Phil Tallman, Candidate for AMA Executive VP

00:12.99
Ron
Hello everyone and welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. With the AMA Executive Vice President election in full swing, we wanted to give the candidates a chance to talk directly to AMA members about where they think the organization is headed and what they would do in the position.

00:27.46
Ron
Our guest today is Phil Tallman from Medical Lake, Washington. Phil currently serves as AMA District 11 Vice President. In his candidate statement, he describes more than 60 years on model aviation and his involvement as a club member. contest director. and flight instructor.

00:41.68
Ron
He also outlines priorities that include supporting local clubs, encouraging youth participation, protecting access to airspace, and keeping members connected with AMA leadership. We're going to talk about those priorities and what he hopes to accomplish as executive vice president.

00:56.13
Ron
If elected. Phil? Welcome to RC Plane Lab.

00:59.48
Phil
Well, hi Ron. Thank you for having me on.

01:01.97
Ron
No. problem. So for the listeners that don't know you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your history in model aviation and your involvement. with AMA.

01:12.26
Phil
Okay. Well, I am retired from a retired software engineering manager. Retired just this year. a long career and really enjoyed it.

01:24.21
Phil
I've been doing modeling since I was about... 10 years old? I got started with Guillow's kits like a lot of us did the free flight things that didn't seem to fly very well But they were really fun to build On my, I think it was my 10th or 11th birthday, my aunt and uncle bought me a Cox Stuka!

01:45.89
Phil
Control on an airplane and we really we didn't know anything about it. My uncle and I learned what it was all about and actually made it fly. And that was the start of really meet me flying models.

01:59.43
Phil
I flew control line. through junior high school, high school. Girls and Cars kind of got in the way a little bit. Shortly after high school, I was part of a CB radio shop, and a gentleman came in and wanted a CB radio and asked if he could trade for an RC radio.

02:20.55
Phil
And that was in 1978. Eight, I believe. And that was a micro avionics four channel AM radio that, I learned to fly on and I've been flying RC ever since.

02:35.61
Phil
It is what I do when I'm not. working. And since I retired, I'm doing it all the time right now. So it's we're really having a lot of fun. I'm actually in the RV right now. I had an event last weekend.

02:52.76
Phil
We're going to have a... Kind of a... end of season event at this field and rather than go home in the middle i just decided to stay here so We're having fun with that.

03:03.34
Phil
I fly I fly everything from UMX micro... small airplanes to, I have a 40%. clip-wing Cub that i fly

03:16.44
Phil
I fly gas turbines. started pretty much last year so this is my second season in gas turbines and i'm really enjoying that I compete in RC scale.

03:31.76
Phil
And I really enjoy going to events. So i do as many events as I can. Bye.

03:39.10
Ron
Very nice. So... With that... Why are you running for the AMA Executive Vice President?

03:46.38
Phil
I've served on the council now for seven years as district vice president for District 11. I've really enjoyed doing that. i It's.

03:59.42
Phil
It's interesting work. It's important work. you really don't understand what goes on. and in the executive council until you kind of get in there and see.

04:11.80
Phil
There's a lot of work that happens behind the scenes that enables us to continue really in this hobby. The executive vice president position the current Vice President is terming out. that's Randy Cameron.

04:27.82
Phil
I decided that I thought I would be really good for that position I have... considerable management experience, considerable leadership experience.

04:39.49
Phil
We are... Really? needing to change a little bit about what the AMA is and what the AMA does and I think I can help. plan and drive that change.

04:53.58
Ron
So... What do you see as the three biggest challenges facing the AMA right now?

04:59.05
Phil
Well, we're... It's not just facing AMA. It's really facing the hobby. We're losing members. We're losing people that... that participate in the hobby. And as that as that goes down, of course, AMA membership goes down. there that's a result of that.

05:16.87
Phil
And I think where we really need to work on is to support. Support the hobby. We're doing really well. with new members we're getting new people involved in the hobby there's a lot of

05:31.59
Phil
New retirees that are picking it up. there's There's a lot of people that are interested and actually join the hobby. but We have too many of them that... that join and then don't really find a path forward.

