President's Perspective
Reality is but a dream experienced.
The day before yesterday, my wife Sally and I began a two-day stint as flightline directors for the Radio Control (RC) Scale event at the Nationals. Today I chaired the Executive Council meeting, and tomorrow I'll take the red-eye to Frankfurt, Germany. Upon arrival, I'll drive to Landres, France, to attend the Control Line World Championships opening ceremonies.
Many consider the facility in France the best in the world. Part of my mission is to evaluate that site and the operation of the World Championships, to put forth a bid for the 2004 event in the United States.
For the first time, Juniors are an official part of the Control Line (CL) team; it will be a thrill to see those youngsters compete in and experience such an event. I really do like the idea of each CL team including a Junior member, and I hope this concept will spread to other events.
I'd like to figure out a way to integrate the selection of the Junior team members with some of the education programs the AMA has.
I can envision a program where a series of local, regional, and national competitions for school kids would culminate in the top prize: a chance for an expense-paid trip to a World Championships, where they would compete with kids from around the world, in a manner similar to the Olympics.
This is just a dream right now, and it would be a challenge to put into action. However, it is a dream worthy of further exploration.
The typical Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) events—even those designated for Juniors—might be too high-tech or advanced for what I envision, but that could be overcome by convincing the FAI to adopt a real kids' event or series of events.
The current Junior events are great for experienced competitors, but we would have to create something akin to the Science Olympiad. A small CL class would better lend itself to youngsters who might not have access to experienced modeling help—at least in the earlier stages of the process.
The possibilities are broad in the Free Flight (FF) and CL categories, but they might be difficult to make sufficiently economical in RC.
A possible exception could be a "one-design" two-channel glider that uses a "plug-in" radio pod, so a couple of control units could support a reasonable number of students.
Some small scholarships might be good incentives at the regional level of competition. And I'd be surprised if we didn't gain access to a few sites, and get good public relations for aeromodeling.
I have been fortunate enough to have had a lot of special moments in my life, but representing the United States on an FAI team and that first time I stood on the podium when they played our national anthem is the moment I cherish most.
I still get goose bumps when I remember the tears in my eyes, and the urge to throw the bouquet of flowers into the cheering crowd. I tried to sing along with the anthem, but the lump in my throat made it hard to simply breathe, much less sing.
It was the proudest moment of my life, and I'll do everything I can to see that as many kids get the chance to experience that thrill as possible.
Would it be feasible to make this dream a reality? Perhaps, but it is a tall order. Then again, it wasn't too long ago that the entire concept of flight was but a dream, and spaceflight was simply unimaginable by all but the most flight-headed.
Reality is but a dream experienced. Now all we need is the reality part.
I received a geography lesson from the people in Austin, Texas after my August column about the Pylon incident. The contest was in San Antonio rather than in Austin.
Hey, I was close, wasn't I?
Frankly, I was a lot more concerned about the details of how and what happened than I was about where it happened.
This incident was not the fault of the people involved, and I have applauded them for their actions in the aftermath.
Somehow, the people in Austin got the impression that I was unfairly blaming them. Sorry about that, but it's really a matter of giving the people in San Antonio credit for their very responsible reactions to this incident.
When I needed to get pictures of the damage, the cages were back in Houston! You are all giving me a moving target and, as many have reminded me, Texas is a big state.
A couple of the Austin folks really know how to get even; they sent those of us in Cleveland (I live near Cincinnati) should bone up on our geography.
'Til next month.
Dave Brown AMA president [email protected]
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