EDUCATION THROUGH AVIATION by Bill Pritchett, Education Director
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” — John F. Kennedy
I received some nice feedback about my column referencing Ernie Banks and our pursuit of fun. Apparently it resonated with a few people, so we’ll stay with that subject for a while.
Please keep one thing in mind: a theme that I’ve tried to include in each month’s column is the fact that things change. I’ve repeatedly challenged all of you to accept change, and if you think back not so many years ago, you might remember that helicopters were a concern to many. Today, they’re a huge part of our activities.
Now the multirotors are here, as well as articles in major publications titled “Here Come the Drones” and “Look Who’s Watching You.” We hear of many modelers resisting the latest “new” thing in the industry. You really don’t think it stops with multirotors, do you? There are, no doubt, fun things headed our way that haven’t even been thought of yet. The sUAS community is like the rest of us—fascinated with the latest thing. It’s simply a different thing.
AMA and multirotors
A turning point for AMA was its decision to embrace the multirotor community. After all, who better to represent and educate these new pilots than an organization boasting nearly 80 years of safe operations?
Dave Mathewson, AMA executive director, has repeatedly said, “No modeler left behind.” Clearly, that includes the sUAS community. Our choice was clear and, in my opinion, we chose well.
We could have continued to see news reports of individuals doing outrageous things with their multirotors on the evening news, but AMA decided to embrace them, invite them to join our community, and show them how to have fun safely. It’s happening. Yes, it’s a change. Reread paragraph two—things change.
One major change is that, through the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released in February, it’s clear that model aviation will survive as we used to know it. That’s a great thing, and there will be commercial operations of sUAS taking place in the future through the eventual adoption of Part 107. I don’t want to get into all of the numbers and dates. AMA Government and Regulatory Affairs Director Rich Hanson does a fantastic job with that each and every day.
Education resources
What I want to point out is how AMA embraces the multirotor community. The Know Before You Fly program (www.knowbeforeyoufly.org) is a fantastic collaborative effort of organizational, industry, and governmental partners. Its content is perfect for the first look at safe operations.
What the AMA Education department has done is add “Learn sUAS” to AMA Flight School (www.amaflightschool.org). We’ve partnered with Fly Robotics, a company that employs a group of pilots who have unmatched experience and credentials in the UAV and sUAS world, to provide a number of sUAS-specific resources. This was necessary to provide this community with the best available information, especially as it relates to safe aircraft operations!
At the end of the day, the real value that Fly Robotics will bring to the AMA is that it is made up of AMA members and is 100% behind our organization.
Reader response
Here is a response to my column about Ernie Banks that I thought you would enjoy. Although these pilots fly Discus Launch Gliders (DLGs), they also appreciate the value of exercise! Fun has all kinds of appearances.
“What a great piece of writing! This article summarized so well my pleasure and enjoyment I derive from my model aviation activity. Despite being retired, I’m busier now than when I had to go to that place we called ‘the office’ and do something we called ‘work.’
“Not having ‘work’ today gave me time to help find a few precious places to fly gliders, do education outreach using model aviation to support STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math], and scratch-build a couple DLGs.
“A few of us retirees are finding DLG flying very convenient for parks and schoolyards we have available, need no launching equipment, get some exercise without having to go to a gym, and enjoy long battery life. The community prohibits model airplanes (motorized by definition) from schoolyards and parks, but permits gliders/sailplanes because they are unmotorized.”
— Noel Eberhardt Cupertino, California South Bay Soaring Society
Fly and have fun!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