05:44.35
Phil
And They end up... Spend in a year maybe two in the hobby and then get bored and go off and do something else You're gonna get some of that. I mean sometimes the hobby isn't For every everyone.

05:57.49
Phil
You know, it's... it can be sometimes quite frustrating. but I think we really need to work on. trying to find ways that those members that are They're just not... finding a way to progress. How do we help them? How do we get them further along?

06:17.57
Phil
Events I think is a really big thing. I think events really showcase what we can do, and i talk to people all the time at events, and you know they'll come and say, well, i never I never saw one of those, or I didn't know you could do that, and you can see people's interests really get...

06:34.19
Phil
Stirred up, enhanced when they go to an event. So I... I like to push clubs and have them do as much as they can along that line. Oh.

06:45.51
Ron
So you've already served for several years in AMA leadership. What's something you have personally accomplished during that time that you are proud of?

06:54.22
Phil
I've served on several committees. you know and Serving the district is, I think, what I'm most proud of. Going to these events and meeting people that are in the district and having them come up and say, thank you very much for what you do.

07:09.42
Phil
That, to me, is is the biggest reward. and that i think Because they do that makes me really proud and and very humble. I mean it It isn't easy. They don't understand that, but they do understand that.

07:24.66
Phil
It takes a lot to do it. so I appreciate that. nette that's kind of my paycheck is them saying thank you. so

07:38.08
Phil
I've served on... several committees. The the one that the most recent that I think I'm pretty proud of. we I'm part of the Publications Committee.

07:49.08
Phil
We've had to make a hard decision. we We... have come to the realization that the printing costs for the paper magazine are huge.

08:00.34
Phil
And we had to come to a hard decision to tell our members that. if you want the printed copy. We have to ask you to. to spend some a little bit extra.

08:11.17
Phil
To keep that print and copy. There were several council members that wanted to just discontinue the magazine. and just I mean, it's a losing thing. We're going to shut it off. And I said, no, it's extremely important to a lot of our members.

08:24.60
Phil
And we have to try to keep it going as best we can. We've seen several examples of organizations that were pulled down by that. i mean our you got to watch what you're doing and make sure that it doesn't Take you down, but I you know, I was part of that decision and help kind of drive that.

08:48.36
Phil
And even though it's hard, it's difficult. You're not. You're not necessarily the good guy when you do something like that, but it's to maintain the organization and maintain keep things going.

09:01.95
Ron
So that goes into, you and you've already brought up the fact that or AMA membership is well below. what it has been in the past.

09:10.12
Phil
Yeah.

09:10.45
Ron
Why do you think membership has declined and what would you do to combat that?

09:16.62
Phil
So it goes back to what to what I said. I think membership. Membership is declining for multiple reasons. A lot of our membership is aging out. you know we lose we lose members all the time and it's It's the worst part of going to each one of the council meetings. We start the meeting with the last the final flight list.

09:40.36
Phil
And we want to honor those members that are no longer with us, but it's a hard it's a difficult thing to do. And that is happening a lot. We are working. We were working pretty hard trying to get youth to come in to replace those members, but it's a different world these days. you know A lot of our youth would rather play video games than go outside and fly model airplanes.

10:06.05
Phil
You know, when I was younger, video games weren't. Well, they weren't invented when I was that small. but So you had to go outside and do something, and now there's a lot more options.

10:17.80
Phil
So Trying to get them involved, trying to... to to get them to continue Typically what happens with the youth members, we can get them going, get them excited, get them flying when they're young, and then they'll go through a period where they'll... they'll get away they do other things they get into high school like i said meet have other activities that they would rather do.

10:44.68
Phil
And drift away some, and then you know trying to get those people back after they've established their life. you know, as you go through. once you know Once you're out of school, you usually start building a family. You have a lot of...

10:58.60
Phil
Busy times with your family and you know to keep To bring them back after that is what I think we really want to do. Touch those people that touch this hobby a long time ago and bring them back into it. you know, it's amazing. I'll talk to someone that is just, is just getting back into it.

11:19.46
Phil
And they are amazed at the advances in technology. you know, the the radio systems, the ability to... To have a model in the air in minutes.

