“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
—William Butler Yeats
(Photos of maiden flight on Camp AMA Flickr)
The following letter was submitted by someone who attended Camp AMA 2014.
Since I was very young, I have always been interested in aviation. I decided that my aspirations are to design and build airplanes and figured, why wait? I learned to fly model aircraft when I was 13 and eventually gained enough skill and knowledge to test my designs. I started with building scale models to teach myself how to build flying model aircraft. The MQ-9 Reaper is the latest scale model I built.
I decided to build the Reaper due to its large wings and simple design. I cut the airplane from pink foam insulation using a hot-wire cutter made from an old car battery charger. Construction started a week before I drove to Camp AMA, and I made it my goal to have the airplane fly during my time at camp.
I was able to complete the airframe and paint it the day before arriving. While at camp, I installed the electronics and landing gear. I received a great deal of help and support from the other campers while finishing the plane at camp, and am very thankful for it.
I finished the model three days into camp and prepared it for flight. Because of the pusher motor, the plane was tail-heavy and required a great amount of weight in the front. Once the plane was balanced, the rates needed to be turned down and trimmed.
The landing gear was flimsy, but I was determined to put the model in the air that day. I taxied out to the runway and the entire camp gathered to observe the Reaper’s maiden flight. I slowly advanced the throttle to full and watched the airplane approach the point of no return.
As the plane picked up speed, the nose wheel lost authority to the rudder. As it accelerated toward the end of the runway, I commanded the plane to give up-elevator. The craft hesitated, then gradually lifted off the ground. It looked amazing in the air and flew beautifully.
Upon landing, the gear collapsed and the airplane rolled to a gradual stop. Because of the awkward way the landing gear folded under the plane, the airframe remained undamaged. The Reaper has not flown since, but new landing gear is being installed and it will be airborne once again.
My experiences at camp were amazing and I intend to return for as many years as possible. My personal thanks go out the camp director, Jessy Symmes, as well as all of the camp attendees this year.
—Michael Horvat
(Photos on disc – I like #11) attached
Civil Air Patrol (CAP) 2nd Lt. Michael R. Harris shared a story about how CAP cadets learned how to fly RC aircraft.
It all began one day while flying at Steen’s Sports Park. I was approached by a local Civil Air Patrol Squadron Commander, Capt. Andrew Lucas, and he asked for help with the Klamath Falls Civil Air Patrol composite squadron. He wanted to know if it could be possible for me to put together a program so that his cadets would be able to learn about and fly RC airplanes.
He invited me to attend their next meeting, and I was reluctant at first, but after attending just a few CAP meetings I realized how important the CAP mission was to America.
AMA is all about RC and kids. This is a place where young boys and girls learn about aeronautics, leadership, and safety, with a CAP vision statement that says “Civil Air Patrol, America’s Air Force auxiliary, building the nation’s finest force of citizen volunteers serving America.”
They have a group of eight active adult senior members and 24 youth members, with ages ranging from 12 to 18. With a strong mission statement of, “Supporting America’s communities with emergency response, diverse aviation and ground services, youth development, and promotion of air, space, and cyber power,” it was easy to see how important this was.
It wasn’t long after that, that I joined the Civil Air Patrol myself. The squadron was in need of an Aerospace Education Officer and I was offered this position. There were a lot of things to learn about CAP and so my important journey began.
With the cooperation from my RC club, the Yankee Air Pirates Aeronautical Institute (YAPAI), I was convinced our board of directors to allow us to use the Skip Robertson memorial flying field, in Malin, Oregon. After that, the plans started coming together and even the City of Malin got involved by giving permission and providing park benches for our classrooms and eating arrangements.
By following the Model Airplane and Remote Control program, designed by AMA and CAP members, it was easy. Within a few short months, what had been dreams would come true. With these respectful young men and young women, and an easy program to follow, things went smoothly.
