- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
Present: Mike Karnes, Doug Pilcher, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Toby Silhavy, Primo Rivera, Alex Dreiling, Brad Davy, Rich Whitlow, Manrico Mincuzzi, Clark Hymas
Absent: Jorge Guzman and Michael Hobson
Guest: Adi Kochav
Meeting began: 9:03 p.m. EST
International Liason – Mike Karnes
When we split the international region into 3 different regions, we eliminated the liaison position to the BOD. Mike wants the BOD to reinstate the international liaison back to the BOD. The expectations are that Adi will continue in this position, but as a non-voting member of the BOD. A motion was made to appoint Adi Kochav as International Liaison as a non-voting member of the BOD by Brad Davy and seconded by Doug Pilcher. Motion passed unanimously.
Update: AAMA Announces LAANC – Doug Pilcher
AMA held a meeting with Doug, and not much more has happened. Immediately after the meeting, Doug emailed Chad and thanked him for getting the ball rolling. Doug is not going to let up until we have an open-forum meeting with the all the SIGs Leadership. He wanted Tyler Dobbs and the DC group included to have an open discussion. This is AMA’s intent after the holiday season.
Brad was encouraged that the AMA is one of 12 groups that is to be a part of the testing for the new flight standard. AMA is moving forward. AMA has put out a notice with a podcast explaining LAANC. There is an app for the smart phones that goes by your GPS and gives you top altitude that you can fly where you are at. They expect you to go to your field and launch the app and get your altitude restrictions. This definitely affects IMAC, jets, soaring, and pattern.
Establish a Committee for IMAC Affiliation Fees – Mike Karnes
Manrico is asking for mass registration discount again for the International regions. When Adi first discussed this idea with the BOD, Mike said not to use the “mass registration”, instead this is a discount for first-time IMAC members. The BOD has said that we didn’t have a problem with a reduced membership for first-time members. At the initial registration, you would receive the discount, but at renewal, the member would be paying established registration rate. Adi requested that all regions be treated the same across the organization.
The BOD is trying to get the International regions’ members the same benefits that the domestic regions’ members receive: RPS, regional monies, etc. If the International regions are looking at a $20 membership fee, there are things that the IMAC organization will not be able to give these regions.
Manrico believes that it is very important that we make sure that we get the maximum number of pilots registered. He believes this provides coverage of the region and the measurement of the true existence of the region. There are already hundreds of pilots in the regions. Some have several competitions a year, where some have very few. Manrico’s plans for Europe is to get as many or all the pilots registered. The question is how do we get them registered. There are many reasons that several have not registered; one of the biggest reasons is the cost of the membership.
Manrico wants the mass registration. If we move the responsibility to get the pilots registered through the country director, we can have the hope that the country director can get them registered. Manrico believes that the pilots shouldn’t have to pay for their membership dues. He believes that if you participate in the contests at a certain price, such as $30-40 Euros, they should receive the IMAC membership just because they participated. The cost of the membership would be in the cost of the contest. Since they are participating in the contest, they would receive the membership.
Brad questioned taking a portion of the contest entry fee at each contest and applying it to an IMAC membership. If the pilot makes one contest per year, it is not applicable. Brad asked where the proceeds of the contests go. The proceeds go to the local national organizations. Some of them are stand-alone organizations. The Country Director could create a local non-profit organization according to the rules and they would manage their own budgets.
Manrico asked how the US uses the proceeds from the contests. The local clubs host an IMAC contests. The club establishes the entry fees and keeps the proceeds from the contest. Each club establish their own budget for the contest. IMAC does not receive any monies from the contests. IMAC only receives the membership dues. A pilot is supposed to receive a $20 discount at the contest due to being an IMAC member.
Discussion Update – Amendments to By-Laws – Brad Davy
There are 2 proposed amendments to the By-Laws in the “Members Only” forum since October 29. There has only been one comment on the membership eligibility. No comments on the affiliation amendment. Brad recommends opening up to voting on January 1, 2020. The vote must be open for 14 days. Then, there is a 60-day period after the vote before the amendment goes into effect.
Doug will get the online polls posted effective January 1, 2020. The available answers for the polls will be yes, no, or abstain.
Nats 2020 Update and Budget – Rich Whitlow
For the 2020 Nats, there will be multiple rounds of freestyle. Rich is working on getting sponsorships and dedicated judges for the Nats. He has a budget together, put wants to wait and see if he gets results from sponsors. Rich has tried to incorporate all the suggestions for 2020.
