Focus on Education - 2003/12

FREE FLIGHT (FF) is attracting youth.
The number of youth participants is up and
the quality of these young fliers is often
incredible.
A stroll through the flightline at the
National Aeromodeling Championships
(Nats) last summer painted a completely
different picture of Free Flight than that of
five years ago. Then you would have seen
mostly retired folks. Today you see kids
and families everywhere. The Free Flight
Nats is not the AARP convention it once
was.
What has caused this change? Much
hard work by many individuals, the
dedication of the National Free Flight
Society (NFFS) and its leadership, and a
number of dedicated youth programs have
contributed to this rise in participation.
These youth programs include the
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
(FAI) Junior National Outdoor team, the
FAI Junior Indoor team, National Model
Aviation Program (NMAP), and the Junior
National Cup. Each program is aimed at a
specific level of ability and flying
discipline (Indoor versus Outdoor).
Together these programs offer
leadership and support for young fliers
throughout the child’s modeling growth.
FAI Junior National Outdoor Team:
The FAI, the world-level aviation
organization, has held the Junior World
Outdoor Free Flight Championships for
roughly the last 20 years. This competition
is held every other year, is separate from
the Open Championships, and attracts
approximately 100 competitors from
generally 20 countries.
Competitions are held in three events:
Towline Glider, Rubber, and Gas Power.
The United States has always sent a team
although it has rarely sent a full team with
three competitors in each event. Although
individuals have done very well, the
United States has never been competitive
on a team basis.
That situation has changed.
Approximately eight years ago, George
Batiuk and others launched a major effort
to attract and develop youth for our
national team. We were only attracting
sons and daughters of FAI fliers, and that
was identified as a major problem. The
system was too “ingrown.”
The first step was to identify young
fliers active in all areas of FF and ask them
to participate in FAI flying. A mentoring
system was established to support their
involvement. In addition, seminars were
held before the Nats to train new fliers and
mentors in the intricacies of top-level
competition.
The results have been dramatic. More
than two-thirds of the recent team
members have parents who do not fly FAI
events. Even more dramatically, we have
team members whose parents are not
modelers at all. That is a big step because
it means we are attracting lifelong
modelers from outside the modeling
community
The youngsters above are many of the 23 youth trying out of the FAI Junior National
Team. Photo by Chuck Markos
Qualifying for the Junior team is a
competitive and challenging endeavor. In
the last cycle, competitors were required to
do exceedingly well in two major Open
competitions and compete in a two-day,
head-to-head contest at the Nats. Included
in this contest was one day of competition
without adult assistance.
FAI airplanes are complex and
sophisticated. The 23 fliers who
participated in this event last summer
without adult assistance are testimony to
the skill of these young fliers and the fine
work of their mentors.
The result is a world-level caliber team.
In each event we have a half a dozen fliers
capable of placing at the World
Championships, but only three could make
the team.
The members of the United States team
will do well at the Junior World
Championships next summer in France.
They may not win, but we can be assured
that they will be prepared and competitive
on every flight in every event.
FAI Junior National Indoor Team: The
FAI World Indoor Junior Championships
has only been held three times. The Junior
Championships is held concurrently with
the Open Championships on a biannual
basis. The United States sent one flier
three years ago and a team of three last
year.
To say that the American team won the
Junior World Championships does not give
full value to the team members’ talent and
accomplishment. Because the Junior event
is held concurrently with the Open event,
comparison to the performance of the Open
fliers is valid.
At the last Indoor World
Championships our Open team won. The
second best team in the world proved to be
the United States Junior team. Our Junior
team members had beaten every other
nation’s Open team—an absolutely
incredible performance.
Our Junior Indoor team is good because
of the leadership of one individual and the
dedicated work of many people mentoring
young fliers.
Science Olympiad is a national science
competition for middle and high school
students. Tom Sanders worked with the
Science Olympiad organization several
years ago to develop a flight event for its
competition called Wright Stuff. That
event has proved to be popular with
students at schools throughout the country.
Roughly 30,000 students have been
introduced to aeromodeling through this
competition. The strength of our Junior
team is anchored in the skills these
students have learned in Science
Olympiad.
Wright Stuff works because modelers
have stepped forward to mentor students in
all of these schools. These dedicated AMA
members have spent time teaching youth
everything from simple building skills to
the sophisticated trimming techniques.
Although the long-term success of this
program can be seen in the
accomplishments of the national team at
the Junior World Championships,
unquestionably, the greater value has been
in the growth of young people throughout
the country and their shared experiences
with their coaches and mentors.
Junior National Cup: The Junior National
Cup, run by NFFS, is a competition that
tracks the performance of Juniors (less
than age 15) in competitions throughout
the United States during the year.
The events used in this competition are
the simpler AMA events (as opposed to the
sophisticated FAI events). These events
included two fiA Power events, P-30 (a
novice Rubber event), Hand-Launched
Glider, and Catapult Glider. The objective
is to attract and to encourage younger and
less-experienced fliers. Many of the
individuals may later develop aspirations
to compete for places on the national team.
Although this program is only in its
second year, the number of participants has
grown to approximately 150 individuals. It
is part of a foundation that will attract and
support a large number of young fliers
entering Free Flight.
National Model Aviation Program:
NFFS recognizes the importance of grassroots
mentoring and teaching for young
modelers. NMAP sets goals for young
fliers, rewards their achievements, and
establishes programs and mentors
throughout the country.
NMAP is only in its first year, but
already a number of programs have been
formed and are bringing more people into
our hobby.
Why is the Free Flight youth initiative
successful?
Structure—programs, coordination
between groups, objectives
Mentoring—large numbers of
individuals spending time with kids
Leadership—NFFS wants to change the
future of Free Flight modeling
Identity—youth need their own
programs
Access—youth outside the modeling
community need access
Model airplanes are cool. It should be
no surprise that today’s youth think so, too.
—Art Ellis
AMA Education Committee member