698280/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/amadistrict1/reels
5. Takeaways from Safety Risk Management Panels (SRMP) on club flying sites. Contact Daren Hudson or Andy Argenio if you want any further info on the SRMPs.
6. AMA Documents/Website Resources- Access, Updates- review, demo (shared screen)- Here is the Pitch! - PLEASE CHECK OUT AND BOOKMARK THE DISTRICT 1 WEBSITE AND THE DISTRICT 1 FB GROUP-
https://www.facebook.com/groups/amadistrict1
Please refer to the document links and video of the meeting below for more in depth information. Thank you.
We always encourage members to contact us in advance of scheduled meetings
(last Wed of the month Sep- Apr) for requesting agenda topics, guest speakers you would like to hear from or any other questions, comments, feedback about the District Monthly Zoom Meeting series.
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AMA Govt Affairs FRIA Process Tutorial-
*Note this link requires log in at the AMA website.
October 2022 District 1 Monthly Zoom Meeting
Wed. October 26th
Andrew Argenio, D 1 VP and Daren Hudson, D1 AVP hosted the scheduled Monthly Zoom meeting on Wed. Oct 26, 2022, 7:30 pm-9:00pm.
Approx. 27 members representing 10 or more district clubs attended this month's zoom meeting, resuming the successful new communication initiative, bringing clubs and members together with district officers and guests to discuss all things aeromodelling and AMA. Participants included: members, club officers, district officers (AVPs: Tom Siwek, Joel Rosenzweig, John Yassemedis, and Daren Hudson) and our guest, District 2 VP, Eric Williams.
District 1 VP Andy Argenio reviewed the recently released FAA Advisory Circulars, 91-57 C and 89-3, both linked below along with AMA’s Q & A sheet, and Andy’s short summary. The AMA HQ Round table video is available on the website home page and at your District 1 FB Group. Participant questions were answered and discussed. Daren Hudson led a short discussion/ recap of District Outreach activities and initiatives. Members shared club activities including community and educational outreach. The meeting lasted approximately 90 minutes .
Next Meeting- last Wed of the month: November 30 at 7:30pm. Look for invitation on this page.
Agenda:
7:30pm- end of discussions
>State of AMA- AC 91-57C, AC 89-3, CBO, FRIA, Remote ID implementation status
>District 1 2022 season activity recap- events, outreach, District 1 Outreach Team!
>Open discussion
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AMA APRIL 2022 DISTRICT 1 Monthly ZOOM MEETING This month we want to give you some timely and useful information to help make your events successful and operate smoothly! RSVP with your name/club to let us know if you are likely to attend. *Calling all CDs, EMs, those interested in becoming CDs or EMs and anyone planning to hold or attend an aeromodelling event this season. AGENDA: Andy Argenio, District VP - Intro and short Quarterly (April) AMA Executive Council meeting recap/Hot Topics. Daren Hudson, District AVP- AMA “Contest/ Event Package” (Form 10) - You know, that thing you sign at registration of an event before you hand over your money! We’ll look at some details in the document. Daren Hudson, District 1 AVP- “Aeromodelling Promotion”- Resources and techniques to get the most of your promotion to maximize your chances for success. Round Table - As always, if time permits, we will discuss any other concerns or questions.
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DIVERSITY & INCLUSION WOMEN IN AVIATION BOOKLET | TWO AMA DISTRICT COLUMNS DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
| ALL ABOUT AMA ONE PAGE HANDOUT | FREQUENT ASK QUESTIONS BY AMA MEMBERS RULES - FRIA - ALTITUDES |
March 2022 Zoom Meeting Zoom attendance averaged 50 members representing 15 of the district's larger clubs. AVP Daren Hudson did an informative PowerPoint presentation on the utilization of outreach, communication, and multimedia for connecting and sharing information between clubs, members, hobbyists, the community, the public, and the AMA to better preserve, protect, and promote aeromodelling. An Outreach YouTube video was recorded during the meeting.
The District VP, Andy Argenio, did a PowerPoint presentation on AMA’s 2022 Program of Work (POW) which highlighted the quarterly program goals to provide new and improved benefits and services for clubs, members, flying, and flying sites. View the POW summary in a Powerpoint or PDF. |
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February 2022 Zoom Meeting Guest Speaker, Tyler Dobbs AMA Gov. Affairs Dir. Zoom attendance at max was 53 members from 16 district 1 clubs. Tyler did a great job in updating all of us on the status of government affairs and regulations with respect to AMA CBO recognition, TRUST benefits, Club’s FRIA application process, Safety Risk Management panels for controlled airspace operations, FAA 9157C's impact on AMA, what FAA processes may be expected for club site altitudes in Class G airspace, getting temporary altitudes above LOAs for special events, and Remote-ID expectations. |
January 2022 Zoom Meeting Summary & Report Zoom attendance exceeded expectations with 47 officers from district 1 clubs participating in the 90 minutes of discussion. The agenda items to kickoff off this first meeting covered a very broad area outlined in FAQs that the district VP and AVPs frequently get asked by members.
Topics covered included flying site altitude limit determinations and enforcement in controlled and uncontrolled airspace. Member TRUST and Registration requirements and enforcement considerations as well as a brief status report of AMA’s CBO and club FRIA applications and Remote-ID modules.
key items were highlighted in the “2021 AMA Annual Report” and the 2021 Government Affairs Report that included membership growth, advocacy, AMA’s Safety Handbook, FAA, and club Safety Risk Mgt. Panels, and the use of the UASidekick APP.
To read the rest of the report with specific questions, details and answers click the report image ------------------> |
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Click on the above January Zoom Reference PDF report documents to enlarge, open, and read or download. |
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