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Mr. Jim Perdue,
president of the Tennessee Model Airplane Association from 1966 to 1968, submitted this
letter to the editor of American Modeler magazine in high praise of the club charter
program instituted by the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA). The most important feature,
at least in back in that day, was liability insurance provided by virtue of being officially
chartered. The same applies today regarding insurance; however, the AMA has greatly expanded
the benefits to chartering your model club. The current
Club Charter Guide
document list the following requirements for obtaining a charter:
Minimum requirements for chartering a club. • You need five (5)
or more current AMA members. • Three or more of them must be 19 years or older.
• At least three (3) members 19 years or older need to be willing to serve as club officers,
one (1) of them being the club Safety Coordinator 2. • The majority of your club activities
relate to recreational and/or competitive modeling, and its organizational operation
is local ( e.g., city, town, county, etc .) as opposed to a regional or national level.
• Provide a current set of your club bylaws. • Provide latitude/longitude information
for your modeling site (s)
Letter to AMA HQ Praises Club Plan
 "I just received the May monthly mailing (to
AMA chartered clubs) and have read it all as usual.
"Personally, I couldn't compliment you and AMA enough for your actions of the past
year. The deal with Model Aviation to American Modeler was certainly a boom to model
aviation. (I must admit I had my doubts when it first came about) ... I'm so glad that
it has worked out fine.
"I could kick all our Coffee-
Air-Foilers fannies for not going along with the charter plan last year! As you may
know, we were misinformed that we had insurance coverage which in reality did not exist.
Personally, I think the obtaining of the club charter was the best thing that has happened
to our clubs in some time. We have a larger membership than ever before and many more
visitors who come to our meetings each month. We have added at least one new member each
month this year. We have strictly enforced the rules set up by AMA which frankly wasn't
done in the past. We have a much stronger and loyal club to show for it now.
"I don't know whether you read the newsletter which I edit each month or not (we do!).
However, I try to use the monthly mail to supplement what little our members contribute
each month. I usually wind up writing the whole newsletter and I don't know what I'd
do without AMA mailings to have something to print! I always try to print the things
from the monthly mailing which would interest our club members and the people I send
the thing to.
"I'm the president of the Tennessee Model Airplane Association and I use our newsletter
to inform my officers and board of directors what's going on around the state. All in
all, I send out between 90 and 100 copies all over the country. It must get read some
because I get mail from all over. I really appreciate the coverage American Modeler has
given us. Mrs. VanZant has had something in her club column every month for the last
four months.
"Please express my appreciation to all concerned and keep up the good work." Jim Perdue
Posted December , 2017
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