Primo said that he would help with dedicated judges. Rich has a few names of other people that he is going to contact about being a dedicated judge.
2020 Budget – Phil Vance
Phil presented the 2020 Operating Budget to the BOD. Regional judging schools are separate from the budgets, because many of them are self-supporting. Each region was budgeted $1,250 for the year, which some regions did not use all the allocated budget.
A revised budget will be posted in the BOD forum to be voted on by the BOD.
Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance
At the end of November, the balance in the General Operating account was:
Checking $ 8,199.85
PayPal $22,600.54
Total $30,800.39
As of tonight, December 16th, the balance in the General Operating Account is:
Checking $ 7,957.87
PayPal $23,753.02
Total $31,710.89
All Regional Issues – All RDs
The SE region had a great year. Primo reported that there are already contests on the schedule for next year. He is working on dates for the judging schools.
Nothing to report in the NE region.
Toby has the NC region contest schedule 2/3 completed. He hopes to be done within the next few weeks. They are working on the judging school for next year. There are plans to have a big presence at the Toledo Show.
Alex reported that he SW region has their first contest in three weeks. He informed the BOD that there are 3 fields that are closing in his region.
The SC region has their contest list completed. Several CDs already have their contest on the website. There will be a judging school and skills clinic in Shreveport. They have an aerobatic fun day scheduled in Kansas.
Clark reported that the NW region has several contests on the calendar. CDs are making flyers to go with them. Clark will not be approving their contests until they have a flyer.
Manrico has been busy organizing IMAC Europe region. They are struggling to create the budget for the 4th runway. They currently have 150 pilots registered. Everything is going well. They are in the middle of organizing the first addition of the Euro Cup.
Meeting adjourned 11:12 p.m. EST.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
Present: Mike Karnes, Doug Pilcher, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Rich Whitlow, Michael Hobson, Toby Silhavy, Brad Davy, and Alex Dreiling
Absent: Clark Hymas, Primo Rivera, Manrico Mincuzzi, and Jorge Guzman
Meeting began at 9:07 p.m. EST.
Update AMA Hard 400ft Response to Members – Doug Pilcher
Doug received an email from Chad with AMA on Wednesday. They had a meeting along with a couple of other representatives from AMA. AMA wants to host a meeting with representatives from all the SIGs.
AMA has not said anything definite on this matter.
We received positive feedback on the IMAC response from the BOD.
Update on Amendments to By-Laws – Brad Davy
There has been zero traffic on the forums on the amendments to the By-Laws. Brad believes that this is due to the timing of switching to the new forums. Brad would like to have 50-60% registered in the new forums before the amendments are put to a vote. This would avoid bias on sliding the amendments through while switching forums.
Brad has considered sending an email blast on the discussion for the amendments to the By-Laws, along with reminding the members to login to the new forum site. Doug can draft up a proposal for this email blast.
Brad recommends tabling the vote on the amendments and we can discuss this matter at the next BOD meeting, based on the participation on the forums. This would still allow us to get the changes in place for early 2020.
Review of 2020 Forms – Mike Karnes
Mike has sent an email to the BOD members about looking at all the forms and to see if there are any revisions that need made. Any changes that need to be made must be completed by December 31, 2019.
The Senior Points Series hasn’t changed since 2015. The BOD agrees that no changes are needed for this form.'
The Contest Checklist was redone last year by Doug. Doug has updated all the embedded links to AMA website to correspond with their new website. The BOD agrees that no changes are needed for this form.
The Contest Standards had been revised by Doug last year. This is specific to the US. Michael believes that it is followed closely by the International Regions. Brad says there is a question on the sanctioning process, due to many countries do not have the same sanctioning process.
Establishing Freestyle RPS and Basic to NATs – Toby Silhavy
Toby would like to add Freestyle back to the IRPS. Toby has made revisions to the Freestyle form. He would also like to see Freestyle included for points from the NATs. Brad disagrees due to the Basic class does not compete at NATs. Freestyle can be flown by all classes. Brad pointed out that if you can fly Freestyle that you shouldn’t be flying the Basic class. Michael said that with their competitions the Basic class is included. They have never allowed the Basic class to fly Freestyle.