11:31.65
Phil
Rather than months. You know, there's a lot of things that have changed over the years. and

11:40.53
Phil
Reaching out to them and getting them back in it, I think is extremely important.

11:45.81
Ron
So that kind of hits on what I was going to ask you next, because there are a lot of people that... Take that route. You know, they buy just the quick, foamy, ready-to-fly airplane. and they're flying them and they're not AMA members. If one of them asked you, why should I spend the money to join AMA?

12:01.83
Ron
What is your answer?

12:04.67
Phil
AMA does a lot besides just provide insurance. so Insurance is important, of course, because a lot of people don't realize what they're getting into. but AMA.

12:17.92
Phil
Works for all these people that to allow them to fly. We are dealing with government all the time. Trying to make sure that. that are government is not.

12:31.22
Phil
Legislating the hobby away. you know I talked to... Well, I talked to a lot of people about that, and you know a lot of times they're they're blaming us for not doing much with government.

12:46.21
Phil
And I have to... I have to tell them that they need to understand. they their They can you know, they've been doing it forever. They've been doing it this way why is government messing with us now and it's not us that has changed. It's the world that has changed and Government is responding to real threats And they respond in a way that they think is correct. And what our job is to go and teach them that. we are not the same as is a lot of

13:15.95
Phil
Nefarious activities that go on. so that there. I kind of drifted off your original question, so I'm sorry about that. but

13:25.14
Ron
It's okay. It happens.

13:26.39
Phil
Yeah.

13:26.81
Ron
I'll give you a long leash.

13:26.76
Phil
Yeah. yeah Ha. that's good. I need a long leash. But to explain that to a person that is flying without AMA, that is flying on their own.

13:37.58
Phil
To explain that to him to expose them maybe to clubs so that they can have talk to somebody else that is doing this. Tell him about the know the magazine and the the things in it.

13:52.75
Phil
Gives to them. Tell them you know about events that are... AMA sanctioned events so where they can learn more about it. That's what I would do. when if I came across the person that was flying without a membership.

14:07.04
Ron
So, You brought up local clubs and stuff. What should the AMA be doing for local clubs that it isn't doing now or isn't doing well enough?

14:17.25
Phil
We're we are We are working really hard to try to support the local clubs more. we had kind of fallen off of that, and it is something I've been pushing for. all the past few years, and we're doing better with it.

14:31.64
Phil
The membership marketing committee has put together. A club tool kit. And it's providing tools that will help clubs do better. there's a lot of work left to do with that. It's nowhere near done.

14:48.32
Phil
But... We're working on it. They're doing some. Some. They're not really podcasts, they're webinars. the inviting club officers and leader members to these webinars so that they can learn about things that help clubs.

15:08.18
Phil
Do better. They've had... They've had several and they're doing more. And, you know, it's. how to how to do an event or how to help what can you do to put up a website how do you get social media presence and things like that that help clubs.

15:26.60
Phil
We have... I wanted us to provide a club management tool for the clubs. We have...

15:38.52
Phil
An agreement now with a web developer called dual rates And they have a club management system. that Really helps the clubs. I was talking to one of the officers at...

15:52.30
Phil
It's one of the largest clubs in my district and it's... They have about 350 members. And they said without this tool, they're... their membership management they just couldn't deal with there's just you know it does things for them that Makes it easy now.

16:09.53
Phil
So that's a tool set that I pushed for us to kind of provide for clubs. just to help them learn. how to How to manage a club, how to what a club is important.

16:23.26
Phil
You know A group of guys get together, let's form a club. Well, what does that really mean? you know you need a set of bylaws. You need to know how you're going to operate. you need you know, somebody to manage funds if you're going to have any kind of treasury. And there's a lot of work to a club. So to help them.

16:41.77
Phil
Answer the questions they have when they get started that they don't know anything about is something we can do. better. much better job with. And I want us to continue working towards that.

16:56.08
Phil
Ha!

16:56.09
Ron
So also, yeah, you saw me.

16:58.24
Phil
Yeah.

16:58.12
Ron
I was about to take a drink.

16:58.81
Phil
I saw you're going to take a drink, so.

17:02.14
Ron
So loss of flying sites is a major concern for clubs. What can the AMA realistically do to help clubs protect existing flying fields? or and or find new ones.

