District VII—Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Tim Jesky
Vice President
timjesky@charter.net
2886 E. Country Ln., Monroe MI 48162
Tel.: (734) 384-6085;
www.amadistrict-vii.org
Hello again. I hope that you’re out enjoying the summer and getting your fair share of flying time in.
At this time of the year, I like to throw in a reminder or two about safety. After a while it can become easy to take for granted that everything is going to work just as it did the last time you flew. If we ever get a chance to run into each other, ask me how I made out with the ailerons reversed on an airplane that was working fine the day before. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty and leave it at that.
While still on the subject of safety, I had a member contact me about how often clubs should review the AMA Safety Code. My answer was, in addition to a yearly review, look it over as often needed. It’s a document for everyone’s benefit and has helped AMA maintain the outstanding record we have today. Keeping our hobby fun and safe go hand in hand.
National Model Aviation Day, August 13, will be here before you know it. This year, we will support the Disabled American Veterans as our national charity. Clubs can also support any charity of their choosing. The main reason for this day is for modelers to come out and enjoy the hobby with their friends and family, and show the positives of model aviation to community members. For more information, contact Mandee Mikulski (mande em@modelaircraft.org) at AMA Headquarters.
I’m going to turn the show over to Paul Meyers, from the Green Bay Model Airplane Club, to tell you what his group did to help grow the club and the hobby. Enjoy.
Like many flying clubs, the Green Bay Model Airplane Club was no different. We were faced with an aging and declining membership. Our club had recently expanded to a new, larger flying facility. A big thanks to the AMA for the field grant.
At our club meetings, I often heard discussions about how the new drones and their improper use would be the death of this hobby. I had a completely different outlook and thought, what better time than right now to make the community aware of our beautiful new flying facility, boost membership in our club, help new drone owners learn some of the basics, and to bring our existing members together for a night of flying and fun.
We applied for, and were awarded, a Take off And Grow (TAG) grant for the 2015 flying season, which allowed the club to purchase an RTF Blade 350QX quadcopter. The club also approved the purchase of two new E-flite Apprentice trainers.
I decided to hold a Learn to Fly/Open House every Tuesday night starting in mid-May, running for 15 weeks through August. It ran 5 p.m. until dark. With the help of fellow club member, Dick VandeVelden, my two sons, Nathan and Noah Meyers, some event flyers posted at our local HobbyTown and on our Facebook page, we were ready to go, but didn’t know what to expect.
On week one, we had approximately 10 new faces show up to try flying drones and airplanes. With the amazing technology of the Apprentice trainers, Dick and I had most of our trainees taking off and landing during their first lesson (without the use of buddy boxes), while Nathan and Noah handled most of the drone training including FPV experiences.
Week two had a dramatic increase in attendance and interest. Twenty-five new people of all ages trained and three new members joined the club.
Each week we saw a huge increase in attendance and interest. Most nights we had 50 to 75 people and an overflowing parking lot. We were signing up new club and AMA members in record numbers—three to five each week. We were so busy that the club purchased two additional Apprentice trainers.
In the end, the Learn to Fly/Open House was a huge success. Three-hundred-and-thirty people of all ages were safely trained in 15 weeks. The most amazing part was that the Green Bay Model Airplane Club gained 75 new members/friends in the process. We now have many up-and-coming youth members, many of whom have become proficient RC pilots.
Thanks again to the AMA for the TAG grant. In 2016, we hope to introduce and train as many individuals to the exciting world of model aviation as we can.
