exposure to simple flying models, we
hope they get hooked.
A few may join AMA right away, but
others may not until they are parents or
even grandparents! We hope that this
early experience will stick with them and
they will become part of the next
generation of modelers and pilots.
These lessons will eventually be
available to educators and club members
on a DVD. It will be offered by the
Education Committee at a nominal cost
to anyone wishing to introduce children
to the excitement of model aviation as an
instructional tool. We hope other
aerospace education organizations will
use portions of these lessons in their own
activities to make their use of models
more exciting and effective.
The Education Committee’s vision
doesn’t end with the classroom. We hope
to create more DVDs that will show
members how to develop programs for
newcomers of all ages, how to help
teachers organize summer camps for
children, and how to support better
instruction for first-time pilots.
We believe the work we do now
through education will pay significant
dividends to us in the future in the form
of a stronger, better-informed
membership. And that’s what an
academy is all about! MA
ccasionally I meet a new member
of our organization who will ask
me “Why are we the Academy of
Model Aeronautics?”
The word academy in our name goes
back to AMA’s beginnings in 1936. At
the time, most of the newcomers coming
into the hobby were still teenagers in
school. There was an assumption that
learning about model building and flying
was important to a young person’s
education.
Now, more than ever, I can think of no
more appropriate name for our
organization. One of the greatest strengths
of the sport and hobby of modeling is
lifelong learning, whether you are young
or “young at heart.”
There isn’t one of us who doesn’t
continue to grow and learn something
new each year in electronics, mechanical
engineering, or aerodynamics. And it’s all
because of model airplanes. In most cases
we learn these things from each other,
primarily through club membership and
flying for fun.
The bedrock of chartered-club
membership is our passion for trying
something new. Looking back at the past
10 years, it is easy to see how much the
world of modeling has changed.
Ten years ago, the term “park flyer”
did not exist. Advances in microelectronics
have made it possible to create
extremely small models that only a few
years ago were not thought possible.
More than half of the models now flown
are powered by electric motors. The
advent of spread spectrum radio is upon
us, and its use will dramatically increase
President’s Perspective
AMA President Dave Brown
O
sooner than we think!
These are only a few developments.
If you are not a lifelong learner, you just
can’t keep up!
Some rather famous people started
their careers through what they continue
to learn from: model aviation. Burt
Rutan and Paul MacCready come to
mind as individuals who used models as
“proof-of-concept” platforms for dreams
that became real. Many of these dreams
now reside as permanent exhibits in
national air and space museums.
These men and many others like them
use imagination and hands-on skills to
create models that help us extend our
reach to new horizons of human
achievement.
Members of AMA’s Education
Committee understand all of this and it
helps us extend our reach. Through the
support of grants from the Alcoa
Foundation, we have trained teachers to
use simple models to provide hands-on
science lessons for middle-school
students. Members of the committee
have presented these lessons at
numerous educational conferences,
providing opportunities for thousands of
teachers to experience the rewards of
high-flying activities.
It is impossible to document just how
many students have benefited from
lessons we’ve designed for science
classrooms, but if we add to them the
number of students who have
participated in after-school Science
Olympiad competitions, a conservative
estimate would be in the tens of
thousands.
Our Education Committee has chosen
to put emphasis on using models in
science classrooms and after-school
enrichment activities because that’s
where the kids are! Through this
Dave Brown
AMA president
[email protected]
Why are we the Academy of Model Aeronautics?
April 2006 5
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