Education Through Aviation

And so it is with
model aviation ...
We are fortunate
to have an archive
of model aviation
history courtesy
not only of the
National Model
Aviation Museum
in Muncie, but in our rulebook that
ensures competitors fly events that have
been flown for many years.
The history of competitive flying
in model aviation is substantially the
organizational history of the AMA. In
the early days, the majority of members
were youth who participated in Free
Flight contests across the nation. “Postal”
contests became events in which
contestants would mail their airplanes
to one location to be flown against
other airplanes by the same team in the
same location.
When the Academy of Model
Aeronautics was founded in 1936, the
name was chosen by the organization to
acknowledge that learning about model
building and flying was an important
part of a young person’s education.
During the so-called Golden Age of
Aviation, when the nation’s youth
closely followed the achievements
of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia
Earhart, building small-scale aircraft
for competition in local, regional, and
national flying events was viewed as a
logical part of preparation for higher
education in a variety of professional
careers.
We at AMA still fervently believe in
the significant value of aeromodeling
not only for teaching science,
technology, engineering and math,
or STEM, but the key role it plays in
providing a pipeline of talent for general
aviation.
Now, 75 years later, the majority
of our membership is over the age of
55 and, according to our competition
department, we still sanction 2,500 to
3,000 events per year. Although some
of those are not about competitive
flying, the majority are.
How many clubs still have a funfly
day—bomb drops, limbo, bust the
balloon, or other fun events? Isn’t that
a bit competitive, although informal?
Sure it is! The club I belong to will fly
some combat nearly every weekend, just
to get the juices going.
Last year’s Nats had nearly 700
participants. Although that number is
down, how much does the reality of
travel costs have to do with the decrease
in participation? Probably much of it—
but yet it doesn’t reflect how many of
our members participate in a contest of
some kind. Twenty years ago or so, even
the fun-flys every club had each year
were competitive.
Today there seems to be a number of
events that are becoming more social
than anything else. Is that a bad thing?
Absolutely not.
I’ll share some interesting facts about
competitive flying. So far in 2012,
we’ve issued 2,200 sanctions. Of those,
1,020 are AMA rule book contests,
1,017 are contests or fly-ins, but not
using the AMA rule book—such as club
fun-flys, racing, combat, etc. Ninetyeight
are C Restricted or International
Miniature Aircraft Association events,
seven are large events that are contests
but not AMA rule book events such as
Top Gun or Scale Masters, and 27 are
demonstrations. This indicates that a
large number of our members still enjoy
participating in a competitive event.
I know it changed my take on
the hobby and to this day, I greatly
appreciate those who helped get me
into Pattern. Flying with a purpose
has taught me a lot. If you have some
interest, the greatest thing about our
members is that while they can’t wait
to beat you, they also can’t wait to help
you. Just ask!
We have many people doing wonderful
things out there, and one I want
to introduce you to this month is
Scott Fitzgerald, AMA member and
Southwest Airlines pilot. Scott is one
of nearly 900 Southwest pilots who
participate in the Southwest Airlines
Adopt-A-Pilot program that reaches
roughly 50,000 elementary students
annually.
The kids love having their “own” pilot
and they have great lessons in geography
as they track their pilot. Additionally,
model aviation activities are a part of
it—for Scott, it’s a major part of it!
Scott and I met this year at E-Fest
and through Scott, I’ve been able to
introduce activities that the AMA
has for utilizing model aviation as an
educational tool to Southwest Airlines.
Hopefully we’ll soon become a part of
this great outreach.
Thanks, Scott!