30,189.51 raised in 2026. We have reached 6% of our goal.
Help us reach this year's goal of $500,000!
Dan Bott, current co-chair of the AMA Foundation Board based out of Arizona, was exposed to model airplanes at the age of 13. Initially interested in model cars, this exposure was thanks to customers he assisted while working at a local hobby shop in Southern California.
Hello! My name is Andrew Nguyen, but everyone calls me Andy. I am nine years old. I started getting interested in RC planes when I saw my brother flying them at the flying field. It looked really cool watching the planes go up in the sky and do tricks.
My earliest memory of flying and model aviation is trying to build a pair of wings when I was eight and living on my family's farm in central Illinois. My father came by and asked, "What are you up to?" I answered, "I'm gonna fly out of the barn on this!" My dad looked at the wings made of sticks and feed sacks and said, "That doesn't look very strong." It broke in half when I lifted it up.
I'm a biochemist in the field of bio therapeutic purification. I started flying as a kid on 0.049 Control Line planes but eventually found girls more appealing. After college, I came back to the hobby, needing something to do with my hands. I now serve as a club officer (treasurer) and help promote building wherever my airplanes take me.
I've been interested in airplanes for as long as I can remember, especially models. I remember watching one of my uncles launch a model airplane from his front yard into the street - I must have been about three years old - 1941? I guess that triggered something because model airplanes (and airplanes in general) have been a part of my life ever since.
My name is Oliver. I am 11 years old, and two years ago I went to RC Fest in Monticello, Illinois, where I discovered my love for RC planes. I bought an Aeroscout and went out to a local soccer field, wanting to fly. I took off and immediately lost control of the plane when it was flying off. I felt terrible that I had lost the plane. My dad posted on social media asking if anyone had found it. No one had found it, but a kind person replied saying they had an extra one that I could have.
Back in the '90s, me and the wife use to go on weekends to the local RC Club (Mountain RC) and watch them fly; we always had a great time. Then in 2000, I was sitting in my house when there came a knock at the door. Not knowing that answering the door was going to change my life forever, I opened the door to be face to face with two sheriff's deputies and a priest.
William C. “Bill” Messer of Olean, New York, joined the Olean Model Airplane Club (OMAC, now known as the Southern Tier Aero Radio Society, or STARS) in 1942 when he was ten years old. That same year, he joined the AMA, making him an 84-year member, and in 2018, he was awarded an AMA Life Membership.
At the age of 8 years old, I won a Sunday School contest and the prize was a ride in an airplane. Ever since that day I have wanted to fly for a living. With the support of my wife of 46 years, I have accomplished that goal. Just recently I have retired as a pilot for LifeFlight of Maine, and I now have much more time to dedicate to my other passion, which is radio control model aviation.
I have been involved with radio-controlled aviation for more than 35 years.
Some of my earliest memories are of a, large to me as a kid, RC airplane hanging from the floor joists in my parents’ basement. I would spend hours studying it, trying to understand how the control surfaces worked together to move the aircraft through the air. Several years later, I had the opportunity to build one of my dad’s RC kits - the Kaos 60. That experience sparked a lifelong passion for building, flying, and sharing RC aviation with others.
