The Inside Loop - 2009/11

ust as the EAA has its annual gathering
in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, we of the AMA
have our annual Nats competition. Both
of these pilgrimages include thousands of
participants that cover an immense grassy area
where aircraft of all types loom. It’s applause
time!
The Nats is an intense time of the year. It’s
an event that most who attend plan an entire
year around—sometimes more. During
competition, how serious each person is can
easily be seen in his or her facial expressions.
It’s almost painful to see, but that’s how we
get, because it’s a serious activity.
You and I know that competition is about
more than winning, don’t we? Sport model
aviators are serious also, maybe to the same
level as the typical competitor, but the
difference I see most often is that the sport
modeler smiles a lot more.
My boys smile, even laugh, while flying
their model airplanes or helicopters. Sure, they
get serious (they talk about entering the Nats
or Extreme Flight Championships almost
weekly), and even practice their poker faces,
but that’s when they’re trying something new
and need that extra focus.
When they get the maneuver down, it’s
smile time again. Laughing while flying—I
even have to remind myself to do that
sometimes.
Back to that “applause” remark, this issue
is a “thank you” to the AMA members and a
tribute to both competitors and sport pilots
alike who promote aeromodeling.
I consider promotion as the direct contact
of sharing or simply the positive participation
at an aeromodeling event or meeting. It’s the
competitor who brings the new technology to
the sport modeler, and it’s the sport modeler
who reminds the competitor to go out and
have a little fun every once and awhile.
William Lund’s coverage of KidVenture,
held at the annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh,
reminded me of the treasure that infecting
young people with the magic of flight can be.
As AMA members, we’re serious about
aviation.
What the Northern Aces Show Team has
done for a number of years in Oshkosh is a
model of how other clubs might spur interest
and support in their own areas. That the group
builds a giant scale model while thousands of
spectators breeze by absolutely floors me. If
I’m interrupted while turning a screw, I have
to double-check my work.
The EAA festival is held at roughly the
same time as the AMA Nats. Someday I hope
to break away for at least one weekend from
the Nats and head to Wisconsin. But as you’ll
read in Jay Smith’s Nats coverage, missing
any day at the Nats is like arriving at the flying
field only to realize that you left your
transmitter on the bench. Something is
seriously missed.
The Nats never ceases to impress me.
Model airplanes keep getting lighter, the
engines stronger, and the batteries more
6 MODEL AVIATION
Editor Michael Ramsey
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The Inside Loop
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“It’s applause time!”
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powerful than the sun our planet orbits. In
CL, the winners will soon have to be
determined out to the 14 decimal place. And,
who knows? Maybe the max time of an FF
model will have to be moved past something
ridiculous, such as five minutes—as soon as
all the trees and cornfields are moved.
The Nats will always happen, but it’s an
activity of change that gleefully filters down
to the sport modeler—those like you and
me—and brings smiles to our serious faces.
Speaking of smiles, look at Paul Bradley’s
coverage of the SMALL event, held in June.
The smiles were overflowing. And you know
what? There’s innovation in that event as
well—little ideas that affect the performance
or enjoyment of the hobby in a big way. In
one weekend, the diversity of aircraft mimics
what a person (such as Jay Smith) saw during
the six weeks of the Nats.
An event that we think mimics the spirit of
the aeromodeler in a big way is the Red Bull
Air Race World Championship. Have you
ever seen a televised version of this series?
Take Hollywood, Chuck Yeager, and a tasty
soft drink; mix it all up with 10 totally insane
aerobatic pilots and wildly radical single-seat
monoplanes; and you have Olympic thrills
sprinkled with more color than a comic book
convention.
Jay “Wish I Had His Cool Job” Smith, at
it again, teamed up with the famed Bill
Oberdieck, the District VII vice president, to
give us the details of the event.
When the entertainment is treated like
royalty, what they bring to the show can make
the bright stage lights seem like candlelight.
Ladies and gentlemen, aeromodelers young
and old, thanks for a great year of modeling.
Let’s keep up the smiles! MA
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