Flying Site Assistance - 2007/11

November 2007 153
AMA News
Announcements, news, and information from the
Academy of Model Aeronautics and the elected district representatives.
ANYONE who has heard me speak at the
AMA Convention in California in the past
few years or at club or association meetings
throughout the country has heard me ask,
“What is the first thing you should do after
getting a new flying site?”
The answer is: start looking for your
second site. Even under ideal conditions such
as club ownership of the field, there is a
possibility of zoning change, residential
encroachment, or any number of unforeseen
circumstances that might upset the apple cart.
The following recap of a letter I received
from Bob Richardson, president of the
Central Arkansas Model Aviators
Association (CAMAA), describes just such a
situation.
“Thanks for the phone call to check on
the status of our club flying fields. I say
fields because we now have two flying fields
to use. Our original field is in Bauxite,
Arkansas, (near Little Rock).
“Earlier this year I asked and received
permission from the mayor of Benton to use
the now-closed airport in Benton as a second
field. The county airport closed in April (I
worked for a flying service there until that
time) and moved to a new airport in another
area of the county. The runway is in
excellent condition as it was resurfaced four
years ago and only had private airplane
traffic on it.
“The airport property was sold at auction
to the adjacent church. The church sold the
south half to the City of Benton and retained
the north half for its own use. Since the north
half contained the ramp area that would
accommodate parking for more spectator
cars, I first tried to obtain permission from
the church to use it for our club events.
Church officials advised me that since no use
plan has been drawn up yet by the church,
they preferred that no one use it until that
was done.
“I then went to the mayor of Benton to
see about using the south half for our events
and I was surprised how enthusiastic he was
about us wanting to use it. I presented him
with my written proposal for use that I had
made out for the church board officials (I
changed the words to the ‘city’ officials).
“Included in that proposal was a request
that the grass in the area we would be using
be mowed. I was surprised when I passed the
area the next day and saw that the mayor had
several big bush hog mowers out clearing the
half of the airport—in the rain! He even
offered to bring his personal tractor out and
mow a pit and spectator area for us!
“I made up a flyer to post around town
for the CAMAA RC air show to be held June
16 and gave one to the mayor. He had copies
made and posted them on doors at City Hall.
We invited several clubs in the area to fly
with us at a real airport. No contest—just an
opportunity to enjoy our hobby.
“We provided some entertainment for
spectators, including a couple of buddy-box
training airplanes with which we provided
airtime to the mayor and his 11-year-old son.
I presented both of them with certificates of
accomplishment when they were finished
flying with our club instructors.
“We had some pilots from out of town
come in to fly and demonstrate their turbine
jet aircraft. The airport runway was perfect
for that. Some of the turbine pilots have since
joined our club.
“We had a bigger crowd of spectators and
more pilots than we had expected at the
event, and have scheduled another CAMAA
RC air show for October 20 at the airport.
We recently received AMA approval for the
airport site to be designated as our club’s
alternate flying site and it is insured as such.
“Eventually the airport property will be
used for commercial development, but the
mayor advised me that until that happens, it
is ours to use anytime we want. We also have
a built-in audience since the city park’s ball
fields are adjacent to the airport.
“Our club’s main flying field is a grass
field located about 10 miles from the airport.
It is located on an old bauxite pit that was
filled in as a landfill and capped off many
years ago. Over the years the runway has
sunk slightly in several places and we made
plans to bring in a bulldozer, level it, and put
a geotextile mat over it.
“Our landlord, the McGeorge Company
(a heavy-equipment, dirt-moving company)
from whom we lease the field, has given us
some rules on doing the dirt work, one of
which is that they require a never-ending
$15,000 construction bond that would
increase at the rate of 3% a year.
“We find the bond requirements
unsatisfactory, so for the time being our
runway improvement project is on hold.
“We have the good luck to have a
bulldozer operator from the county landfill
next to our field interested in our club and he
even asked and received permission from his
boss to do the dozer work for us at no charge,
but that has been put on hold also.
“The McGeorge Company representative
has said the construction bond was to comply
with state regulations on landfills; however, a
club member checked with the state
department that has jurisdiction over
landfills, and was told the landfill is so old
that they don’t regulate it anymore. So until
we can clarify all this and coordinate this
with our landlord, our runway work is on
hold.
“It is nice to have an alternate site so
when we can start our runway work we will
still have a place to fly until it is completed.
The Hot Springs, Arkansas, RC club is in the
process of resurfacing its runway and we
have offered the members the use of our
airport site during this process.
“Pictures of our club, field, members, and
the CAMAA RC air show held at the airport
site in June, are on www.camaa.org on a
dropdown menu. Click on the pictures and
maximize the screen for the best quality.”
This is a textbook example of the wisdom
of always having a second flying site
available. If they can work out the details,
these members will have a choice of two
great flying fields. If one field is lost, the
club will have one left and can retain its
membership while searching for a second
flying site!
Flying Site Assistance Wes DeCou | [email protected]
Start looking for your second site
Wes De Cou
Coordinator
Western Region
AMA Districts VIII - XI
202 W. Desert Flower Ln.,
Phoenix AZ 85045
Voice: (480) 460-9466;
Cell: (480) 296-9515
Fax: (480) 460-9434
E-mail: [email protected]
Joe Beshar
Coordinator
Eastern Region
AMA Districts I - VII
198 Merritt Dr., Oradell NJ 07649
Tel.: (201) 261-1281;
Fax: (201) 261-0223
E-mail: [email protected]
Finding—Preserving—Maintaining