            ***CPAA is looking for a few good men and women!***

It is well past time for CPAA to transition from a solo operation to an
integrated team! There is simply too much going on in the commercial PC and
Mac-based flight simulation world, and too many people interested in becoming
actively involved in it for one person to try to keep up with it all and still
get the word out to people on anything like a timely basis.

CPAA has experienced some serious ebbs and flows in its visibility this past
year and a half, because it has had to compete with the demands on one
person's schedule (mine!). That situation must be rectified if we are to
remain a viable organization.

In response to these developments, a great number of people of contacted me,
saying they are willing to help...what can they do? I have given that some
thought, and have put together a list of "positions" or roles, that I'd like
to offer as specific areas where people who want to contribute some time and
effort can pitch in and help out.

Current CPAA activity generally consists of: membership solicitation and
recruitment, newsletter development, production and distribution, product
distribution (SubLOGIC Scenery Disks 1 through 6), software evaluation,
software library management, records management, and external activities
support (CPAA/Cornell Conference).

The following is a brief description of what is currently done in each
category of activity, and a description of the tasks which might logically be
assigned to willing hands.

I. Membership Solicitation and Recruitment

Currently, membership development consists of responding to requests for
information generated by word-of-mouth, occasional press stories, FSFORUM-
generated inquiries, and referrals from products and manufacturers such as
SubLOGIC (Phone referrals for SD1-6, insert in NFL), Microsoft MAC-FS4 manual
and ASD manual, Mallard Software Flight Planner, and TekMate and DataWings
product enclosures, which either include an application form or provide CPAA
contact information.

In response to these requests, a seven-piece package is mailed to each
individual, containing organization information, application form, Flightline
description and list of issue contents, back-issue order form, scenery disk
order information, copy of November 1991 Open Letter to CPAA members, and
cover letter.

Due to the centralized nature of the contact information, and the source of
materials, and the need to maintain the data entries for these requests, I see
no need or value to changing the way this is handled. RFI's __generally__ are
handled on an almost immediate turn-around, and this seems to work quite well.
(Currently, I mail out between 20 and 30 of these packages per week.)

AREAS of assistance:

Spread the word. If you support CPAA, make sure everyone you know or talk to
who is interested in flight simulation is aware of it. If you want materials
to distribute, contact me and make arrangements to have them sent to you. I
can make full packets available, or simply send multiple copies of the
brochure and application form.

Some software stores have asked for materials and I have sent them copies of
the packets. They generally keep the information on file and if they get
requests for older scenery disks or have a customer who asks about support or
user organizations for flight simulation, they let them have a look at it and
get the contact information they need. So if you have a favorite software
store, especially one where you make a significant "contribution" to their
rent payments, you might give that a try.

Art Zorka, in Atlanta, is taking the lead in coming up with a proposed CPAA
Chapter format, and will be putting together some tips on his experience in
that regard, and help develop an appropriate chapter structure and thoughts on
chapter relationships to the "parent" organization.

II. Newsletter Development, production and distribution

This is perhaps the most time-consuming and demanding activity to try to do
"solo". Even with the "Check Six" section being entirely written and composed
by Steve Edwards, there is still the need to develop thirty-six pages of
newsletter content, and then get it laid out and set up for printing. The use
of material from contributing authors makes that job SO much easier. Phil
Curtiss and Don Simmons have provided series' of articles, and others have
made significant contributions. But we need more of those, as well as some
help assembling specific categories of information, as I will describe below.

Areas of Assistance:

I intend to identify, if people are willing, "Specialty Editors"; people who
will assume the responsibility to gather certain types of information together
on a regular basis and forward it to me for inclusion in the newsletter.

A. Specialty editors/contributors:

Below are some of the specialty information areas that seem to be of
particular interest right now. I am looking for a volunteer to be the
"Specialty Editor" for each of these areas.

Their responsibility would be to scan all sources of information (CIS, BBSs,
publications, their own personal experience, etc.,) for relevant information
in their area. These would include information about new developments, bug
reports, fix reports, special tips and tricks in the use of software in their
area, and general information about unique applications of the software in
their area.

These collections of data would be compiled in a specified text format and
sent to me by modem, message or mail for inclusion in the newsletter. They
would be provided, in addition to the format information, a list of planned
deadlines for submission, the approximate byte-size allocated for that area
per newsletter issue, and the subsequent publishing schedule for the
newsletter, so that their work could be completed on a timely basis to meet
those publishing deadlines.

In addition, each specialty area editor would be asked to be on the lookout
for particularly significant developments in their area which might be good
subjects for CPAA NOTAMs, either because they're major events, or because it
may be important to get the word out regarding them between the quarterly
newsletter publication periods.

(NOTE: Because so MUCH valuable information comes from the exchanges of
messages in the various threads in the FSFORUM message sections, we would
propose to upload those compilations to the CPAA library--or whatever library
would be appropriate, depending on the subject area--as an ongoing
contribution to the FSFORUM information base, if the Forum management agrees.
Such compilations of significant and useful threads and messages is already
frequently done, and we would be adding to that process, though taking care
not to be duplicative.)

Specialty Areas of current interest:

-ASD Usage

-SGA Usage

-ATP Usage

-IFT Usage

-SEE and related products usage

-F3 Usage

-Hardware Configuration

-General Memory Management

-MAC FS Users

-Tips and Tricks (General FS)

-Anomaly/Interesting Flights

-Initial Training/Introduction to FS

-Flight Planning

-Navigation/Instrument Flight

-What's in the PC literature? (We would provide subscriptions to relevant
magazines for the person handling this area on a recurring basis.)

-Hardware Peripherals (Often, we can arrange for free review items, which the
reviewer can retain, as a form of compensation for their efforts in this
area.)

