Spring is Here

Congrats on making it through another winter, whatever that means in your neck of the woods. Here in Scottsdale, AZ, it means occasional forays into the low 50s. Brr.

Wherever you are, take a moment to crack open a copy of the 2025 IAC Rule Book and prepare for Judge School. This Spring, if you aren’t yet a judge, this is a great time to become one by attending Judge School. If you are already a judge, this is a great year to finally learn some corner case in the rule book that you know deep down you haven’t really paid attention to. Let’s strive to make 2025 the best judged season of contest aerobatics yet!

Dues Increase

Last month I outlined the IAC’s budget situation using a series of charts that showed:

1. Dues in Constant Dollars. This chart demonstrated how our membership rates have decreased dramatically in constant inflation-adjusted dollars.

2. Membership Level. This chart showed the steady state of our membership over the last twenty years or so.

3. Membership Revenue in Constant Dollars. This chart combined the data from the other two charts and therefore showed how our membership revenue has declined in constant dollars.

Shad Coulson provided some great additional data to the board for a special meeting on the subject. That data compared IAC membership dues against several other airsports organizations.

Dues of Other Airsports Organizations

Organization	Annual Membership Fee
Balloon Federation of America	$65
Soaring Society of America	$80
Academy of Model Aeronautics	$85
US Parachute Association	$98
US Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association	$150

As you can see from the above chart, other airsports organizations are priced at a higher level than the IAC, with only one group costing less than the proposed IAC membership rate of $75. This was a very persuasive report. Thank you, Shad!

Therefore, after considerable discussion and debate, the IAC board decided to increase our membership fees to $75 per year. This change will be enacted in April 2025.

The Future of our Dues Structure

While this step certainly catches up, I will be encouraging the board to adopt a policy to increase our rates more regularly. We should be in the habit of catching up on inflation every two or three years. I think if we make it a policy to review and consider an increase automatically every two years we will sidestep the inevitable political considerations. It’s just good stewardship to keep the dues adjusted for inflation, and that’s all there is to it.

Sanction Fees

Along with this dues increase, the board agreed to a reduction in sanction fees. This decision supersedes the board’s previous plan to raise these fees while keeping the dues the same. The exact timing of the sanction fee reduction isn’t specified yet, but at some point, hopefully this year, you can expect to see contest sanction fees capped at $500 per contest. This is going to be a welcome change for everyone involved in financing regional contests. The per-pilot fee is also being reviewed and may be decreased as well.

While I don’t see our membership as being particularly price-sensitive, high sanction fees create negative pressure on contests, possibly out of proportion to the benefit they offer to IAC HQ. I’m hoping that a reduction in sanction fees will allow contest directors to find more funds for banquets, marketing, and trophies. I do hear a lot of concerns from Contest Directors that their events are only possible because of donations from a small number of chapter members. Perhaps with this change we will be making the lives of our CDs a bit easier. Maybe it will mean more successful contests.

Thank You, Lorrie Penner!

IAC Editor Extraordinaire Lorrie Penner left us at the end of January. Lorrie is a cornucopia of good ideas and bubbly energy. Truly one of a kind!

I’m really going to miss working with her. She was fun to work with, she got the job done, and she helped everyone around her find success. That’s a great combo that we can only hope for in all our working relationships.

Lorrie, you did a great job for the IAC every single day. We are all lucky we had the pleasure of working with you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did, both as IAC Executive Director and as Editor. You deserve a nice boring comfortable retirement. Enjoy it!

Welcome Taylor Mershon!

Our new editor is Taylor Mershon. Welcome, Taylor. She lives in Santa Paula with her aerobatic enthusiast husband, Brooks, their two-year old Malcolm, and their Sukhoi. While we haven’t worked together for very long as I type this, I can already see she is enthusiastic, pleasant, and competent. She also has some amazing artistic talent that I’m sure she will find a use for on the IAC’s behalf. I look forward to working with you, Taylor!