Recognition and Reward Grants

The Mid Coast Radio Control Club recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward grant for $75. The club is located in Union, ME. The Mid Coast Radio Control group president, Greg Morse, invited “Village Soup” reporter Louis Bettcher to their airfield. The day was filled with information about the hobby and some flying. The club informed Bettcher on how RC planes are built, what power sources they use, AMA memberships and swap meets. Bettcher said, “Although I was excited to try to fly one of them, I was nervous that I would ruin someone's plane within seconds of handling the controller.” Morse brought Bettcher a trainer plane for him to try out. Bettcher successfully landed the plane with some help from Morse. The Mid Coast Radio Control Club meets mostly in the mornings on Saturdays and Sundays.  The AMA would like to thank the Mid Coast Radio Control Club for inviting reporter Louis Bettcher to hang out at their field for a day. To read more about Bettcher's day, click here.   The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

Palomar Radio Controlled Flyers club recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $75. This club is located in San Marcos, CA. The club was recently in “The San Diego Union-Tribune” because the club needs a new home. They have been gathering in a big, vacant field in Fallbrook, CA. The property is 90 acres and is a private land owned by a development company. This field was ideal because it is in isolation from residential neighborhoods and retail centers. It allows members to fly without concern for bothering anybody or hitting anybody. The club has existed since the 1950s and has around 200 members today. The field includes a 600-foot-long runway for the club members to use. Steve Gebler, the incoming president of the club told the reporter, “Within a 1.1-mile radius, 1,100 homes are going in and right past that tree line is where Palomar College is building a new campus.” The property is not currently slated for development but club members think that will soon change due to land surveyors and engineers being on the property. Gebler is concerned that in two years people will be complaining and the club will be shut down. Members of the group have been looking for somewhere to relocate but they've had no luck. The leaders of the group have also had unsuccessful talks with government agencies who appear to have little interest in providing a flying area. Steve Gebler asks anyone who might have suggestions for a new location to contact him. For more information about the club, click here. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Radio Control Sports Flyers recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $50. The club is located in Kansas City, MO. The club hosted an AMA sanctioned memorial fun-fly on Sept. 17 to honor two recently deceased club members, Bob Processor of Greenwood and Herb Hestand of Lee’s Summit. This fun-fly included a memorial plaque honoring all deceased members which was placed inside the shelter at their field. Also, family and club members shared their thoughts about the hobby. The RC Sports flyer club provides free flight instruction and helps individuals of various ages to learn how to build and fly radio control aircraft. The AMA would like to thank this club for holding a memorial service for lost members The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Desert Hawks recently received an AMA club recognition and reward grant for $75. This club is located in Lake Havasu City, AZ. The club hosted their 32nd Seaplane Classic which was held on Saturday, Nov. 4. The event was free to spectators. Sixty-one pilots registered for the event and had to pay a fee to participate in the classic and all the money collected will benefit the club. Club president Tim Price told “Today’s News-Herald” that most of the funds goes toward field maintenance throughout the year. The pilots did not have to be members of the club however, they were required to fly RC float planes and be members of the AMA. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Southern Indiana Flying Eagles club recently received an AMA club recognition and reward grant for $75. The club is located in Seymour, IN. The club hosted one of model aviation world’s biggest national events at the Indiana Flying Eagles field. The club hoped to have as many as 60 pilots but due to the hurricanes there was a lower turnout. Even though the club had a smaller turnout than they thought they would, the event was very manageable. Pilots come from all over the country to the championships. The pilots involved qualify by doing well at regional competitions. This event is said to be “the Olympics of the RC plane world”. There is no prize money but the winner does get bragging rights. There were two parts of judging for this event. The first part included static judging to determine how accurate the model is compared to the real plane. There were models of World War I, World War II, aerobatic planes, home built and recreational planes at the event. The contestants provided the judges with documentation on the plane including blueprints, pictures, drawings, and history. The second part of judging was about flying the planes. The contestants had five required maneuvers and five optional maneuvers to complete. The clubs field is one of several in the running to be one of four permanent homes for the Scale Master Championships. The event will be rotated among the sites, which are located in different sections of the country. The AMA would like to congratulate the Southern Indiana Flying Eagles Club for hosting such a big event at their field. