Awards and Scholarships

Franklin County Radio Control Club

The Franklin County Radio Control Club, located in Greenfield, MA, has been awarded with a Flying Site Development Improvement Grant worth $422.38. Started in the 1970s, the Franklin County Radio Control Club is located at the Turners Falls Airport in Turners Falls, MA. The club may be smaller in size, but they always have fun flying airplanes, helicopters, and FPV aircraft among others. The FCRCC is constantly encouraging growth and community. The FCRCC was able to improve their site ten-fold with the addition of an improved surface for pilots with electric aircraft. The club hopes to promote new member interest for those who don’t think it’s tangible financially and to provide education for those who wish to be involved with this construction addition. The main goal of the project is to have a unique platform to promote safety and education for those interested in all aspects of aviation. The total cost of this project was $4,223.81. Click here for more information about the Franklin County Radio Control Club.

Flying Eagles Inc.

The AMA would like to congratulate the Flying Eagles, Inc. for being awarded with a Flying Site Development Improvement Grant worth $141.90. The Flying Eagles are located in Bay City, MI and have been an AMA Chartered Club for nine years. The club has already completed their site improvements and has seen an increase in club memberships. The Club completed the following construction projects to improve their flying site: rolling the field to remove lumps, building a pavilion to provide a place to socialize, and expanding the storage shed. The total cost of the project came to $1,618.98 and the club members accomplished all the hard labor. Click here for more info on the Flying Eagles, Inc.

Daytona Beach Radio Control Association

The Daytona Beach Radio Control Association has been awarded with a Flying Site Development Improvement Grant worth $880.00. Located in Daytona Beach, FL, the club has been an AMA Chartered Club for 46 years. The club’s flying site has two covered pavilions with concrete pads, along with multiple flying areas. The club is looking to grow their membership and needs to make improvements to their flying site to keep up with the growth. The parking area the club currently uses turns into a mud bog during part of the year. Construction for this project will improve the quality of the parking area and the overall quality of the club’s flying site. In addition, this construction project will allow the club to host larger events. Click here for more information on the Daytona Beach Radio Control Association.

Central Savannah River Area Flyers The Central Savannah River Area Flyers (CSRA Flyers) have been awarded with a Flying Site Development Improvement Grant worth $437.80 on behalf of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. The CSRA Flyers have been in existence for more than 35 years. The club believes in promoting the passion they have for the hobby of model aviation and work to give newcomers advice in building, flying, and repairing models. With the election of new officers for the 2015 year, the club has received permission to revitalize the flying site to make it a safer, updated place to fly. The CSRA Flyers’ goal is to develop an AMA guideline site, increase their membership, teach new pilots, and foster the model aviation hobby. The revitalization project will include building two carport shelters, a flight line barrier, a spectator fence, parking areas, repairing the asphalt runway, and others. The club believes these improvements will increase the membership and promote the hobby of model aviation. Click here to check out the website for the CSRA Flyers.

Central Arizona Modelers, Inc.

On behalf of the AMA, the Central Arizona Modelers, Inc. has been awarded with a Flying Site Development Grant worth $408.57. The club has been an AMA Chartered Club for 36 years. Club members fly at their field in Cottonwood, AZ. The club’s goal is to encourage fun and safe operation of radio controlled model aircraft. The Central Arizona Modelers always welcome visitors and pilots to share the joy and satisfaction of the hobby of model aviation. The club is mainly interested in social interactions rather than competitions, but will hold the occasional contest. Club members enjoy flying everything from trainers to scale to 3D. The Central Arizona Modelers’ flying site is located on Forest Service land. They maintain the access road for high ground clearance vehicles which is not conducive for transporting models and visitors’ vehicles. The grant from the AMA will allow the club to buy equipment to maintain the road as well as help with field maintenance and reducing manual labor for primarily senior citizen club members. For more information on the Central Arizona Modelers, click here to check out their website.

Batavia Radio Control Flying Club

Located in New York, the Batavia Radio Control Flying Club has received a Flying Site Development Improvement Grant worth $437.25 on behalf of the AMA. The Batavia Radio Control Flying Club has been an AMA Chartered Club for more than 40 years. The club is constantly looking to introduce model flying to new members. The club completed upgrades to their flying site such as the construction of five PVC flying stations along with PVC protective fences. The upgrades were necessary for safety problems as well as aesthetics. The club believes these improvements will help them attract new members and host additional flying events.