Toby also would like to see the Basic class be added to the NATs. If Basic pilots want to fly at NATs, they must compete in the Sportsman class. Toby believes that adding the Basic class would allow the Freestyle be calculated with IRPS and would increase participation. We would be the only aerobatic SIG that lets the Basic class fly. The CD has the authority to not allow a pilot to fly Freestyle, if they are not capable. This would require a rules change.
Mike has heard from some Unlimited pilots that they don’t feel like it is safe to be flying with the Basic pilots at the same time. Many years there are several Unlimited pilots and they have to fly with whoever is in the air. The BOD feels that this is a discussion that needs to be discussed with members in the forums.
In order the RPS points to count, the contest must be open to all classes. If we want RPS for Freestyle to count, that means we need to open up the NATs to Basic. We could potentially lose some pilots if the Basic class is included at NATs. Michael asked if this issue could be resolved by revising the flight schedule for each day. Rich believes that Freestyle could increase participation at the NATs and he believes including them in IRPS would help. Rich will open a discussion in the forums regarding this matter.
A recommendation was made to change the flight schedule. The Basic class would have all their flights first thing in the morning, potentially done around 9:30-10:00 a.m. Then, throughout the day, they can help with judging classes, if they are comfortable, and being scribes.
Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance
The balance at the end of October in the General Operating account was:
Checking $ 8,710.37
PayPal $21,572.82
Total $30,283.19
The balance as of tonight in the General Operating account is:
Checking $ 8,563.85
PayPal $22,138.06
Total $30,701.91
Regional Issues – All RDs
The NE region has their 2019 season wrapped up.
The NC region is working on their 2020 contests. Toby reported that they are preparing for the Toledo Show. They will be selling swag store items; and could possibly have simulators with IMAC-style planes setup to fly. The Toledo Show is the first weekend in April, April 3-5, 2020.
The SC region just wrapped up their regional contests two weeks ago. Rich said that they have a full schedule next year; they might have to double on their scheduling of weekends. They currently have 22 contests for 2020. They are scheduling a “Skills Clinic” and 2 aerobatic fun days. Rich doesn’t have their judging school scheduled as of yet.
The SW finished up their 2019 season last weekend. They have events starting the second week of January.
The Asia-Pacific region is 10 days out from their biggest IMAC competition. Michael says they currently have 65-66 pilots registered for the Asia-Pacific Regional Championship. He believes they would have 30 contests in Australia next year.
The newsletter will be released for members on December 1.
The 2020 budget will be discussed at the December BOD meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 10:27 p.m. EST.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
Present: Mike Karnes, Doug Pilcher, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Toby Silhavy, Primo Rivera, Alex Dreiling, Brad Davy, Rich Whitlow, Manrico Mincuzzi, Clark Hymas, Michael Hobson
Absent: Jorge Guzman
Guest: Adi Kochav
Meeting began: 9:01 p.m. EST.
AMA Hard 400 ft. Response to Members – Doug Pilcher
Our membership has been asking in the forums and texts to BOD members about our response to the 400 ft. ceiling. Doug has been trying to get a stance from AMA on the immediate future. Doug has posted everything that he knows in the new forums to keep BOD up to date. AMA hasn’t made a statement regarding this matter. We are not the only SIG being affected.
Mike is afraid the clubs that host IMAC events are going to panic. As of right now, we proceed with how we have always done things. AMA won’t stop sanctioning events. In controlled airspace, it may be a little tighter as far as altitude.
The question was raised if we should be proactive in our sequence planning now. AMA is looking at a 1200 ft. maximum, unless AMA gets a deal done. Rich is confident that we could fly in 1500-1600 ft. ceiling, but we don’t want a maximum ceiling established. Toby is concerned with how AMA is handling this issue with the 400ft ceiling. He is afraid that we will lose some contests due to this. Australia accepts that they can’t go over a 1,000 ft.
We need to get the FAA to reconsider the provision that they are required to put in place a waiver for fixed flying sites.
Rich recommends that we make a general statement to our membership. This statement should state that we continue as we have been, and that the BOD has been in close contact with AMA. We could also state that IMAC has been talking with the AMA, senators, etc. Mike agrees with Rich; that as of right now, we sanction as before, fly as before, and keep our footprint as low as possible. Each event needs to make sure that the safety protocols are in place.
Rich will write the first draft of IMAC’s statement, and Brad and Doug will review the draft. Once it is edited, Rich will email it to the BOD.
