Finally getting some progress, AMA has issued some direction:
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From: Rich Hanson, AMA President and chairman of the AMA FAI Executive Committee:
All,
The recent Covid 19 pandemic has created an unprecedented impact on our FAI World Championship and World Cup program. All of the WC events planned for 2020 were canceled due to the travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Most of these events were postponed to the off year 2021. However, the pandemic has persisted beyond 2020 and most of the events scheduled in 2021 have now been cancelled.
Cancelling/postponing the 2020 events two years in a row pushes us into the next cycle of WC events for 2022. Unless FAI spaces out the upcoming 2022 events, this effectively eliminates the 2020 cycle completely. Such an impact on the FAI WC events was never anticipated and looking to the FAI Sporting Code and AMA’s FAI Blue Book we find there are no policies, procedures or guidelines for handling the team selection process under these circumstances.
I’ve asked AMA’s FAI Committee to resolve this issue, establish policy to address such an occurrence in the future, and to update the Blue Book as needed. However, this does not address our current dilemma regarding the 2020 F2 World Championships.
The FAI CIAM has scheduled the 2022 F2 WC to be held August 8, 2022, in Warsaw Poland. Poland was awarded the event as they were the existing host for the 2020 event and there were no other bids for the 2022 WC. However, the CIAM has stated the 2022 event is a new cycle WC event and not a postponement of the 2020 event.
So where does this leave us…? The team selection process is really up to the NAC (AMA). Unfortunately, there is no completely fair way of dealing with this issue. We could either redesignate the existing 2020 team to be the 2022 team. or hold new team selections to select a new team. If we hold new team selections this means the team selected in 2019 well not have been given the opportunity to complete. However, If we designate the 2020 team to compete in 2022, this means we will not hold F2 team selections for four years and consequently deprive other competitors the opportunity of vying for the team
In the spirit of ensuring we have the best and most competitive team possible, I am directing we hold new team selections for the 2022 F2 Team USA. This will allow all interested competitors to compete for the team, those that have been waiting their opportunity in the next selection process as well as those existing team members wishing to compete and retain their position.
I know there may be compelling reason for exceptions to this policy. If you wish an exception be considered, please submit a request directly to me by the end of the week. I’ll review such requests and refer them to the AMA Executive Council for resolution.
Best regards to all… Stay safe/well,
Rich Hanson, President
Academy of Model Aeronautics
(888) 899-3548
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As you can see from this directive, each of the four F2 disciplines is charged with selecting a team for the 2022 F2 World Championships. Whichever discipline you are part of, you can contact your Team Selection Committee representative to voice opinions.
https://www.modelaircraft.org/world-championships/team/team-selection-committeesRegards,
Bill Lee