Club Endeavors to Meet Goal
Facilities and School Partnership
During the past three years, the members of the Valley Wide RC Electric Club (VWREC) in Hemet, California, have endeavored to bring to the youth of a small Southern California town the fun associated with aeromodeling.
The club has access to two facilities, both operated by the Valley Wide Recreation & Park District and located next to each other in the town of Winchester. This has made meeting our number-one goal much easier. VWREC uses the gym next to the soccer fields for indoor flying and the soccer fields for larger, more-powerful electric models. Both are a short walking distance from Winchester Elementary School.
Early conversations describing the program to the school staff were met with enthusiasm. Students' ages, class sizes, and available time to put on the club's program were all discussed. The fourth-grade students were selected and classes averaged 36 students. The program was limited to two hours total away from the school. School staff guided the students to the gym and, after the program ended, returned them to the school from the soccer field.
Program structure and materials
The club set up enough large tables to seat the students and an instructor. Supplies on each table provided all necessary materials for each student. Each table was identified by a different number and each student, as he or she entered the gym, received a number that identified his or her table and team.
The program was basic since most students had little or no experience with model airplanes or the concept of how airplanes fly. Instructors taught how to assemble a balsa-wood glider, how to launch it correctly to achieve the longest flight, and what adjustments could improve performance.
Gliders were partially assembled to reduce construction time and lessen possible damage. Instructors installed and glued tail surfaces and the cockpit in place for safety reasons. The wing was partially inserted into the fuselage; students were instructed how to draw the wing through the fuselage to the proper position. For identification, teams wrote their table number on the wing using a black Sharpie. The student pilots prepared to determine who would become the "Best Pilot" from each table.
Competition format
Students from each table assembled in a line roughly 15 feet from and parallel to an adjacent wall. At the head of the line, the instructor demonstrated how to launch the glider toward the wall; the objective was to land the glider on the floor nearest the wall. The student who consistently positioned his or her glider closest to the wall was selected by the instructor to be that table's Best Pilot and received a blue ribbon for good piloting.
All Best Pilots and their gliders accompanied an instructor to the balcony, where they began launching their gliders toward a wall roughly 80 feet away and 15 feet below. Launching continued for about 12–15 minutes, after which flights were measured and the winning pilot was determined.
Introducing some low-level athletic competition into the event increased the students' energy and participation. Students from each table assisted their Best Pilot in a number of ways:
- The "marker person" placed a strip of masking tape with the table number on the gym floor where a glider had stopped when the launch landed closer to the wall than the prior launch.
- The "runner person" brought the glider back to the "elevator person."
- The "elevator person" attached the glider to a string and clip hanging from the balcony.
- The "hoist person" pulled the glider up and handed it to the "handler person," who returned it to the Best Pilot for another launch.
Sometimes the wing needed to be relocated. All activities had to be completed within the time limit.
The pilot who landed his or her glider closest to the wall, along with his or her support team, won a gold medallion awarded by school staff. After the glider activity concluded, all students gathered around the prize table and a drawing awarded additional prizes to lucky students.
Field activities and air show
On the walk back to the school, students who still had their gliders gathered on the soccer field and conducted a mass glider launch — more than 50 gliders doing loop-de-loops. VWREC then put on an air show on the soccer field that featured electric-powered aerobatic airplanes and helicopters for the kids to enjoy.
VWREC has conducted five such events in the past two-plus years. Each event has grown in attendance. The most recent event, held in late March 2011, had 35 students. Club members felt the time and effort were well spent and look forward to the next event.
VWREC wishes to thank the Winchester Elementary School system for its support and the supply of students that allows the club to have such a great time. The club is indebted to the Valley Wide Recreation & Park District for continued use of the gymnasium and the soccer field, which they've used for more than 10 years for flying gliders and electric-powered model aircraft.
VWREC has invited other local clubs to attend these events in the hopes that they too will see the benefits of holding such an active, fun program.
— Jack Wilson VWREC President
History Preserved: Junior Birdmen of America
Origins and mission
The Junior Birdmen of America (JBA) was formed in 1934 by William Randolph Hearst. George Hearst was national commander of the JBA and Lawrence Shaw served as national director.
According to its brochures, the JBA was "an organization of air-minded boys and girls sponsored by … nationally known newspapers. Its aim is to guide and sponsor activities for youth of the nation interested in model plane building and increase the importance of their ambitions. It further aims to direct, into useful channels, this vast model building interest of its members, making it possible for them to turn the knowledge gained through their model work into actual aviation careers and thus become participants in the branches of aeronautics for which they are best suited."
Sponsorship and publications
Seventeen Hearst-owned newspapers sponsored JBA members. Examples included:
- New York American
- Chicago Herald & Examiner
- Los Angeles Examiner
- San Antonio Light
- Omaha Bee-News
A daily or weekly Junior Birdmen column appeared in these publications.