-New Software Reviews (We can usually arrange free review copies of new
software, which the reviewer can retain, as a form of compensation for their
efforts in this area.)

B. Wing-Tips Author/Editor

A special area of interest in finding some help is in the preparation of the
"Wing-Tips" supplement to the newsletters. This series is intended to be for
the "REAL serious" user of flight simulators. I would like it to develop into
the closest thing to a real "ground school" syllabus that we can have. For
that reason, the person doing this should be an experienced pilot and,
preferably a certified flight instructor. I would also like to be able to send
out "Wing-Tips" as a monthly item, with the one typically included in the
newsletter being simply whichever one is ready to go and can take advantage of
the newsletter mailing and "piggy-back" with it.

C. Miscellaneous Articles

Anyone who has anything they'd like to write about relating to flight
simulation use is welcome to submit articles! We prefer 2 to 5 Kbytes, in
ASCII text form, but will consider articles of any length, or a series of
articles. We need editorial freedom and prefer uncopyrighted stuff, but have
no problem indicating copyrights, if necessary. Even short descriptions of
particular flights or incidents are welcome. If you find an in-flight anomaly
or unique visual experience, we'll forward it to the "Anomaly Editor" (see
above) for inclusion.

D. Regional Editors/Representatives

In addition, I would like to identify someone to be a point of contact and
CPAA/Flightline representative in the non-US areas, where we have
concentrations of membership. Their role would be to provide information about
CPAA and the newsletter to other information exchange sources in their
respective areas of the world. They would be asked to regularly report the
trends of flight simulation program usage in their region, and any new
developments coming out of their region which may be of interest to the rest
of us.

Currently, these "Regional Editor" positions would be as follows:

European Editor

Asian/Pacific Editor

Canadian Editor

III. Product Distribution (SubLOGIC Scenery Disks 1 through 6)

This area is one that largely must continue to be centralized, due to the
"custom" nature of the orders and disk composition. I am generally able to
keep up with these, though occasionally push the outer limit of the "allow
four to six weeks for delivery" disclaimer on the order form. I have better
batch files and production techniques now, so that should continue to improve.
The exception to that is the distribution done by Joe Lincoln at TekMate.

IV. Membership Services

A. Technical Assistance

In this area, the demand is not very great. What would be most helpful would
be a list of referrals that I could use to put people with questions together
with the people with answers. If you have an particular area of expertise
you'd be willing to be a "Source" for, please let me know, and I'll compile a
list. Let me know the preferred method of contacting you (Phone, FAX, numbers,
hours, etc.,)

B. Multi-Player contacts

We have quite a few members who are interested in Multi-Player flying. I need
someone to take those names and be a contact source for people to call and get
the names and numbers for others in their preferred calling area.

C. CPAA licensing division

We have been talking for several years now about a CPAA certification process.
We released a CPAA version of the FARs about two years ago, asking for review
and comment. I'd like to reinvigorate that idea under the direction of a
volunteer. This would entail reviewing those "regulations", revising them as
needed, developing a testing criteria appropriate to the capabilities of
simulators on the market, and setting up a means of applying for CPAA flight
certification, with the necessary forms and records.

V. Software Library/Data File Management

I have multi-megabytes of files all over the hard drives of two machines,
which are in desperate need of some order out of chaos. One of the things I
need is to sort out the duplicate files and the superseded files in the area
of shareware utilities and ASD scenery files.

This is especially true of ASD files which I'd like better categorized and
renamed, following the CPAA naming system. In addition, I have developed a set
of "standards" for "CPAA-Select" ASD files, which are those that meet a fairly
rigid set of criteria for realism and accuracy and applicability to "real
world" flying. I need someone to review current and new files to select those
files which should be included in that special group.

VI. Records Management

This, again, is largely an internal process that needs to remain centralized,
for ease and rapidity of access and update. Eventually, as funding permits, I
intend to secure professional auditing and accounting help in this area, to
facilitate the development of financial reports to the membership as well as
ease the load of tax accountability.

VII. External Activities Support (CPAA/Cornell Conference).

Currently, the major external activity is the CPAA/Cornell Conference, in
Ithaca, New York. From the standpoint of who really puts this together, it
should be called the "Jim Maas/Cornell Conference", but Jim has been gracious
enough to apply his affiliation with CPAA to the title. He does incredible
work, and as far as I'm concerned is the "Conference King" of CPAA. At the
next meeting at Ithaca we expect to have some discussions about how Jim wants
all that to be handled in the future, and what assistance we can give him to
really earn the right to be affiliated as a co-sponsor of this terrific event.

In addition to the conference, the most visible ongoing "activity" we have is
the maintenance of a section in the FSFORUM in CompuServe. This is an area
that could be of great value to the organization, if we were able to properly
use it and get threads started and kept moving. I need someone to assume that
responsibility. We can arrange to support the on-line time required for that
purpose, so it wouldn't be adding a financial burden to someone. But it really
needs to be an almost daily thing, as it requires a serious commitment on
someone's part to do it. This would also include the responsibility for the
management of the files in Library 15, from the standpoint of updating
information files, and preparing the files to be uploaded, as well as working
with the Forum management to ensure that all files guidelines are followed.

Well, these are my initial thoughts about how folks can pitch in and help with
CPAA. I would appreciate any offers and commitments of assistance, as well as
any suggestions for things we should--or should NOT--do as an organization.

Please contact me with your responses. You can write to me at:

CPAA
P.O. Box 580608
Houston, Texas, 77258-0608

FAX me at: (713)333-4685

Phone me at: (713)333-4698

or E-Mail me at

CIS 77576,547