Education Through Aviation
2022: THE YEAR OF
THE CLUB
By Kyle Jaracz, Education Director | kylej@modelaircraft.org
Greetings from the AMA Education department! I hope that by now you have heard through one of our various communication channels that 2022 is the “Year of the Club.” As such, we in the Education department are committed to equipping you with great resources to facilitate growth within the hobby.
Notice that I didn’t indicate who in particular we think should be growing. That’s because we all can—and should—be interested in growth. From the first observation of things that fly as toddlers, all the way up to more seasoned pilots, we all have an opportunity to grow in our experience within model aviation.
From learning a rolling circle (I’m still working on it), to learning how to conduct club meetings more effectively, to working next to others who share the love of model aviation, and varied opinions on just about everything else, let’s each of us set a goal of growth in 2022.
We’ll be here to offer you the tools that can help you achieve that goal, whichever of the examples above best fits your needs through projects, curriculum, webinars, resources, and good old-fashioned, one-on-one conversations.
One of the programs that the AMA Education team is investing additional effort into is our Introductory Pilot Program. If you haven’t heard, the Intro Pilot Program empowers club members the ability to invite non-AMA members to learn to fly at a club field, under the direct mentorship of an officially recognized instructor pilot.
Students who are enrolled in this AMA program receive 90 consecutive days of AMA insurance to the student pilot at no charge while flying under the direct tutelage of an instructor. It’s a great way to welcome an interested pilot of any age with free training, instead of asking him or her to open his or her wallet.
Although AMA has offered this program for several years, the question of how to conduct the training has been left to our clubs to individually determine. This method allows the most diverse range of techniquesthat are both a strength and a weakness. We’ve passed along multiple techniques and shared syllabuses with members for many years; however, we recognize that some introductory pilot instructors prefer a more formalized option.
Building off of these successful RC fixed-wing flight programs that have been shared on AMA Flight School, we are currently developing our recommended AMA approach to training in an upcoming learning module that is due out in the third quarter of 2023.
This will enable Introductory Pilot trainers to lean on an online course syllabus that is dedicated to training prospective fliers on fixed-wing model aircraft. Why RC fixed-wing aircraft? The simple answer is that it is the largest category of flight training that currently takes place within the Intro Pilot program.
If that doesn’t apply to you though, don’t fret. In the future, we will produce similar training for other styles, such as Control Line, Free Flight, helicopter, FPV, etc.
To be clear, this will not replace anyone’s current program. If it works for you and your students, it’s not our intention to interfere; however, if you would like to learn more about a program that utilizes online software that teaches the basic understanding of definitions, flight theory, and the steps that pilots need to know to conduct RC fixed-wing model aircraft safely and effectively, this program might benefit you!
We’re currently looking for beta testers, and we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at education@modelaircraft.org for more details!
In the meantime, fly safely, learn something new, and share it with those around you when appropriate. See you at the flying field!
