Nicolas Spaar Ensures Financial Stability

The Executive Board of the Swiss Model Aviation Association (SMV) consists of six dedicated individuals who are committed to promoting model aviation and supporting the association’s approximately 8,000 members. In the upcoming issues of “Modellflugsport,” we’ll tell you who they are, which department they oversee, and what that entails. With Nicolas Spaar, the SMV Executive Board has a motivated and experienced expert on board for the Finance Department.

Father seeks a treasurer for the SMV; son rediscovers model aviation. That’s one way to sum up Nicolas Spaar’s return to model aviation. But let’s start from the beginning: His father, Romeo Spaar, has been a passionate model aviator since his youth. Naturally, he passed on his passion to his son. Later, however, the son became more interested in model cars and soccer. He trained twice a week and played on the weekends; he also coached a junior team. Back then, his schedule was

just as packed as it would be later, when he launched his career as a trustee and started his own family.

Five years ago, the SMV was looking for a new board member for the finance department. Romeo Spaar—who is now president of the Northwest Regional Association and a delegate to the SMV—asked his son if he would like to take on the role. He agreed, but added: “As an outsider, I obviously couldn’t become a board member of the

SMV. To do that, I first had to rejoin a model flying club. Later, during an executive board outing, my passion for flying came back,” he explains. He was ultimately elected to his position at the General Assembly in 2019.

“I like my job and enjoy doing it, so it doesn’t really bother me when I do the same thing in my free time as I do at work. The bookkeeping itself is done quickly,” says Nicolas Spaar. Other tasks, however, take considerably more time. Spaar’s commitment to the SMV amounts to about 200 hours per year, spread unevenly across the 12 months. Each month, he spends four to five hours on bookkeeping and payments. Every other month, a four- to five-hour board meeting is added to this “basic workload.”

The truly extensive work in this department occurs in the last and first months of the year. In October, grant applications arrive from clubs that want to—or need to—invest in their infrastructure and safety. Spaar compiles the applications into a list so they can be discussed at the next board meeting. Toward the end of the year, the budgets from the specialized committees also arrive, which must be reviewed and summarized. At the beginning of the year, the annual financial statements are prepared for the auditors and for the Delegates’ Assembly.

When asked what he enjoys most, he replies: “Working with my colleagues on the board to make a difference for model aviation—that’s what I enjoy.” Spaar wants to put the SMV on a solid financial footing for the long term while also satisfying the members and

stakeholders. “That’s my job.” At this year’s delegates’ meeting, membership dues had to be raised. “That’s never fun, but unfortunately, expenses are constantly rising.”

Nicolas Spaar lists the reasons behind the increased expenses. The SMV is having to advocate for its members and clubs more and more often because an ever-growing number of stakeholders are claiming the same limited space for themselves, and conflicting interests and needs are increasingly getting in the way of cooperation. It gets expensive, especially when legal counsel has to be brought in. In addition, investments in multilingual content on the website are important for a national federation. Recently, in addition to the existing French translations, this has also been implemented for the Italian-speaking region.

The Sports Department also incurs high costs with its specialized commissions, support for competitions, and the national teams. However, Spaar explains that there is potential for savings in this area. “We want to support our national teams. Our athletes are very successful internationally. But we want to save money where it makes sense. That’s why various approaches to cost reduction are under discussion.”

Nicolas Spaar flies exclusively electric aircraft. “After so many years without flying, I started out with a high-wing plane. Gradually, I expanded my hangar to include a low-wing aircraft and eventually an electric jet.” Last year, he bought a glider to compete in the Regio Cup gliding competition. But: “I have no ambitions to become a top pilot. I

"I'm looking forward to taking off, flying a few maneuvers, and landing again," he says. A homemade Fokker DR.1 is set to join Spaars' model collection at some point. "But I've been working on it for two years already," he says. In the

his workshop, you can sometimes find his two sons (ages 7 and 10). “They have electric gliders, but they’re not that interested in model flying yet, and besides, they’re very careful not to damage anything

,” Spaar notes. He doesn’t want to push them. “If they feel like joining me, I’ll be happy; otherwise, that’s fine too.” ■

The interview was
conducted by Andrea Bolliger

Report in French:
https://www.modellflug.ch/FR/home