“Your modern teenager is not about to listen to advice from an old person, defined as a person who remembers when there was no Velcro.”
—Dave Barry
While Dave Barry has a great quote for us this month, it’s really nothing new. As the Education Department moves forward to promote and share Education through Aviation, we’ve been developing a new program of very special volunteers—people who do know what Velcro is! We call them our Youth Ambassadors and they are comprised of the very best young model aviators in the nation.
As a bonus, they’re simply great young men. When we were kicking this idea around, the only thing we were sure of was the concept that peer-to-peer learning, especially at a younger age, is the best way to go. Then we wondered if the names we were kicking around would be willing to share their time and talent for free, travel to represent AMA, and be regular contributors to our AMA Flight School.
To our amazement, it’s been 100% yes! Without hesitation, all of these young men jumped at the opportunity to share what they love with others. Now that we’re a few months into the program, I’ve personally watched them work their magic and am proud to report that this could be one of the very best things we’ve done.
I want to take this opportunity to say that these young fliers have made me more proud of the AMA than anything else we have or do. For many of you, as they’re introduced to you this month, their reputations as successful competitive modelers precede them. What you may not know is what thoughtful, kind, gentlemen they are—a truly an amazing resource of class and talent.
Brett Sanborn began his model airplane flying career at the age of 14 through the Science Olympiad program at Clio High School in Clio, Michigan. In the summer of 2003, Brett qualified for the US Junior F1D Team and the US Junior Team placed first, with individual finishes of first and second for Brett. Brett was the youngest person, at the age of 19, ever to qualify for the US Open F1D Team. The team placed second in 2009 and Brett placed seventh individually.
Since then, Brett was F1D national champion in 2008, and was a member of the 2010 F1D team—finishing fifth individually and contributing to the team gold medal.
At the 2011 team selection contest, Brett qualified in the top spot for the US team.
Dan Landis began competing in Precision Aerobatics when he was approximately 12, going to the Nats and flying in Intermediate his first time there. He’s been back nearly every year since.
Dan now flies F3A and is having a great time and doing extremely well. Currently, he works at Hobbico as the marketing outreach manager and Thunder Tiger brand manager.
RJ Gritter is a student at North Carolina State University, studying aerospace engineering. He is also a flight test instrumentation engineer at Atlantic Aero in Greensboro. He learned to fly RC airplanes at age 12.
RJ started flying competitively when he was 16 in the Electric Tournament of Champions (ETOC). He’s flown in every ETOC since. He has flown in the Extreme Flight Championships (XFC) for the past five years, as well as multiple smaller contests. RJ is also one of the Camp AMA featured instructors.
Nick Maxwell has been flying RC for the last 18 years and helicopters for 13 years. He’s competed in RC Pylon Racing, FAI helicopters, and 3-D helicopters in international competition, and F3C World Championships.
Flying RC has allowed him to visit 16 countries for model helicopter demonstrations and contests. He is the 2012 XFC champion and continues to compete and do testing and evaluations of products for various companies. Nick is employed by Thunder Tiger Helicopters through Hobbico. Nick is also one of the Camp AMA featured instructors.
Andrew Jesky began flying at the age of seven. His first year flying in F3A was 2003. Andrew won his first F3A National Championship in 2009 and won it again in 2010 and 2012. In 2007, he was able to take part in his first F3A World Championship.
Andrew competed in the 2009 and 2011 World Championships. His best finish was third individual, in the event that took place in Muncie, Indiana. The US team won the Team Championship as well. Andrew’s third-place finish was the first podium finish by a US pilot in more than 30 years.
This summer, Andrew will be heading to South Africa for the 2013 F3A World Championship.
Fly and have fun![beanfart]
