Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/07
Page Numbers: 9,10,11
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NatsNews is Back for 2006!

AMA launched the 80th National Aeromodeling Championships (Nats) — the world's largest model-aviation event — May 31, 2006, in Johnson City, Tennessee, with indoor free-flight (FF) activity. Outdoor action at the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana, begins July 4.

More than 1,000 participants are expected to fill the skies with virtually every form of flying model imaginable. The contest runs six weeks and comprises more than 165 separate events.

NatsNews covers day-to-day events in a bold style that brings the event to life on your computer screen. Expect scores, photos, blow-by-blow descriptions of the action, and behind-the-scenes looks at participants and the technology they bring to win one of the oldest and most prestigious model-airplane contests.

If you can't be there but wish you could be, check out NatsNews online!

—Publications Department

Programs That Get Kids Flying

When I think of all the help I received from the time I began model-airplane and full-scale flying, I reflect on the learning experiences and determine what exactly made me so interested in aviation.

It was the people who helped me learn to build and fly and the ones who taught me to never give up when the going got tough. Those same kinds of people are still around today in our fast-paced society, and one who stands out is Jim Mahoney.

Jim is a member of the AMA, the International Miniature Aircraft Association, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and the Antique Aircraft Association. He has constructed two homebuilt and two classic airplanes, along with scores of models. His modeling interest started after World War II. He has special interests in autogiros.

Sun ’n Fun and Air Camp

Jim was chairman of the kids' activities tent at the 2006 Sun ’n Fun Fly-In, held April 4–10 in Lakeland, Florida. It is the world's second-largest full-scale fly-in. But this wasn't the first time I had found Jim helping kids learn about aviation and model building.

A couple of years ago, after I had joined the Prop Busters RC Club in Lakeland, Jim came into my hobby shop and asked if he could leave a brochure about something called "Air Camp" that Sun ’n Fun held during the summer months to help kids learn to fly RC. I am raising a 9-year-old grandson, and it sounded like a good way to teach him to fly.

To participate in Air Camp, parents bring their kids to the flying site on the Sun ’n Fun campus and leave them, along with a lunch and $5 to cover their AMA dues for the day, in the care of Jim and crew. The young aviators then receive training on RC flight simulators and finally take the controls of an RC model with a volunteer from the local model clubs on the buddy box.

Last year roughly 80 kids went through training at Air Camp, and they came from across Florida. My grandson Justin soloed after two years of Air Camp and is now an avid flier.

Wings ’n Things and other programs

Another event Jim heads up is Wings ’n Things, which takes place on the Sun ’n Fun campus during the summer. It features autogiros and electric-powered models and attracts approximately 1,500 Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts who are there earning Aviation Merit Badges.

Jim and other RC club members demonstrate different types of flying machines. The volunteers show up with every type of model imaginable, such as flying lawn mowers and flapping-wing electric birds, to show the kids what is possible to fly.

The kids' activity tent at the 2006 Sun ’n Fun attracted hundreds of kids. It was staffed with aviation-oriented volunteers, many of whom were from the RC clubs in the area. Some were full-scale pilots or ex-pilots who just want to teach kids about flying.

Also in the tent was a link-trainer-type setup that kids weighing as much as 100 pounds can get inside and fly, and several radio-control simulators. The kids are also taught how to make a wing rib, a balsa glider, and a paper airplane.

While I was working in the tent with the RC simulators, adults asked me numerous questions about the RC hobby and the simulators. Many of these people were parents who wanted to participate along with their kids.

Most of the volunteers this year were older guys like Jim and me. There were fewer younger workers. Who will continue the work after we are gone? I am 68 and have been building and flying models since I was 12.

When I started there were no ARFs or RC simulators; everything was done the hard way. Today it is easier for kids, thanks to programs such as those I have mentioned, volunteers to teach them, and people such as Jim to head up the activities. Younger adults also need to get involved.

I have seen it asked in MA and other model magazines where the kids are. The kids are out there; it just takes someone to lead them in the right direction. If you are a model builder/flier, why not pay back some of what you owe and volunteer in your area helping kids learn about the great hobby we all enjoy?

Why not start a club project with a few training airplanes geared toward new fliers? And why not start some classes on building model airplanes for the time when you crash? There are older and younger model-airplane enthusiasts who know nothing about building or repairing an airplane but would like to. One can find classes on constructing full-scale airplanes, but there are very few for building and flying models.

All the information about Wings ’n Things and the Air Camps is posted on the Sun ’n Fun website (www.sun-n-fun.org), but not until a few months before they are scheduled. Wings ’n Things will not be held again until early November.

There is also a summer program called "Destination Aviation" that teaches kids about full-scale flying. The new Tom Davis Education Center was opened last year for the purpose of teaching kids.

Perhaps another Air Camp will be held during the early part of 2007. In the meantime, you can read about the 2006 event and perhaps get some ideas about how to start a program in your area.

Contact:

MA

—Bob Bass District V

Modeling Icon Receives AMA Fellowship Award

Model-aviation legend and AMA Life Member Leon Shulman was recently presented with the Academy’s highest honor: the AMA Fellowship Award.

Leon’s distinguished modeling career began in the early 1920s. Since then he has designed several well-known free-flight (FF) models including the Zomby, the Banshee, the Wedgy, and the Skyscraper. In the mid-1940s he developed and manufactured the famous .29 cu. in.-displacement Drone diesel, which was one of the more popular model-aircraft engines during that period.

Leon’s hobby drove him to a successful career in the hobby industry, leading to a position as vice president of Monogram Models in Chicago, Illinois. Later, beginning in the 1950s, Leon became a manufacturer’s sales representative for many prominent modeling companies of that period including Top Flite, Du-Bro, Fox Engines, Midwest Products, Bonner Electronics, and E.K. Logitrol Radios.

Leon has been recognized several times for his contributions to model aviation. He has received the Howard McEntee Award and the AMA Distinguished Service Award. He is a member of the Vintage Radio Control Society Hall of Fame, the National Free Flight Hall of Fame, the Society of Antique Modelers Hall of Fame, and the Model Aviation Hall of Fame.

Today Leon continues to design and fly models and has recently had several articles published in various modeling magazines. He also spends much of his time watching his son Don and grandsons Jason and David follow in his footsteps as outstanding modelers.

On behalf of all AMA members, the Academy thanks Leon Shulman for more than 80 years of involvement in the hobby and sport of model aviation.

MA

—Dave Mathewson District II Vice President

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.