With support of my new squadron commander, Lt. Col. Theresa Longley, we formed our own RC club called The CAP Flight R/C club, with 14 cadet members and five adult members joining. We put together what was a fantastic weekend of camping, drill practice, and flying. Recruiting two trainer pilots from the YAPAI and a couple of pilots from the Flight Masters of Klamath Falls and several trainer planes, we were off to scorch the skies. With Rod Baker, Randy Sweigert, and me from YAPAI, and Roy Rivskovsky and Bill Young from Flight Masters as trainer pilots, we were ready.
The first day was a Friday when we set up our camp tents and RVs and a base camp kitchen. Our squadron safety officer 2nd Lt. Hart, a former fire chief, looked for hazards and had a 20-minute safety briefing of what he felt might be safety issues. After that, we set about cooking dinner and had some of our senior members doing open flying for the entertainment of all. We had 11 cadets in attendance.
The evening was cool and the air dense. As the sun dropped below the horizon, the cadets were practicing drill and playing a CAP game called Capture the Flag. Some of the cadets were on the two simulators that we had set up near one of the RVs. Each cadet had about 30 minutes of simulator time as the evening wore on. At dusk, we began to fly our night-flying planes and entertained everyone. There was excitement in the air as we prepared for tomorrow’s event.
Day two started early as the cadets rolled out of bed at 5:30 a.m. for physical training and more drill practice while the senior members, Victoria Namany, Kathy Burch, and our squadron commander, prepared a delicious breakfast of biscuits and gravy. We were off to a wonderful start.
The training pilots started by warming up their airplanes with a little air show, then the training classes began. First Roy made a presentation on “A little about what makes an airplane fly.” Then there was a 30-minute preflight classroom, and we pointed out that the differences between RC airplanes and real aircraft. After that, I gave a 30-minute class on RC safety. Both classes were followed by 10-question quizzes that were required to pass before going on to the hands-on portion of the day. Certificates were awarded to each cadet who passed both of the RC training and safety classes. Finally, it was time to fly.
Each cadet was allowed 10 minutes of buddy-box time before rotating to the next pilot for another 10-minute session of buddy-box time. I felt that by getting several different styles of training from each of the three pilots, the education process would be more in-depth. We flew session after session all the way to lunch, stopping only to eat.
The only incident was a crash resulting in a trainer plane loss when a battery came out of the bottom of one of the Next Star electric planes because the battery wasn’t properly strapped in. The trainer pilot said he thought “They would only be flying around flat and level, so it didn’t really matter.” When he found himself upside down and had to commit to an emergency loop, it proved to be too much gravity for the plastic door latch to retain the heavy battery. Unfortunately, the recovery proved that the crash was “fatal,” but that didn’t dampen the fun—it just added to the depth of the lesson. All were having fun and it wasn’t long before there was a lot of laughter and small successes being made by every one of the cadets.
The day went fast, as everybody was having great fun. Bill Young showed up and gave a UAS demo with his Fat Shark system on a Blade 350 QX quadcopter, and he gave everyone a view through the goggles. Several cadets needed steadying because they had a tendency to lean over when the quadcopter turned. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the quadcopter.
Just before the day began to slow down, and it was getting to be time to eat, Airman Eleanor Burch was able to focus and got in the first and only successful landing for the weekend. Outstanding job, Cadet Burch!
Dinner was served and everybody was tired and content that we had pulled off a wonderful weekend. Everybody slept well that night. The next morning, the camp was awakened by the sound of my twin biplane warming up. After breakfast, it was flying time again with just a few buddy-box attempts and more demo flights by the staff. What a great time, but now it was time to pack up the tents and put everything away.
By one 1 p.m. we were packed and leaving. I want to thank everyone who participated. The event was fun and a lot of aerospace information was shared and learned. It was simple to put together this worthy event. I encourage everyone to try it—join a local CAP squadron and bring together cadets and AMA. It is a worthwhile adventure that everyone enjoyed.
Fly and have fun!