17:15.41
Phil
That's a really good question, Ron, and it is it's a big issue. You know, when a lot of these clubs went out and... built their flying fields they were out in the middle of nowhere and unfortunately civilization has moved into nowhere. and now they're finding they have issues.

17:34.38
Phil
It's something and that... even on a district level i deal with quite a bit and you'll get a club that says we have a property owner that's near us and we're having issues So my... my first advice to them is to talk to the property owner. Make sure that they understand what the issues are. Try to try to establish a relationship with the property owner so that you do understand why they're having problems.

18:00.45
Phil
Try to

18:05.43
Phil
To make some inroads with them by compromising. with the property owner. Show them that you'll be responsive to their concerns and that you understand their concerns. And you know really try to work with...

18:18.03
Phil
Solving the problems rather than trying to chase them away. it is quite common for our members to say, well, we've had this flying field for 30 years and you move next door and that's your problem, not ours. Well, it's not.

18:33.58
Phil
It has to be our problem or we will lose them. Finding new flying fields, we do have. help at headquarters there's a...

18:47.29
Phil
There's some work that was done on how you approach someone to to get that. You know you can you can use... You can use us for those resources, but it's There needs to be work done there too. it's not an easy thing to find a new place.

19:01.98
Phil
And develop it. and It's getting more and more difficult as we grow. and I wish I had the the magic bullet for that but that's one of the toughest ones is to keep flying sites.

19:18.95
Phil
Again it's the best thing i can best advice i can give is as soon as you hear any kind of noise about somebody not liking what you're doing. Try to find out why and try to mitigate.

19:31.62
Phil
That distaste. And make them. Make them feel like you're listening to them. and not just... chasing them away and you'll find it goes a long ways to helping out. so

19:47.93
Ron
And Gotcha. Good advice. So let's move on a little bit. So how would you evaluate the AMA's handling of the FAA regulations? and its advocacy for recreational model aviation and what If anything.

20:01.24
Ron
Would you change?

20:03.31
Phil
You know, I... When I got on council, our FAA stuff was really just... Just coming down. It was one of the things that... Good. It's kind of like drinking from a fire hose. that you have to get in there and understand what's going on.

20:20.15
Phil
And I think we did kind of the best we can do. it's another one of those things where you have to establish relationships. You have to... understand how Washington works. And Tyler did an awesome job. I first met Tyler well it was a year before I joined council and he was

20:41.93
Phil
He was working hard and sometimes very frustrated. And he continued through that and really did an awesome job. And it was education. that did most of it.

20:53.89
Phil
Having the the people in the FAA understand what we do and why it differs from a lot of the drone activity, the you know the pull it off the shelf and the flying cameras.

21:06.70
Phil
The you know a lot of a lot of i and i have one too i'm not immune to that. I don't use it very much, but having them understand. the differences between those devices and the way that we are not the nefarious nuisance that those things are.

21:26.16
Phil
Listening to... to the reports Every time, you know, every we have executive council calls every month. Our meetings are four times a year.

21:38.97
Phil
And we would always have. a gov report. even You know, every one of those calls. A lot of times now we still have them, but... you know The noise had gone down quite a bit, but it was interesting to watch the progress of how that went through.

21:54.68
Phil
But education, making sure that the lawmakers and the FAA and everybody understands what it is we do. On those lines, I was very fortunate. I got to go to AirVenture this year.

22:09.82
Phil
It was my first time. And one of the things we do at AirVenture is we buddy box people on RC airplanes. So we have... Four or five AeroScouts.

22:22.00
Phil
Every evening people can sign up and come out and we'll put them on an aeroscout for five or six minutes and One of the... FAA officers.

22:34.18
Phil
Pretty high up in the organization. Wanted to. to see what it was like so i got to put him on a buddy box and Help have him. Fly an aeroscout for a bit and his comments were really interesting. He says, you know, this is not what I expected This is challenging. There's a lot to it. It is, you know, he's a full-scale pilot understands what an airplane was and he's you know, there's

22:58.100
Phil
I get what's going on here, and I get the draw of what's going on. He had his son with him, and as soon as he got done, I put his son on the buddy box, and they left. They were going to go buy an Aeroscout, and they left. Now, whether they followed through or not, I don't know.

