Our Members Speak - 2011/05
Ali R. Moshiri
Regarding the recent motion by the FAA about regulating our hobby, it saddens me. I was born in Iran and came to the USA in 1976. My earliest memory of building a model airplane is when I was six years old. As I was growing up and still living in Iran, any time I built a flyable model my father was against it and was very unkind to me and my passion for flying my model planes.
I used shaving blades to cut balsa wood and many times I cut my fingers doing so, but I loved building model planes. I used regular writing paper to cover my planes, not because shrink-wrap papers were unavailable but because I was forbidden to buy them. I used clothing elastic to power the rubber-powered airplanes; the results were not great.
My father always broke my planes by hitting them on the edge of the table, saying that his son does not play with toy planes. While I lived in Iran, I would take a bus then walk a few miles to where radio-controlled planes were flying just to watch and be amazed. When I came to the USA my first goal was to find a nearby hobby shop and see what was there.
Now, fast-forward fifty-three years. I still fly RC planes, even when at times my wife was not happy with me. Once she told me that if she had wings I’d pay more attention to her. But she and my father failed to see that aviation was in my blood and no one could take that away from me.
I have always enjoyed flying and am always amazed by anything that has wings and can fly. After all, flying is man’s oldest dream.
And now the big brother (FAA) is coming in and telling me where and how I should fly my plane. In short, I am facing my dictator father with another name (FAA). Please don’t let them do this to me. After all, flying is an indicator of a free spirit, and now big brother is saying that I am that rich kid on the block and I have the ball: my ball, my rule.
I do understand that as a civilized society we must have rules, but there are soft rules and hard rules. For example, a traffic stop sign indicates that you stop your vehicle, look both ways and then, if there’s no car coming in your path, proceed. A hard rule is a red light: you cannot pass it unless the red light changes. Please, AMA personnel, don’t let the big brother make hard rules. After all, this is a hobby that should be enjoyed and not limited. —Ali R. Moshiri
Boyce Coble
I, among thousands of others, am a member of a marvelous national organization called the Academy of Model Aeronautics, which promotes flying our models in a safe manner for the utmost safety of our members, spectators and any full-scale aircraft that may be nearby. The purpose of the FAA is to regulate an industry that needs it, not an organization that doesn’t. —Boyce Coble
Arend Schuurman
Not too many years ago I was actually quite anti-AMA. At that time I had the misconception that the AMA was simply a waste of money. Well, a few years of maturity, some research into what the AMA stands for, and the desire to belong to an organization that supports the advancement of model aviation changed my view. I am now a proud member. Thank you to the AMA for being there and helping make this hobby what it is. —Arend Schuurman
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
