President:             Mike Close, PO Box 146, West Pennant Hills NSW 2125

     Telephone: 02 9872 6469    Fax: 02 9871 0408

Vice President:     Theo Merrifield, 25 Jecks St,   Rockingham WA  6168 

     Telephone - 089 528 3124

Secretary:            Ivan Chiselett, 1 Watson Ave,  Mont Albert Nth. Vic 3129

     Telephone (03) 9897 1220  Fax (03) 9897 1445

     e-mail; secretary@maaa.asn.au 

Treasurer             Gary Anderson, PO Box 471 Devonport Tas. 7310

Technical Sec.     Fred Adler 18 Ivory St.    Noranda WA. 6062

                             e-mail; maaatechsec@touch88.com.au>

MAAA Internet:  http://www.maaa.asn.au

Manual of Procedures

Over the past year several procedures have been added to the Manual of Procedures (MoP). Many existing procedures have also been amended due to M.A.A.A. Council decisions and input from members and Associations.

I have listed all of the changes in the past 12 months. Please check any documents that you have downloaded to ensure that you have the correct version. All documents have a date of issue on each page.

The M.A.A.A. Manual of Procedures is on the M.A.A.A. web site.

Team Trials for 2006 Championships & 2005 Trans Tasman contest

Pattern; The APA has advised that the team trials for the 2006 F3A CAOCC & 2006 Trans Tasman Championships will be held at the Belconnen Club in Canberra. Contact the APA for more information.

Scale; The Chairman of the Scale Sub-committee has advised that the team trials for the 2006 F4C World Champs will be held at the VRF field Shepparton, Vic, on Monday September 19^th 2005.

Team trials for the 2005 F4C Trans Tasman contest, to be held at the VRF field in Shepparton on September 19^th 2005, will held as part of the NSW Nats in July 2005. Contact the Anthony Mott at ammott@bigblue.net.au for more information

Electric; The Chairman of the Electric Flight Sub-committee has advised that the team trials for the 2006 World F5B Championships will be held at the NSW Nationals.

Control Line; The team trials for places in the 2006 Control Line World Championships are being held as part of State Championships and National competitions. Contact your State Control Line representative for details of the contest used for the team trials.

M.A.A.A. Council Conference and Rules Conference 

The annual M.A.A.A. Council Conference will be held in Melbourne from May 27 to 29. At this meeting the annual fees are set. The fees will be circulated to all State Secretaries as soon as possible.

It is very important that you pay your fees on time. The M.A.A.A. membership year is the same as the financial year, ie the 2005/06 year runs July 1 to June 30 2006. Coverage by insurance is on condition that you are a financial member of an M.A.A.A. affiliated club.

Membership details.

When completing your club membership renewals please include you full name, including all Christian names, as well as your birth date. These details greatly assist in identifying members. You would be surprised how many people have the same names.

New M.A.A.A. Membership Cards.

Starting 2005/06 new M.A.A.A. membership cards will be issued. These have the provision to include your “wings” and other ratings, Inspectors etc, printed on the card. Please note that the registrars are not clairvoyants. If you have passed a wings test it is your responsibility to ensure that the State and the M.A.A.A. are advised of the ratting otherwise it will not be printed on the card. If your card does not have your ratings contact you State Senior Flying instructor and get him to advise the appropriate state registrar and the M.A.A.A. Secretary.

Cards will not be reissued if your ratings are not included. You will have to wait until the next year.

M.A.A.A. Inspectors

All M.A.A.A. Inspectors should have received a renewal application in recent weeks. If you did not return it by the due date your status as an Inspector will end on June 30 2005. If you wish to be re-appointed as an Inspector again you will have to re-apply as a “new” application.

It should also be noted that Inspector Status is lost if the person does not renew their M.A.A.A. membership. A person who loses their Inspector status must reapply with a new application.  This will be subject to the full appointment process

Internal Navigation Systems

The M.A.A.A. has adopted a policy on internal navigation systems in model aircraft. The policy does not regard the use of any internal navigation device that allows for autonomous flight consistent with the definition of a model aircraft, and these are considered to be unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s). This does not stop the use of systems such as gyros in helicopters or stabilisation systems sometimes used to assist in training.  However, any model that uses an internal navigation device for autonomous control will be considered as being in contradiction to M.A.A.A. policies. Therefore, it is highly likely that our insurance policies would not be applicable.

The full text of the policy is available in the M.A.A.A. Manual of Procedures on the M.A.A.A. web site.

Commercial Instructors

Would those members who are currently registered by M.A.A.A. or who wish to register, as Commercial Instructors please be aware that a procedure and form for registering and registering has been written and released. It is available on the M.A.A.A. web site maaa.asn.au. Go to the Manual of Procedures section. The procedure is MOP023 and the form MOP083. Please use the form MOP083 and not the sample one in the procedure.

Please note that your registration as a Commercial Instructor ends on June 30^th 2005. If you wish to be registered for 2005/06 you must apply for re-registration. This can be done now if you wish. The fee to be registered will be determined by the M.A.A.A. Council at their May meeting and will distributed with advice of the M.A.A.A. fees for 2005/06.

Model Flying Displays

Please note that the procedure with respect to displays of model aircraft flying has been modified quite extensively. With respect to the requirement for a Permit; a Display is defined as “An organized display of any type of model aircraft flying conducted in front of non M.A.A.A. Affiliate Members (including Control Line model aircraft and indoor flying).”

Clubs and Associations should read the revised Procedure, MOP019, and familiarise themselves with the changes to the requirements. For a display to be covered by the M.A.A.A. insurance policies compliance to the requirements of the Procedure is required.