23:12.30
Phil
But it was a lot of fun. being able to answer those questions and provide that experience for them. So. And that's... that's We've done that with... flying sites around Washington. We've brought representatives out and shown them what we do and why it's different.

23:32.02
Phil
You know we went through a lot of the

23:39.40
Phil
The committees that... decided whether or not we could use controlled airspace and i'm drawing a blank on what we call those i'll get it here in a second but I was parked. of a couple of those meetings and it was interesting the questions the FAA would ask and how we would respond and make sure that we mitigated it's It was a risk. May God bless you. type of thing and mitigated all those risks and that was that was That was...

24:05.91
Phil
Pretty interesting to take part of. but education is key.

24:10.65
Ron
So... It's almost like you know my next question because I... you've kind of gone right into it Speaking of quadcopters and FPV and all that, how important do you think the newer parts of the hobby? FPV.

24:25.29
Ron
Multi-rotors GPS type. aircraft should be to the AMA's future.

24:33.85
Phil
It's an entry. It's a... It's an entry point. it can be a way for people to get... used to what radio control is and and what flying things are.

24:47.69
Phil
It Again, it's education that a lot of these people are missing. that you know They don't know it's wrong to pick this. device up off the shelf and go fly over the Super Bowl game. You know, they think it's cool and it did. Sure, it would be, but...

25:03.87
Phil
Somebody has to educate them, and that's what a lot of the work that... that we have to do there. FPV. there's a there's a large group that races them and that's something interesting and you know i'm i don't think it's for me i've looked through goggles a little bit and it's just not something that's on my want to do list but i enjoy watching them and it's amazing what they can do with a little quadcopter and... and

25:34.27
Phil
Goggles and watch that thing go around hoops and turns and they stay oriented it's just it's absolutely amazing So I... I don't want to push that away. I think that... that it's important to have those groups involved. I think there's a path then to.

25:52.76
Phil
Other types of model aviation and you know maybe they'll make that leap maybe they won't but it's still it's It's model aviation, whether it's got four props that point straight up or one that points forward.

26:08.85
Phil
So we have to... Again, work with them, educate. try to try to make sure that Everything works as well as it can.

26:20.38
Ron
So what would you change about... Moving on a little bit, what would you change about the way the AMA communicates with members? website. dev emails, social media, YouTube. magazine that you already brought up.

26:35.43
Phil
Yeah, all those All those things are really important. and You know, it's one of the things that we work on all the time, too, is how do we do that? We we do email. We do website. We do.

26:48.51
Phil
Facebook posts and there's the other social media that i don't even understand what is that i know that we do something in those areas and you know face to face and it doesn't matter how much you do.

27:04.52
Phil
You still have people say, well, I didn't know that. I didn't hear that. How come you didn't tell me that? And I don't know how we can. Other than continue to... to push that.

27:15.59
Phil
You know, we have. Again, these webinars that we were doing and they went out. now they went out to leader members and messages went out and we had a couple complain that well you didn't tell me and it turned out that. somewhere's along the line so you can with email you can subscribe to certain things that we email.

27:38.18
Phil
And this particular member had said, no, I don't want those emails. So, you know, there's only so much you can do and we just we just have to keep trying You know, I'm... i'm I do a little bit of Facebook.

27:53.75
Phil
That's my... the only social media thing that I really do and I have some fun with it. and But... There's people that don't know anything about that either so you just have to try all the different avenues that are possible.

28:11.80
Phil
And just... Keep trying. And a different thing will work for different people.

28:19.25
Ron
Thank you.

28:21.18
Phil
Even podcasts work.

28:21.37
Ron
So do you believe?

28:22.73
Phil
Even podcasts work a little bit too.

28:23.34
Ron
No.

28:24.50
Phil
You know

28:25.11
Ron
Every now and then, right? More than just five of us.

28:26.50
Phil
Every now and then. Yes.

28:29.84
Ron
So do you believe AMA's executive council is transparent enough with ordinary members? And what would you change, if anything?