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Desert Hawks RC Club recently received an AMA club recognition and reward grant for $75. The club is located in Lake Havasa City, AZ. For over 35 years, the Desert Hawks RC club complex has been home to RC airplanes and helicopters. The club members wanted something to do when it was too windy to fly their planes. The club decided to expanded to include RC truck and buggy enthusiasts by constructing race tracks on its grounds. Ed Hail, vice president of the club and track chairman, was interviewed by Chelsea Curtis from Today News-Herald. Hail told Curtis that he thinks it is a good thing for the community because it gives people who like this hobby a place to come and legally participate in the hobby. At first, the Desert Hawks constructed a small oval track for the club to use. The track became very popular that Ed Heil began to collect donations from club members to build a larger RC course. The club raised enough money to build a larger course but there is no set date for the track’s grand opening. The club is hoping to have the grand opening in the next few weeks. The Desert Hawks RC club complex is open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon and non-members are allowed to try the RC tracks once for free. Once they try the track, they are able to join the club for a fee. Also, in order to join the club, they are required to become a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. For more information on the track and becoming  a member, click here. The AMA would like to congratulate the Desert Hawks RC Club on raising enough money to construct a large track and making it fun for everyone! The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Rochester Aero Modeling Society recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward grant for $75. The club is located in Macedon, NY. The club presented a check for $1000 to Macedon Town Ambulance. This donation to the town ambulance was the mark of RAMS exceeding $10,000 in total donations to Macedon organizations since 2006. Each year the club hosts the Model Airplane Show and the Helicopter Jamboree. Each of these events are fundraisers for Macedon organizations. The money will be used to buy equipment and materials to assist the Ambulance Service in providing training and support to the community. The AMA would like to thank the Rochester Aero Modeling Society for raising money for their community. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Central Connecticut RC Club recently received an AMA club recognition and reward grant for $75. The club is located in Farmington, CT. The members of the club attended a drive and fly-in at a local airport. The event the club attended was the 32nd annual Simsbury Fly-In and Car Show. This event attracts around 15,000 spectators, and it has about 150 businesses as sponsors, advertisers, and exhibitors.The annual show was hosted by the Simsbury Flying Club, and proceeds from the event helped keep the Simsbury Airport in operation. The fly in and car show featured hundreds of airplanes and cars that could be seen up close. The airplanes ranged from antiques dating back to the 1920's, to homebuilts, helicopters, small former military aircraft, and brand new models on display by dealers. The AMA would like to thank the members of the Central Connecticut RC Club for attending this event. Thank you for helping other AMA clubs host successful events. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The North East Kansas Blue Sky Squadron, Inc. recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward grant of $175. The club is located in Berryton, Kansas. The club had their annual Big Bird Fly in on September 16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event was held at the Blue Sky Aerodome. The community was invited to come watch the fly-in and the event was free to the public. There was a $10 landing fee for pilots with an AMA membership. The club also served breakfast in the early morning and lunch was $5 for burgers and hot dogs. The club had all kinds of planes in the air from smaller models to larger models. There was also a raffle event. To see pictures from the event, click here. The AMA would like to thank the North East Kansas Blue Sky Squadron for hosting their annual event and inviting the public to participate in our hobby. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.

The Holly Springs Skyhawks Radio Control Group recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $75. The club is located in Holly Springs, NC. The club hosted their Wings Over Springs fly-in and SWAP Meet event on September 2. This was the clubs first organized event. The event was open to the public as Wings Over Springs Model Aviation Day. It was a free event designed to educate and entertain the public about RC flying. There was a Drone Racing Course, operated by local MultiGP club members, next to the main event. Several hundred spectators came to the air show. Many different planes were at the event including  a Magnum PI Hughes 500D replica, an aerobatic quad copter flown line-of- site, 3D pattern, and many more.  The club raised $400 in support of Meg’s Smile Foundation. To learn about the Foundation, click here. The AMA would like to congratulate the Holly Springs Skyhawks Radio Control Group for hosting their first organized event and making it a successful one. The AMA Club Recognition and Reward Program was established to encourage clubs to promote model aviation. The AMA offers clubs cash incentives for positive local media coverage for a public event, public service, club announcement, or other coverage. Click here to learn more about this program.