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ACRO E-mail Archive Thread: [Acro] Re: Organization Name Change [International Aerobatic Club] [Communications] [Aerobatics Images] Disclaimer: These aerobatics pages are developed by individual IAC members and do not represent official IAC policy or opinion. |
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Thread: [Acro] Re: Organization Name Change
Message: [Acro] Re: Organization Name Change
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From: Franko Allan <allan.franko at cancerboard.ab.ca>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 01:07:49 UTC
Don, Aerobatics Canada may be nearly comatose, but it sanctions three or four contests a year - exactly as many as local clubs are able to put on. These sanctions provide the following: (i) insurance for everything not covered by competitors' insurance - something IAC would have a difficult time arranging in Canada; (ii) a blueprint for obtaining the necessary approvals from Transport Canada - something that would benefit little from knowing how to deal with the FAA; and (iii) instructions to follow the IAC rulebook It's #3 that stimulates so much interest among Canadians in what goes on in the States. I thought the Championship of the Americas was a great idea. Never did hear a good explanation for why it was discontinued. Or any explanation, now that I think about it. Allan Franko Aerobatics Canada #143 IAC 7513 (Unhappily retired from competition by rule changes) Don Peterson wrote: > Andrew, > > And now for one of those posts that anonymous writers seem to not like. Oh > well. Lisa may respond on her own, but this is a subject I'm interested in. > > First, a "sanction" is a sort of hollow thing. It is blessed upon us by the FAI > through CIVA and the NAA, etc. It is not a legally binding thing, it is just a > club's way of policing its sport, kind of the like the AMA, and the lawyer's > Bar. By keeping a grip on their members and the process via standardized > regulations, they feel they can produce a better and more enduring activity. I > will not take sides in whether this is the result that is achieved, cuz I don't > know. Meanwhile, the FAI and CIVA annoint each country's aeroclubs to run > things within their borders. There is no precedence that I'm aware of for one > country to run another's aviation sport activities via the sanctioning process, > although there are no rules for or against having club chapters and other "IAC" > activities within other countries. In fact, an actual foreign "IAC" chapter > could sponsor a contest within their country by receiving an official sanction > from their aeroclub (or whoever is authorized to issue such a sanction by the > FAI). Personally, I don't see a conflict here. > > My interest is due to what you are referring to. When one compares the acro > activity within the US to what is going on in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, > Columbia (where acro is usually bullet-encouraged), etc, one might come to the > conclusion that some international help and encouragement would be a good > thing. We floated the balloon a while back that the "Championships of the > Americas" could become the vehicle for helping our neighbors create a more > active acro community. The board at the time killed the idea, and since then > the COTA has been killed entirely. The current view appears to be that the > health of our own organization is of serious enough concern that nothing is left > over for helping our neighbors. Again, this may be an accurate assessment of > our club's health or not. Make your own call. > > The net is that the IAC at this time appears to be more interested in some sort > of "acro-rally", or "grass-roots picnic day" than fostering a growing and > healthy aerobatic competition activity throughout the Americas. The board that > you elected is certainly empowered to interpret the members' wishes and act on > them to the best of their conscience. Personally, I would prefer to see them > focusing on the competition activity than other stuff, and to expand this effort > to our neighboring countries. You'll just have to trust me that a competition > between nations is far more envigorating than one between chapter-buddies. > Personally, I think the sanctioning issue could be easily solved and is not > central to this move to rename the club. > > I have no direct input on this, but I suspect the drive to change the name could > be coming from other nations who think our moniker is a bit over-reaching. But > that's just my suspicions. > > Hope this helps. > > Don P. >