28:38.19
Phil
I believe that we're as transparent as we can be with ordinary members. we We publish our minutes. we you know, tell everybody what we talk about. There are certain things that we deal with that we can't share there's

28:55.80
Phil
Always a... a section of time put aside for executive session and you know it Legally, there are things that we hear that we can't share. you know There's just stuff like that happens. and I know some people are concerned about that secret portion of your meeting. Well, it's there for a reason, and we have to...

29:17.11
Phil
We have to. to have that happen. Very often the things that we discuss about in there that are then released. either look in the regular meeting that time or later on. button. There are times that we have to discuss things that... that we can't share.

29:35.44
Phil
Anything that's in the minutes, you know if somebody comes up and asks me questions about them or asks us questions about them. I like to be as open as I possibly can with that.

29:46.99
Phil
I don't think there should be secrets. As far as... our major decisions, so.

29:56.19
Ron
What is one thing you believe AMA needs to do differently?

30:02.54
Phil
I think we need, you know, we have a tendency like a lot of organizations. and then a lot of people that say you know we've been doing it this way for a long time it's working we don't need to change but It's an on. I mean, there are things that...

30:21.71
Phil
We definitely need to improve. You know, we originally were a competitive organization. We sponsored a lot of competition. We still do that, and we do very well at that. But if you if you look at...

30:36.53
Phil
The numbers that are competing are going down. I got the opportunity to spend some time at Nats this year in Muncie. and i thought it I thought it was great, and there were several...

30:50.08
Phil
Several competitions that I watched were very well attended. Now, even those, they tell me, are down from... what they used to be. But all of them... I don't want to ignore competition. I think we need to do a better job with it And. Every group that i that I went up to and talked to, I challenged them to find a an entry level. Make sure you have an entry level for all the competition.

31:14.98
Phil
You know, I went and watched Control Line Speed, and they've got this... pulse jet tied on a string that i don't know how fast it goes around and i said how in the world do you get into that i mean that's not something you just go buy one and hook it up And.

31:30.15
Phil
You know so They too, they showed me some. It was a smaller electric speed that they're coming out with. to try to have an entry level for people and that was great.

31:43.15
Phil
Pylon racing they're doing some electric models that are that are not as fast and not as you know not as hard to get into and that was that's really great to have that type of thing.

31:57.07
Phil
To look for that. the entry level for all of all the aspects of our hobby, I think are very important. That's how you get people interested and get them started.

32:08.54
Ron
You brought up the organized competition and that side of the AMA. I know the AMA has a long history with that. Large percentage of members, though, are just recreational sport. type flyers. Do you think AMA is striking the right balance between those two groups?

32:28.45
Phil
No, I really don't and that you know it is something that we need to work on. You know, we so we do a lot of support for competition, and it's wonderful, and I don't want us to stop that. I want us to be as efficient as we can with that. But I also want us to support.

32:46.60
Phil
The fun flyer, the sport flyer. The National Fun Fly is a good example. you know We did that for several years and then didn't do it for a year and heard about it. and I think us continuing that is a way of showing our support.

33:03.32
Phil
For the person that just... wants to fly for fun, wants to wants to come out, see things, and you know participate with whatever they've got. I think we need to...

33:17.20
Phil
Help sponsor those type of events. You know, we have a... A lot. of themed events that i that I go to. I mean...

33:27.59
Phil
Jet flies and warbird flies and scale. and But... There's not, and there's still fun flies around, but. You know...

33:37.99
Phil
Years ago... Well, we started it actually just before I got on council. I was CD for our district jamboree. and have continued that ever since. And it is just a big fun fly. it's Come and get together.

33:55.28
Phil
Fly what you brung You know have the social interaction with other members in the district and it's just been a fun event

34:06.56
Phil
And it... It continues. There was one this year. I wasn't able to attend it. I was back east, but they had a good time and enjoyed it. And I've talked about wanting that particular club has talked about wanting to. to repeat and have it again.

34:20.84
Phil
So... We need to figure out how we can support that better. and make sure that we're doing a good job. with that aspect of the hobby too.

34:33.79
Phil
So. I don't know as I have the answer to how that is, but... It's something I want to continue to look at and and work on.

