Education Through Aviation
Bill Pritchett, Education Director
“Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer.” —Ronald Reagan
There’s no question who my hero was—Neil Armstrong. I was 15 when he landed on the moon and, even though flight had been of great interest to me before that historic moment, nothing and no one compared to actually flying to the moon and going for a walk.
Last month, we looked at some momentous events in aviation and the exponential acceleration of accomplishments many of us have been able to witness. I often read and hear people lamenting the lack of heroes today. Where are they?
They are everywhere, around us daily—it simply depends on what you consider a trait or accomplishment that rises to being a “hero.” Maybe for you it’s a first responder, a working mom, or even an astronaut. We all have those unique values.
Back to astronauts, there is a point to this. As of the writing of this column, there have been 536 NASA astronauts in space. Of the 536, three people completed only a suborbital flight, 533 people reached Earth’s orbit, 24 traveled beyond low Earth orbit, and 12 walked on the moon. Space travelers have spent more than 29,000 days (or a cumulative total of more than 77 years) in space including more than 100 person-days of spacewalks.
Could we consider them all to be heroes? Absolutely.
On the other hand, we really don’t, do we? And here’s why …
Our traditional heroes are those who do something for the first time, accomplish something that has never been done before, and go where mankind has never gone before. Yet, 536 men and women have sat on top of a tube full of liquid hydrogen and agreed to have someone light it up. That’s heroic in many ways. The problem is that many have done it—so we look past the amazing engineering going on to make it happen.
Many ignore aviation—it’s commonplace. The point? There are heroes today, more than ever before. Acknowledge the great accomplishments of many and don’t allow social media and instant news to lessen the impact of achievement. Celebrate accomplishment!
I recently made an appeal to you to consider a couple of methods of sharing your copy of Model Aviation. Jim Martin sent a nice note to me with a fantastic suggestion:
“Here’s another idea for members to dispose of old AMA magazines. A friend at church is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). He forwards all the magazines he can through the VFW to members of the armed forces currently serving us around the world. His feedback is that they love all of the hobby magazines—model airplane or train related, no matter how old the magazine may be—they love them! Let’s support the troops!”
Jim shared with us a great idea that provides another way to honor more heroes!
Speaking of Jim, I want to tell you about another guy named Jim—Jim Lynch. Jim Lynch is the president of the Millington, Tennessee, Barnstormers located slightly north of Memphis. I met him for the first time while attending the RC Precision Aerobatics Nats in Blytheville, Arkansas.
My son, Greyson, and I were with a small group of Nats competitors looking for a place to practice in the area, and local AMA clubs are obvious considerations. The problem with that is that you assume everyone else is thinking the same thing and, if it’s too crowded, not much practice is accomplished. We contacted Jim and to our surprise, he was prepared for getting some calls and said we were the first and only ones to contact him. Game on!
We spent the entire day Sunday with Jim at his club field. The beautiful facility includes a manicured grass runway, a Control Line (CL) circle, a helipad, and FPV racecourse. So far this might sound like a lot of guys, clubs, and facilities. Here’s the difference …
Jim Lynch is an accomplished CL Stunt guy. He’s even older than I am. (One of my favorite things about Jim.) In fact, despite his youthful appearance and amazing energy, Jim is in his 80s! Jim flies RC, too.
Have you spotted the difference yet? Jim gets it! He understands, despite his decades of model aviation fun and experience, that there is a new technology. Putting up the FPV racecourse has added almost 20 new members to his club and more young people are coming out every weekend! Jim is the stereotypical AMA member who many accuse of not getting it. Jim does get it, and is another hero!
We arrived in Blytheville for the Nats, reported to our line for the first day’s flights, and guess who’s working that line as a volunteer? Jim Lynch. He spent the week as a volunteer, in incredibly hot weather with the heat index at roughly 107°, and was always cheerful, enthusiastic, and complimentary of the quality of flying he was watching. He was with us the entire week and never blinked. In fact, I would describe Jim as one of the best line volunteers I’ve ever encountered at the Nats.
Jim gets it. And, he’s more than surpassed the “five minutes longer” that Ronald Reagan used to describe a hero. Jim Lynch—my new hero!
I would also be remiss to not mention the great time we had at the Nats with great friends. And, how very proud I am of our 13-year-old Greyson. Maybe there’s some truth to folks asking me if his mother flies! Hahaha …
Fly and have fun!