Competitions and prizes
In its first year, JBA began holding local and national model airplane competitions. All 17 Junior Birdmen "Wings" or branches conducted outdoor model airplane derbies on Saturday, July 7, celebrating National Junior Birdmen Model Plane Day.
Local derby winners received an all-expense-paid trip to Fort Myer near Washington, D.C., for the National Junior Birdmen All-America Model Plane Championship Contest. Categories included all-balsa gliders, single-propelled models, and double-propelled models.
Prizes at the national contest included:
- First prize: the William Randolph Hearst Trophy and either a scholarship for an aviation ground course (up to a $500 value) or a trip to Europe.
- Second place: $300 (later reduced).
- Third place: $150 (later reduced).
By 1937, cash winnings were reduced to $250 for first place, $100 for second, and $50 for third.
Membership and squadrons
Membership cost a dime and members received a membership card, brass pin, and club information. Additional Aeronautical and Junior Aeronautical Handbooks were available for purchase from the JBA Library Bureau in New York City.
Members could create flight squadrons: groups of eight or more young model enthusiasts who could stage their own competitions and events. Flight squadrons received a charter certificate, officer bars, and a rules and regulations booklet, all for 25¢. Squadron leaders were called commanders and captains and attached designated bars to their membership pins. Members could earn an Eagle Bar or an Ace Bar depending on test results and contest performance.
At one point, national membership was estimated at half a million. Competitions continued for some years, but as World War II loomed, participation waned and the program ended in the 1940s.
Donations
If you have material from your days in the JBA that you would like to donate, please write to the museum's archivist at [email protected] or to the AMA, Attn: Archives, 5151 E. Memorial Dr., Muncie IN 47302.
MA — Jackie Shalberg Museum Archivist
Congressman Visits Virginia Club
Visit overview
On Sunday, May 1, 2011, Virginia Sixth District Congressman Bob Goodlatte and his wife, Maryellen, visited the flying field of the Roanoke Valley Radio Control Club (RVRC) of Salem, Virginia. Congressman Goodlatte has expressed strong interest in the FAA's proposed new rules governing small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) and their potential effect on noncommercial RC aircraft operations.
He met with the president of the RVRC board, several officers, and many club members. He observed various types of RC aircraft and flying operations including sport, giant scale, 3-D, and warbirds, and viewed a highly detailed scale World War I S.E.5a, a B-17, several P-51 Mustangs, and a large-scale F4U Corsair.
Remarks and outcome
Congressman Goodlatte developed a thorough understanding of the club's activities, the hobby, the relationship with the AMA, and club conduct. He appreciates the difference between hobby/recreational RC aircraft and commercial sUAS used for surveillance, law enforcement, surveying, mapmaking, etc.
He was impressed with the safety standards of the AMA and RVRC, the control of visitors and guests by identifying specific viewing areas, explaining safety procedures, and escorting visitors at the flying field. He stated, "You folks don't fly from point A to point B ... you fly in a controlled area and don't affect commercial aircraft operations. You should be exempt from regulations of the FAA. You and the AMA do an excellent job of regulating yourselves."
He said he would investigate the possibility of cosponsoring a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives as a companion bill to a U.S. Senate bill to exempt recreational, noncommercial RC aircraft model flying from regulations governing commercial aviation operations by sUAS.
MA
— Matthew Shimchock RVRC President [email protected]
FAA Visits Joe Nall
Meeting overview
On May 10–11, 2011, FAA Unmanned Aircraft Program Office (UAPO) representatives attended a two-day meeting with AMA’s model aircraft standards development workgroup during Joe Nall Week in Greenville, South Carolina. The meeting was part of the ongoing effort to develop a set of model aircraft operating standards to be used as an alternate means of complying with the FAA’s proposed sUAS regulation.
AMA member James Sizemore, UAPO’s Airworthiness and Systems Engineering Lead, and Lynn Spencer, UAPO’s sUAS Standards Development Lead, worked with the AMA workgroup to complete an analysis of the sUAS hazards identified by the FAA Safety Risk Management Panel as they relate to model aircraft operations.
Hazard analysis
The hazards presented included:
- Fly-away models
- Loss of control
- Pilot/observer error
- Loss of communication
- Unsafe ground operations
The analysis focused on evaluating the hazards, identifying current risk mitigations, and determining any gaps in AMA’s safety procedures.
AMA’s primary safety tenet in addressing these risks is noninterference with and absolute avoidance of manned aircraft traffic, and separating nonparticipants from modeling operations. These two factors account for a large portion of the success achieved in the safe operation of model aircraft over the past 75 years. Because of the reliability and dependability of today’s modeling equipment and the modeling community’s common-sense, responsible approach to safety, the risks have remained low.
Conclusion
The meeting advanced mutual understanding of hazards and mitigations and reinforced the importance of continued collaboration to develop operating standards that address FAA concerns while preserving safe, recreational model aircraft flying.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
