President’s Perspective - 2004/03

“2) There was 45 minutes of folding and
practice flying. This was perhaps the best
part. Until you have seen 60 kids in one
room, all flying at once, you haven’t lived!
During this period, John and I and other
adults helped the children and their parents
learn to trim and launch the models.
“3) Distance contest: the organizers had
laid out the floor with masking tape so that it
looked like a football field with 5-foot lines
and sidelines. The kids lined up in two lines
on the left and right side of the room, and
took turns launching for distance, one throw
at a time, two throws total, and best flight
counted. This went well and it took roughly
40 minutes for 120 flights.
“I should mention that the students were
divided into three classes: kindergarten to
second grade, third through fifth grade, and
sixth through eighth grade. Each child was
fitted with a large label with his class (A, B,
or C) and his contestant number. This made
scoring easy. The best distance was
approximately 70 feet (with a lot of
skidding). Most good throws went roughly 40
feet.
“4) Endurance contest: we again used two
flightlines serving two launch points in the
middle of each end of the room. The low
ceiling (approximately 18 feet) did not seem
to be a problem for most of the contestants.
Each took two consecutive flights and the
best flight counted. No launch platform was
used. The best flight was slightly longer than
7 seconds and most good flights were in the
3- and 4-second range. This event took less
than 30 minutes to run because timing during
a flight is much faster than measuring and
recording distance after a flight.
“5) We had another free-flying session
while the scores were compiled. This took
approximately 25 minutes and was
enthusiastically welcomed by the students.
AS I AM WRITING this, Christmas is in
the air, although you will be reading it in
February when the weather is at its worst and
we will all be suffering from cabin fever—
okay, most of us will. Those in Southern
California and Florida can laugh, but the rest
of us are looking for some flying fun.
I received an E-mail from two members—
ironically from Southern California—who
outlined a program in which they had
participated. It sounds like a fun project and
could do us all some good in the areas of
recruiting and public relations.
The program is self-explanatory. I’ll print
the letter from Blaine Beron-Rawdon and
John Brown, then I’ll relate to you my
experience with a similar program nearly 30
years ago.
“The reason for this letter is that we
participated in a terrific model airplane
contest for kids, and we think that the concept
may be applicable to the AMA’s efforts to
involve young people. As longtime modelers
and AMA members, we are aware of AMA’s
admirable efforts to involve kids in
aeromodeling.
“On November 1, John and I helped run
an event for the Taiwanese American
Aeronautics and Space Association in a
banquet room at the Disneyland Hotel in
Anaheim, California. As an adjunct to their
aerospace conference, the organizers wanted
to have a relevant event for their children, and
thought that a paper-airplane contest might be
just the thing.
“John and I were invited to participate
because of our prior involvement in Boeing
paper-airplane contests and our knowledge of
model airplanes. We devised a set of rules,
and with the leadership of the organizers, we
had a great event for 60 kids from
kindergarten to eighth grade.
“The contest was divided into several
segments:
“1) A brief introduction to airplanes was
followed by a demonstration of how to fold
four distinctly different types of simple paper
airplanes. This demonstration was aided by
diagrams of the models printed (on a
computer printer) right on the very paper
that was to be folded. We made a stack of 80
of each design. Ample unprinted paper was
also available.
Dave Brown AMA president
President’s Perspective
“6) The awards ceremony took another 10
minutes or so because we awarded three
places in three classes in two events, totaling
18 awards.
“John and I had several observations
about the contest that may be pertinent to
AMA’s efforts to involve young people:
“• The kids had a great time. All were
successful in getting their airplanes to fly.
Obviously, some were more successful than
others, but everyone was fully engaged and
participated wholeheartedly. There was no
whining and no tears.
“• Many of the parents were supportive and
involved and wanted to know how to fold and
trim the models. We had no problem with the
‘Little League’ syndrome in which parents
were intrusive or negative. The parents were
an asset to the contest and we can imagine
this supportive attitude continuing at home.
“• Paper airplanes fly quite well and are very
responsive to trimming and launching
techniques. We believe that they are an
excellent introduction to model flying. Paper
airplanes are worthy of careful attention; they
are not easy!
“• Paper airplanes are cheap, cheap, cheap,
and raw material is easily available.
“• Paper airplanes are easy and fast to make.
While gratification is not immediate, it is
quick, and this works well with the
participants. Because the models are cheap,
many kids made multiple models to improve
on the predecessors. The young peoples’s
involvement during the contest was intense.
“• Paper airplanes are safe. Our rules
specified that the model was only one sheet
or less of Xerox paper; no tape, paperclips,
glue, or anything else was allowed. The
resulting models were light and relatively
soft. It occurred to us midway through the
first practice session that somebody could get
poked in the eye, but the chances of this
seemed remote and in the end there were no
injuries.
“We think that AMA should give paper
airplanes a closer look for introducing young
people to models and airplanes. The students
had a great time and we did, too. We fielded
several inquiries about where to buy
modeling supplies and how to get involved.
“When you compare the barriers to
entering the conventional model world—even
with the AMA Cub (Delta Dart)—to what is
needed to have an event with paper airplanes,
the paper airplanes have a lot to offer. Paper
March 2004 5
Paper airplanes might just
start young folks on a path
to models and aviation.
Continued on page 100
100 MODEL AVIATION
airplanes might just start young folks on a
path to models and aviation.”
This sounds like a great idea for something
that could be done at low cost. I do, however,
want to relate a couple of stories about my
personal experience with similar contests.
Nearly 30 years ago my club, the Greater
Cincinnati Radio Control Club, held a similar
contest, and we had a ball—that is until the
contest was over, and we pulled the tape
Continued from page 5
President defining the scoring grid off of the floor. It
took the finish of the terrazzo floor with it.
Oops …
If you have never priced the cost of
refinishing a terrazzo floor in a room nearly
the size of a gymnasium, you don’t want to.
I seem to remember it was roughly
$10,000—and that was in the 1970s!
The moral of the story is to be very
careful about what tape you use and on what
surface. We used ribbon held down with
chairs for future events. We couldn’t afford
tape!
Another lighter moment I remember was
the time we involved our wives in a
competition. The contest was to see who
could get a paper model made on the spot to
fly the farthest.
For some reason, no one could get one to
go very far, so one of the wives (I won’t tell
you which one but she is married to an
AMA president) stepped up to the line with
her “airplane,” crumpled it up into a ball,
and threw it well past the longest flight
mark.
Hmmm … I don’t think any of us had
thought of that, but the “jury” disqualified
her. Great fun, you ought to try it. MA
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