Flying Site Assistance Case-Study Vern Mall of Washington, Illinois, shares a flying site story. “My name is Vern Mall and I am the president of the Washington R/C Flyers, Inc. (WR/CF) in District VI in Washington, Illinois. Our current membership is 46 pilots. We were formerly named Summit Valley RIC Flyers. This name change was brought about because of the relationship we have cultivated with the City of Washington. We vacated our flying site of 14 years last summer because of the construction of a house that would be in our flight pattern. Our search for a new site began roughly mid-year and we looked at many potential sites but rejected most for various reasons including safety.  One of our members noted that the City of Washington owned land east of town that it had purchased for flood control. We contacted two of the city aldermen and they were favorable of our idea and suggested that we make a presentation to the city council. We put together a PowerPoint presentation and gave it at a city council meeting. The councilmen, mayor, city administrator, city engineer, and city attorney were impressed and the council moved and approved the city administrator to work with us on a lease agreement. We went to the Tazwell County Zoning Board and were approved for a special-use permit to construct a runway, club house, maintenance building, and a vault toilet. This was completed in December.  The area of the special-use permit contains 57 acres of overfly area, five acres of which the club will lease from the city. The remainder of the 57 acres is farmed by a person who leases it from the city. We have talked to the farmer and adjacent land owners and all are favorable to being neighbors with us. We had no objectors at the zoning meeting because of the groundwork that was laid with all parties concerned. The club has applied for an AMA grant for flying site assistance and Charlie Bauer has informed me that he has signed it and forwarded it to AMA Headquarters. We have also requested a grant and/or discount from our local RP Lumber Co. where we intend to purchase the materials for the building construction.  We have also sold bonds to our membership to obtain enough funds to improve this ‘cornfield’ into a flying site and home that all can be proud of.  We have had many comments about our former site, saying that it looked like a park-always neat, in a valley setting with deer, wild turkey, rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs, coyotes, and one skunk!   Last spring, one of our members landed near the end of the runway and a wild turkey came out of the undergrowth in full strut, and headed for his colorful airplane. We still don’t know if the turkey did this thinking it was another turkey since this incident occurred during breeding season. We signed the lease with the City of Washington at the end of the city council meeting. We had seven members present, one of whom is our unofficial club photographer, Don Pyles. We planted grass seed on the five acres days later."

The Texas Wings Flying Club has some new starting stands, thanks to the efforts of several hard-working club members!  Great job guys!  If you are in the area this flying season, go by and visit! Two new start stands at the field ready to be used. Thanks again Bob, Lance and Elton!     Established in 1983, Texas Wings Flying Club, AMA Charter Club #1521 for the enjoyment and promotion of the hobby of building and flying Radio Controlled Model Aircraft. Texas Wings offers a relaxed, family-oriented membership. For more information visit https://www.txwings.com/

NDRCC Eagle Field Threat Hello Tony As promised, here’s the latest on our Club’s effort to deal with the threat of having a three tier power line installed just north of our flying site, Eagle Field. Last January, the Texas Public Utility Commission at their monthly Commissioner’s, surprised all interveners by cancelling the power company’s application because the PUC did not feel that the power company had explored all possible routes. We fully expected the Commissioners to endorse the recommendation of their staff and the power company which was a route about 1.5 miles east of our flying site (non-impacting). The application cancellation will require the power company to start the process over again if they still want to pursue a route in our area. While not the decision we were expecting, it is still a favorable outcome. The good news is that after 4 months, the power company not filed a new application for a line in our area, but that doesn’t mean this threat is over. We have to remain vigilant and ready to intervene if this threat re-surfaces.

NDRRC Field

  We were successful in accomplishing several milestones;

1. Our Flying site is now designated a recreational area.
2. We were able to educate the PUC on the safety concerns of installing power lines within the flight pattern of model aviation fields.
3. We were able to muster a rigorous legal challenge, so the power company and the PUC now know we will do whatever is necessary to protect our flying site.
4. This has really motivated our club to hold more events where the public is invited and also more civic minded activities.

Once again, thanks so much for the legal advice and monetary support we received from the AMA. Regards, Charles Shafer

This past Thursday the Board of Okeechobee County Commissioners granted us permission to use a portion of the County Fairgrounds as an RC Park on a trial basis for 6 months.  This has been a 3 year process and late last year a car club started up in town and we partnered with them.  The field is open to the public for flying and racing on a track and all pilots must be AMA.  We flew there for the first time this weekend and had a Hot Dog Roast on Monday to celebrate.  I have been in contact with Tony Stillman on this over the years and plan on sending him an article on it as soon as the dust settles. Thanks Again, Joe Papasso President Okeechobee Model Airplane Club A Silver Level AMA Leader Club