View from HQ by Dave Mathewson, AMA Executive Director
Aeromodelling and an aviation career
Several years ago, I attended a luncheon sponsored by what is now the National Coalition for Space and Aviation Education (NCASE). Its purpose was to recognize AMA Education Outreach Specialist Dr. Gordon Schimmel who received the Dr. Mervin K. Strickler Jr. Aerospace Education Leadership Award. Attendees at the luncheon represented some of the foremost aviation and aerospace companies in the US.
The keynote speaker that day came from within the aviation and aerospace community. I remember how she expressed concern about where this country’s next generation of engineers would come from. Pointing out that the average age of an engineer in the Apollo program (1961–1972) was 28, and today that same engineer is 53 years old, drove the point home. Her comments got the attention of her audience that day.
Several years later, it appears little has changed. In television advertisements, gas companies talk about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Schools, colleges, and universities include STEM courses as part of their curricula. It’s the focus of nearly all of the major airplane manufacturers, including Northrop Grumman Corporation and Boeing-McDonnell Douglas. Even NASA has placed a high emphasis on STEM.
It’s clear that the trend of promoting STEM education continues, yet fewer students entering higher education are being driven toward careers in aviation and aerospace. AMA believes that much of this is the result of young students not being introduced to the possibility of an aerospace career.
AMA supports the idea that model aviation provides the perfect steppingstone for young people to careers in the aviation fields.
The opportunities available to young people in these fields today are nearly endless. From pilots with the skills needed to fly domestic and military unmanned aircraft systems, to engineers with the capability to design and build the next generation of air vehicles, there is a serious shortage of young people to fill these positions.
AMA supports the idea that model aviation provides the perfect steppingstone for young people to careers in the aviation fields. Model aviation is the ultimate 3-D video game. Let’s face it—flying a model airplane is fun. Flying a model adds that extra dimension apart from sitting in front of a screen with a joystick in your hand. At the same time, there is also an element of learning that’s taking place, sometimes even subliminally.
Learning how to set up a model, how to adjust the CG, learning what the functions of the control surfaces are, and how a model reacts when a surface is deflected, are all valuable skills if someone is considering a career in the aviation-related fields. Although the focus of flying is fun, at the same time young people are learning science and math skills they will use throughout their lives.
As modelers and AMA members, we need to recognize that we have the ability to help create that next generation of engineers that many are so worried about right now. We can plant that seed with a model airplane. The US can maintain its place in the world when it comes to the aerospace community only if we can find a way to encourage young people to fill the slots needed to maintain the level of prominence we have held for so long. With a little effort on all of our parts, we can successfully do that.
Many of you are familiar with the state-level legislative efforts taking place across the country that are intended to limit the use of drones to infringe on privacy. Many of these proposed bills—there are now more than 30 states where some form of legislation has been introduced or is being considered—contain language that may have a negative impact on model aviation.
AMA has reached out to many of the sponsors of these bills and has nearly unanimously found that it is not the intent of the sponsor to infringe on aeromodelers. The language in some of these bills, however, is written in such a way that it is exactly what could happen if the bills pass.
AMA, and in many cases AMA members, have been working with representatives to have language added to these bills that would exclude model aviation from the intent of the bill. We have had excellent success with this approach and intend to continue this path to dealing with state-level legislation. AMA maintains an interactive map on its website at http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amago/drone-legislation/ where members can track these bills.
See you next time.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