Amendments to the By-Laws Sec. 1 Eligibility – Brad Davy
There hasn’t been a lot of response to the proposed amendments, but the responses we have received have been positive. Brad is needing a second motion on the amendments. Mike has presented the amendments in the forums.
One the first amendment that membership is open to any person, Brad Davy makes the motion and Rich Whitlow seconded it. Motion passed unanimously.
The second amendment is on the Affiliation Standards, which is more complex. A new section, Section 5, was added. It states that the BOD may establish standards for non-affiliate countries that wish to maintain their independent organizations, but conduct IMAC contests using IMAC contest standards.
Michael questioned the second amendment and wondered if we should tighten up the verbiage of the amendment. This amendment is to establish affiliation membership, while the countries still run under their respective organizations. With the affiliation membership, it will allow them to host an IMAC contest and receive IMAC unknowns. Some of the standards might include that a non-affiliate country must have a percentage of IMAC pilots, and they can pay a specific amount on an annual basis for their pilots to be members.
A motion was made to accept the amendment by Brad Davy and seconded by Rich Whitlow. Motion passed unanimously.
These amendments will be proposed to the membership as an official By-Law change for discussion for 30 days. After the 30 days, a vote will be held on the proposed amendments.
Moving of Forums from the Old Website – Doug Pilcher
The BOD had voted to pay for a year membership on the new forum. Through all the beta testing, the new forums are ready to go. Every current member will have to register with the new forum. The committees are setup and ready to go. The email notifications are sent as soon as a message is left in the forums and seem to be very reliable. As of right now, we have 669 registered users on the IMAC site. Of those, at last count, 93 users/members have joined the new forums.
It was asked if the information from the prior forums will be archived where they can be accessible on the new forum site. As of right now, the plan is to have the current forums still in read write status. Then they will eventually be changed to read-only state on the website. The forums cannot be imported to the new forum site. Doug suggested that we as BOD move the important items in a “copy paste” to new forums. Both within the BOD forums and region forums as necessary.
The old forums will still be in a read write status for at least another month before they become static or “read-only.”
A question was asked if we have rules that will be enforced with the new forums, which include actual names, etc. Every member needs to add their name, not an alias.
There is a concern about how our International members will benefit with the forums, due to the language barriers. In Europe alone, there are 25 different languages. Manrico informed the BOD that many people in Europe do not speak English. Adi asked if we could put translation on the forums. Google has an add-on that will translate any page. Doug will investigate if other languages can be incorporated into the new forums. Currently, they support Deutsch, French, Spanish, and English.
The entire BOD needs to be involved in getting the word out that the new forums are live. We can notify everyone through regions’ Facebook pages and mass email from the IMAC website. We also need to let the membership know that they will need to create new logins.
One of Doug’s biggest concerns is protecting the current website until the transition in 2021.
Doug will draft a letter to the membership and will address this letter from the BOD. Doug has a summary of the other providers and costs associated with each in his research for new forum site and can be made available to members upon request.
A motion was made for the BOD to formally move their discussions over to the new forum by Brad Davy and seconded by Toby Silhavy. Motion passed unanimously.
European 2020 Rules for BOD Review – Manrico Mincuzzi
Manrico has been working with Doug on the European 2020 contest standards. The current problems is how to make the number of known and unknown flight compliant with the IMAC contest standards. With several drafts and re-writes, the European Rules were made compliant with our IMAC Standards in place. The Knowns to Unknowns being flown has been changed to follow IMAC Standards. The new rules will be re-distributed to all forums and websites it was previously released to as a “Release #2.”
Manrico stated that this isn’t a normal IMAC contest. This is a one-week event. There will be several judges. There is going to be 120-140 pilots form 25 different countries. This event will take place every 4 years. The Basic class will not be offered. The spirit of the competition is to be tough and competitive.
Michael said that if we move away form the IMAC Contest Standard Guide, it should be the decision of the BOD.
Brad suggested to change “flights” to “sequences,” to compare to the contest standard guide. Since the International regions will have RPS, Brad wondered if any of their points from the Europeans will count towards their RPS.
Manrico believes that one way to relaunch IMAC is to make it very difficult, which cannot be implemented at the local level.
Review of Contest Standards – Doug Pilcher
The BOD needs to review the Contest Standards and need to suggest any changes to be made before the first of the year.
