Remember Your First Solo Flight?
From the Copilot's Seat By Gary Fitch, Executive Vice President
To say that model aviation is in the fight of its life is not exaggerating. Much is being written about the need for our members to write to the FAA and to their Congressional representatives to express dissatisfaction with the content of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM). This is also your call to action.
AMA's staff is engaging modeling industry leaders, modeling publications, full-scale organizations, and others to rally their members to act on our behalf with the FAA and Congress. These include:
- Modeling industry leaders and publications
- Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)
- Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)
- Civil Air Patrol
- Numerous other organizations
We need to be able to demonstrate that our members are engaged in this fight to avoid regulating model aircraft. Each of you needs to become educated about the message that has to be conveyed. Commit to writing letters to your Congressional representatives and to the FAA.
Handwritten letters command the most attention and must be read and acted upon by the FAA. Please consider asking your family, work acquaintances, and other organizations of which you are a member for help.
Several clubs in District II scheduled a letter-writing meeting. At these meetings members used the talking points that AMA provided and composed handwritten letters that were sent to Congress and the FAA. The completed letters were collected and mailed last spring, and the club members knew they had helped our cause.
This is a terrific idea—one that didn't take much effort and produced significant results. I challenge all of our 2,500 chartered clubs to schedule their own letter-writing meeting night. We can then follow up by sending emails to members of Congress and FAA officials. The more they hear from us, the stronger our position!
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has discovered that its membership grows most when under attack and the right to bear arms is threatened. The NRA asks for and receives funds to provide for legal defense. This is AMA's time of need, and we want to recruit those people who aren't AMA members but who fly model aircraft into our organization.
No other national or regional organization is working to protect everyone's right to fly model aircraft. That is a great reason to contribute financially to AMA's legal defense fund and to join the Academy. If you know someone who is not an AMA member, please explain to them why they should join.
Do you remember that feeling when you first went to the flying field and flew? Do you remember your first solo flight? Do you remember the name of the individual who made your first flight possible?
I remember that experience and the person who helped make it possible 33 years ago. I was a new AMA member on that clear, breezy spring day in May 1979. I brought my new three-channel foam MRC Hawk with an Enya .15 cu. in. glow engine and a Futaba four-channel radio to the Lockport, New York, flying site.
I could ill afford the cost of that equipment back then, much less absorb the cost of smashing that new airplane. Enter Clarence Ragland.
Clarence saw my apprehension and inexperience and offered to help me with my first flight. Letting him take the transmitter to test and trim the aircraft was wise and is likely the reason I'm writing about it today. He asked if I had ever flown before. I told him no but that I thought I could do it.
He handed me the transmitter and guided me through my first turns, teaching me about overcorrection and how to bring the sticks to neutral. This was before the advent of buddy boxes and trainer cords. Clarence did this standing beside me.
The first flight lasted roughly 10 minutes, which is as long as that Enya would run on a 2.5-ounce tank. When the engine quit, Clarence took the transmitter and landed. I had the hang of it after four flights. Little did he know the impact that his help had on my modeling future. I went home with airplanes in my blood.
When I saw Clarence again some 30 years later, I had been re-elected as the AMA District II vice president. After I introduced myself he recognized me, but didn't recall anything about our first meeting. He was an experienced RC instructor and I was just one of many people he had helped.
I explained to him that without his assistance that fateful first day, I might have been in and out of the sport in a single day. Clarence explained that he went on to develop his training method which does not use a buddy box or training cord. He claims that his students will learn to control and land his supplied aircraft in a single lesson. Even with my first experience I found this rather difficult to believe.
I invited Clarence and his wife, Mary, to attend my club's community open house to demonstrate his technique to the several clubs attending. Despite windy weather, they came and brought Clarence's trainer aircraft.
I found four individuals who had never flown RC before. All four flew unassisted after only a couple of minutes with Clarence. His technique uses a calm voice, common sense, and no buddy box while standing next to the students, and it seems to work.
Clarence recently became a new AMA Leader Member.
Often, a single person means the difference between prospective members staying with or dropping out of this sport. You can be that mentor.
We need to increase the number of new Open members, and the only surefire way is if our current members take the time to talk to and help interested people get real flight time. Thanks to all who currently do this.
Until next time, help secure our future and take a youngster flying!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
