Upholding the legacy of model aviation
Rich Hanson
richh@modelaircraft.org
As the new president of the AMA, I am extremely proud and honored to serve the members of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. I’ve pledged to uphold the legacy of model aviation while moving the AMA forward, and will do my best to do so in a manner that honors our aeromodeling traditions, while maintaining our organizational commitment to scientific development, education, and advancements in aeronautics and aerospace technologies.
Looking forward, it’s fair to ask, “What will the Academy and our hobby look like three years from now? In five years, or even 10 years, from now?”
These are questions that the AMA Executive Council will need to address and answer in the coming months. Perhaps the best way of looking forward is to look back to where
“... I’m equally certain that in the years to come, we’ll continue to enjoy this great hobby in much the same way as we have in the past.”
we’ve been as a hobby and as an integral part of the aviation community.
Model aviation has a strong background in competition, which has brought with it significant developments in aircraft design, innovation, and related technologies. Model aircraft have a long history of serving as a proving ground for advancements in aeronautics, and aeromodeling has been a seed ground for careers in aviation and aerospace sciences.
Many of the innovations in aircraft design, construction, and aerodynamics in manned aviation had their beginnings with model aircraft, and many of the pioneers in our aerospace industry attribute their interest and success to their experiences with model airplanes in their formative years.
Looking back at the span of my life, advancements in model aviation have been phenomenal. As a youth, I had my first modeling experiences with plastic Control Line (CL) models given to me as gifts. These experiences were somewhat less than rewarding; however, with a little perseverance and more than one mishap, I found that these models could fly, albeit just barely.
Nevertheless, the seed was planted. I soon discovered that the more successful and capable model aircraft were made of balsa and tissue and were either scratch-built or built from die-cut kits—and so began my involvement in model aviation.
In my day, Free Flight and CL were king. RC was in its infancy and still somewhat temperamental and relatively expensive. Kit manufacturers, model engine producers, and related building materials drove the industry. The local hobby shop was the focal point for obtaining assistance, information, and everything needed to share the joy of this great hobby.
A decade later, solid-state proportional RC systems became available, making precise and dependable remote control flight possible. During the next 30 years, the hobby skyrocketed as RC became prominent in the aeromodeling world, creating new modeling disciplines such as Precision Aerobatics, RC racing, fun-fly competitions, RC Combat, Thermal and Slope Soaring, RC helicopters, fidelity in replicating full-scale aircraft, and making available a host of new training systems and beginner aircraft designed to ease entry into the hobby and enhance the enjoyment of learning how to fly model airplanes.
With advancements in aircraft design, construction, and manufacturing techniques, retail sales gave way to catalog orders and the internet ultimately dominated the market. Kits gave way to ARF and RTF aircraft, and new propulsion systems with brushless electric motors, ESCs, and lithium batteries made model aircraft ready to fly out of the box. The advent of miniature turbine engines with full authority digital engine (or electronics) control (FADEC) fuel control systems revolutionized scale jet aircraft, making RC turbine-powered flight safe, reliable, and a mainstay in model aviation.
With advancements in microelectronics in the 1990s and early 2000s, computerized radios made possible the ability to mix, match, and preprogram the functionality of RC systems. And perhaps more so than any other modeling discipline, model helicopters benefitted from this new technology making RC rotorcraft “flyable,” extremely capable, and accessible to the average modeler.
The pace in the development of new technologies has increased exponentially throughout the past three to five years, and there has been a dramatic increase in the functionality and capability of what are now called unmanned aircraft systems. This new technology is blurring the lines between traditional model aircraft and the new unmanned platforms designed for hobbyists, as well as more purposeful applications, but with it also comes new opportunities and potential benefits to the aeromodeling community.
It’s almost certain that our hobby will be impacted to some degree by the emergence of this new industry. We’ve already seen this with the requirement of registering our model aircraft with the federal government; however, I’m equally certain that in the years to come, we’ll continue to enjoy this great hobby in much the same way as we have in the past.
To do so, however, the hobby must remain relevant, we must be viewed as part of the solution and not part of the problem, and we must be seen as adding value to our communities and the aviation community.