Next year, all nine regions are going to RPS. Before a contest is approved and posted to the website, it must meet the Contest Standards. This includes contest information, flyers, etc. to be posted with the contest on the region pages. All contests and points must be posted to the website. We are in the process of working on a fix to include the International regions’ scores to be able to post on the website.
Freestyle as Separate RPS – Toby Silhavy
In the past, IMAC events gave RPS to Freestyle. Freestyle used to bring out a bunch of kids that were into Freestyle and brought competitors to fly in the IMAC classes. Freestyle enticed pilots to come out and fly, along with spectators to watch.
Toby suggests that we bring Freestyle back to the RPS series. The pilots he has spoken with is excited to have this possibility brought back. Doug suggested that this conversation has been discussed in the past and the BOD agreed. We couldn’t get it programmed and couldn’t make it part of the website. No one disagreed amount the BOD with the RPS race however.
Mike said that we will include this with the spreadsheet we are writing for RPS. A suggestion was made to change the RPS Guideline to include that if you fly Freestyle at an event, you must also fly in an IMAC class. Toby will draft a proposal and post it to the BOD forum for review.
Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance
The balance in the General Operating account as of the end of September:
Checking $12,734.35
PayPal $20,262.13
Total $32,996.48
The balance in the General Operating account as of October 21, 2019:
Checking $10,827.37
PayPal $21,322.91
Total $32,150.28
Phil will be sending the Executive BOD the financials on the 2019 NATs. Rich would like a copy of the financials to prepare a budget for the 2020 NATs.
Phil asked if he will be receiving invoices for the regional championships being held in the regions. Mike said that each RD should be submitting invoices for payment.
Regional Issues – All RDs
The NE region has finished their season and is getting ready for next year.
The SE region just finished the regular season in Tennessee. Primo is getting ready for the regionals. He just finalized points and getting the plaques ordered.
The NC region finished its season last month. Within the next week, Toby plans to have the 2020 schedule ready.
The SC region is in the middle of their triple crown. Shreveport and Regional finals are the last contest for their season. Rich has ordered trophies.
The SW region has their regional finals in three weeks. Alex says there plans to be a pretty big turnout.
The NW region has their season wrapped up. There has been request for a contest in the Vancouver area. The judging school will be in the spring.
The Asia-Pacific region will be hosting their regional championship in 5 weeks. There are currently 60-70 pilots registered. Michael is working on his ARDs. Michael believes his organization will join IMAC through the affiliation membership.
The European region is completely going IMAC. Germany has dropped the EAC tournament and it will become the IMAC Euro Cup. This event will happen each year. It will be made out of 7-8 competitions held throughout different countries. Locally, for each country that is large enough to host from 3-6 events, are creating their own championships. The countries in his region are in different stages of growth. Manrico wishes that he could have registered everyone with IMAC all at once, but some of them have done mass registration.
Italy will be hosting a 2-day pilots/judging school. They would like to get some help from the United States to help with this school.
Jorge is also wanting to have a judging school held in Mexico.
Adi, our International Liaison to the BOD, thanked Manrico and Michael for all their efforts in the European region. Manrico says that Adi’s liaison role is very important to the International regions and that this role should continue with the BOD.
Rich will be sending out emails on the last newsletter for 2019. The articles must be submitted by the end of November.
Meeting adjourned 11:16 pm. EST.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
Present: Mike Karnes, Doug Pilcher, Samantha McKinney, Phil Vance, Toby Silhavy, Adi Kochav, Primo Rivera, Alex Dreiling, Rich Whitlow, and Brad Davy
Absent: Clark Hymas
Meeting began at 9:01 p.m. EST.
Amendments to the By-Laws – Brad Davy
Brad informed the BOD that we didn’t get a lot of replies on the forums on the amendments to the By-Laws, but the ones we did receive were positive. Brad is going to take a second look to make sure that the specific wording is included that needs to be changed. He believes that it is straight forward.
There are a few members that are concerned about the BOD having the authority to establish the affiliate membership, costs, standards, etc.
Brad will finalize the amendment after taking a second look and post into the BOD forum. He will post a motion with the specific wording. These amendments will be in 2 separate By-Law changes. There will need to be a 2/3 vote from the BOD.
International Split and the Website – Doug Pilcher
Brad and Doug has been working on the email blast that will be sent to the membership to announce the security and maintenance issues with the forums. We are currently exploring new forum software. While doing this, we need to ask the membership what issues we have with the current forums and what we can do to improve them. The email blast will also refer to the possibility of a new website. Doug has sent Brad a draft of this email to review.