34:48.04
Ron
I was almost going to ask you, and how do you do that? But you cut me off and said, you don't know. That's nice. Good. So if the AMA membership continues to decline

35:01.65
Ron
And you've kind of touched on this just a little bit also with the magazine. additional fee or whatever you want to say. But if it continues to decline, you know how should the AMA adapt financially? reducing expenses. or expenses different service raising dues. what do you think are the answers?

35:28.47
Phil
There's a lot of things that can be done. You know, we have... We have been very reluctant to raise dues, although we've had to. And we've done it.

35:39.88
Phil
I think twice since I... I've been on the council. we've talked about what we can do try to be more efficient is my biggest push Let's make sure what we're doing is the right thing.

35:54.91
Phil
We want to

36:02.79
Phil
I don't have... I don't know if I have the... The answer of what I would absolutely do, you know, we wanted to not reduce programs and I agree with that. but if the money continues to be slim, we're going to have to do something. These are going to be really hard decisions.

36:20.54
Phil
Because anything we do along those lines affects all the membership. So it's something that we'll have to. have A lot of discussion. and make sure we're doing the right things.

36:36.49
Phil
But we cannot continue to operate. If the membership continues to decline, we will have to do something. and I wish I had the answer. of what that would be but it isn't it isn't going to be easy for sure.

36:54.31
Phil
And It's something we talk about all the time.

37:00.40
Ron
And Understood. I'm going to be honest, that is the end of my list of questions. I will give you... Final say. Anything else you want to say? Give us your pitch.

37:12.33
Ron
You know, Tell us whatever you want.

37:15.47
Phil
Finch You know, this is this is it's a very important position. It is... Second only to... to the president. It is you are asked to fill in for the president if needed.

37:30.39
Phil
You also are tasked with kind of strategic planning trying to figure out what all these answers are. working with the president and the executive director very closely about trying to solve these things.

37:46.03
Phil
It is it's a big commitment and it's something that i would like to step up and do I've had experience along these lines. I've enjoyed doing that.

37:58.83
Phil
Coming up with interesting solutions and learning to work and do. Small.

38:10.14
Phil
Small experiments or small changes and that are revocable and you know don't commit yourself to something big unless you absolutely have to.

38:21.04
Phil
And watching what's going on. one of the things that i'm i've been driving for in my committees is you know especially part of this membership and marketing committee. And I'm telling them.

38:35.00
Phil
Make sure when you when you come up with an idea that you want to try to do something. come up with a way to measure whether it works or not. We have to do that with everything we do.

38:46.31
Phil
We have to try to make sure we understand exactly what's going on and make sure that we understand. what any of the changes that we're going to need to make are going to do with the membership.

38:59.07
Phil
And It's not going to be an easy job. I have a really good relationship with... All the council? good relationship with staff i think i can work very well with the council and with staff and I'd really like the opportunity to serve in this position.

39:23.20
Ron
Oh very nice phil i want to thank you very much for spending some time with me this evening Is that everything? or I mean, last words and then we're going to hit the music and take it out.

39:35.22
Ron
What do you think?

39:35.92
Phil
Well, you know... Last year we voted for president, and the vote was not... there wasn't a very large turnout. This year I'm asking everybody to vote. You know, try to get your vote in.

39:48.03
Phil
Of course I'd like you to vote for me, but at least at least vote. Show that you're paying attention. Show that you care about what the AMA does and and send your vote in. It's just a postcard.

39:59.19
Phil
It only takes a few minutes. It comes with your renewal. All you have to do is tear it off, check it and drop it back in the mailbox. So please do that.

40:10.12
Ron
Okay, Phil, thank you very much for coming on.

40:10.23
Phil
That's it.

40:12.46
Ron
And everybody else, thank you for listening. Until next time, I'm Ron.

40:16.58
Phil
And I'm Phil.

40:17.67
Ron
Goodnight.

40:20.23
Ron
We hope you enjoyed this episode. of the RC Plane Lab podcast. to have questions. or to give anything back. with us at rtplanelab.com Or email us direct at either Ron at RCplaneLab.com or Tom at RCplaneLab.com. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846.

40:41.26
Ron
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