Doug would like to send the email blast within the next few days, due to several members of the BOD referring to this in our newsletter articles. The newsletter is complete and ready for release to the membership. Toby suggested that we include what improvements we are going to have, such as, uploading pictures, links to You Tube videos, etc.
On the website, Adi suggested that we revise the region pages, the three new regions need to be listed separate, instead of under International.
Board Selection of International RD’s – Adi Kochav
Adi presented his choices for the new RDs to the BOD: Asia-Pacific – Michael Hobson from Australia; Latin-America – Jorge Guzman from Mexico; and Europe – Manrico Mincuzzi. Adi has spoken with these individuals and they are ready to fill the position.
The motion was made to accept Michael Hobson, Jorge Guzman, and Manrico Mincuzzi to fill these positions by Adi Kochav and seconded by Rich Whitlow. Motion passed unanimously. The positions are to take effect immediately.
Brad wondered the issues with the website will interfere with the elections for the International regions. The nominated individuals need to have their membership verified. We have 60 days to hold the election, if the regions make nominations.
With the 3 new international regions, this removes Adi from the International region RD. Mike appointed Adi Kochav as his International Liasion to the BOD effective immediately.
Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance
At the end of August, the balance in the General Operating account is as follows:
Checking $13,327.14
PayPal $19,248.65
Total $32,575.79
As of tonight, the balance in the General Operating account is as follows:
Checking $13,085.02
PayPal $19,710.53
Total $32,795.55
The banner that was shipped to Rich for the Clover Creek Invitational was lost in the mail and Mike will be filing a claim.
We have received our monies from the NATs in the amount of $995. We received $1,150 but subtracted the amount for the team shirts.
Phil will finished the financials for the NATs now that we received the check.
Phil will send the region reports to the RDs.
Regional Issues – All RDs
Alex reported that the SW region has a contest in Vegas this coming weekend. The Tucson Shootout is in October and the regional finals are in the middle of November. They have already signed up several contests in 2020.
The NC region just had their regional finals last weekend. Toby reported that they went well and was greatly supported. Toby took over the contest about three weeks before it was to be held, so he didn’t have a lot of preparation time. Currently, all the CDs are on the same page. Toby is going to begin an email thread with them. He wants all the contests for 2020 to be posted on the website by November 1st. Toby will be starting to post videos on You Tube to promote our sport and the NC region family.
The SC region is getting busy. The Sherman contest is getting big buzz and expecting the largest crowd of the year. The region lost a contest in Kansas. The regional finals are the first weekend in November. Rich would like to have a banner to take out to the Tucson Shootout. They had a couple of guys from Oklahoma try the Novice class, and within the first round they wanted to fly both days. They have had a new member join the region and all the members are excited to meet him. The newsletter is ready to be published.
Brad reported that the NE region is 12 days from their regional finals. He is working on the contests for 2020.
Primo reported the SE region has 3 more contests before their regional finals. Primo is working on the invitations. Things are going well in the region. He is already speaking with Gil Major on the judging schools for 2020.
Adi says that they have been busy working on the 2020 Europeans. They currently have 110 pilots registered. they would like to have Ty and/or someone else to come over and host a judging school. Manrico will discuss more at the next BOD meeting.
FAI has dismissed F3M. All the F3M countries will now be adding IMAC to their brochures.
Adi suggested that we put the Contest Guidelines in a place on the website where it can be easily accessible.
Adi thanked everyone again for the President’s Award. Samantha and Rich presented to Adi at the Clover Creek Invitational.
The next National Judging School will be in 2021.
Meeting adjourned 10:14 p.m. EST.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
Present: Mike Karnes, Doug Pilcher, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Primo Rivera, Toby Silhavy, Alex Dreiling, Brad Davy, Adi Kochav, Rich Whitlow, and Clark Hymas
Meeting began 9:03 pm. EST.
Amendments to By-Laws – Brad Davy
There are two amendments that need to be made in the By-Laws to proceed with the split of the International region. Brad suggested that we revise the eligibility of the current IMAC organization from any AMA or AMA recognized organization in good standing to any person who wishes to further the purpose of the organization. We also need to add affiliations per BOD may establish standards for non-voting affiliate countries that wish to maintain their independent organizations for IMAC contest using IMAC standards. There needs to be a discussion opened in the forums to discuss this By-Law change.
IMAC Affiliations – Adi Kochav
The BOD has been in discussion for a while to split the International region into three different regions: Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. There needs to be a global standard that the entire IMAC organization adheres to.
There will be two choices for each country to choose from. They can choose to pay an affiliation fee and they wouldn’t need to register their members. The second choice is mandatory registration.
Currently, the standardization is already in the rules. Mike stated that the IMAC website has not used fully by the International region. They don’t register their contests and there are no contest descriptions. Adi would like to have all the International countries the same as the domestic regions. Adi has already spoken to all the representatives of the countries and have informed them that they must abide by the guidelines in order to be in IMAC. They will start using the website, the regional points system, etc.
The question was asked about the penalty to the countries that do not adhere to the IMAC standards and guidelines. Brad suggested a warning for the first time. If it occurs again, the entire country could be removed from the organization. The International countries must list their contests on the website. Each contest must have a flyer, with details, location, etc. to inform the potential pilots. Rich told Adi that he does not approve a contest without all this information. IMAC has Contest Standards and Guidelines already in place for all regions.
Doug informed the BOD that we will run into the same problem that we ran into in the beginning with the International, getting the webmaster to incorporate International with the IRPS system on the website. The webmaster will split the International region into three separate regions for the regional pages. Mike and Doug will approach our webmaster and inform him that the BOD has split the International region into three separate regions and that all regions, domestic and foreign, all need the same access to everything, including IRPS.
Discussion of International Split – Adi Kochav and Brad Davy
Adi has posted a current map of the proposed split of the International region into three separate regions: Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. This map is in the BOD forum for review.
Adi informed the BOD of the membership numbers that each region would bring to the organization. One of the concerns was the European region being so big that the guys won’t feel a part of the region.
Australia will be having a regional contest in November. It is listed in their brochure that you must have an IMAC membership to participate.
The By-Laws allow the BOD to define the regions. If we want to split the regions, we have the authority to do it per the By-Laws. We need to make a plan that specifically defines the region split, the Interim RDs, etc. After all of this put into motion, we can have a special election that will establish the RD. Adi has already spoken to the potential Interim RD’s.
FAI has stopped the activity of F3M. IMAC is the sole scale aerobatic discipline in the world.
A motion was made to split current International region into three separate regions: Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, by Adi Kochav and seconded by Alex Dreiling. Motion passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance
The current balance in the General Operating account as of tonight is:
Checking $14,035.80
PayPal $18,607.38
Total $32,643.18
We have not received our funds from the 2019 NATs. Phil asked Mike and Doug for the split of the shipping costs between the IMAC Swag Store and mailing of the membership cards. They will get with Phil and get him those numbers.
Regional Issues – All RDs
The NW region just had a contest last weekend. Three Canadians came down to the contest. Clark reported that the Canadian contests have shut down due to weather. Regionals is the weekend after Labor Day. The region has not had many basic pilots and the pilot count is down for the year.
The SW region is currently down right now due to the summer heat. There was a contest in California, but there was a low turnout due to the heat.
Rich reported that the SC region has a contest in Abilene coming up. Several will be at Clover Creek next weekend for the invitational. Regionals are the first weekend of November. There is a good buzz and good pilot count at contests. Many of the basic pilots are looking to move up. There have been a couple of successes with the Novice class. Out of the 4 pilots, three of them asked to be moved into the Basic class to complete for the remainder of the contest.
Rich asked the BOD if we could take an IMAC flag to Clover Creek and Tucson for the invitationals, along with providing swag for their give-aways/raffles. Rich is receiving a lot of responses on the articles. He reminded the BOD to get their articles turned in as soon as they can.
The NC region is doing good. In the month of August, there has been a contest every weekend. We are starting to attract the Canadians back to our contests. Next year, the regionals will be held in Saranac, Michigan for the Canadians don’t have as far to travel. Currently, all scores are up-to-date and things are going well.
The NE region has one more contest, which is the regional finals at the end of September. Brad is working on putting new contests on the calendar for 2020. He is tossing around the idea of moving regionals around his region each year.
The SE region is doing good. The 11th contest of the season is next weekend. There have been some good turnouts at some of the contests. The weather has been a problem. At some events, the pilots are speaking with judges after each flight, just to slow things done. This approach has been very welcomed by the lower classes. This is done possibly for the first two rounds.
Meeting adjourned 10:34 p.m. EST.