Stories

After 50 years and some tough decisions, the Cleveland Free Flight Society disbanded and donated their remaining funds to organizations who supported them throughout the years. Rich Weber, former President of the Cleveland Free Flight Society, stated: "When our club members made the difficult decision to disband the Cleveland Free Flight Society after a fifty year run, we had to make some more decisions on what to do with the funds left in our treasury. We made a list of ideas at our final meeting, and then sent out a questionnaire to all of the club members, asking them to vote on where they wanted the donations to go. The results of the membership survey showed that CFFS membership wanted to see that the funds went to the organizations that supported our activities over the years, and to help insure that aeromodeling remained strong for many years to come. The AMA Scholarship Fund and the AMA Foundation were natural choices. We hope the donations will aid those organizations in their work." The AMA Foundation thanks CFFS for their generous donation and wishes the best for everyone involved with CFFS in their future endeavors.

Congratulations tot he Newport News Park Radio Control Club for raising $1,764.00 for the AMA Foundation! What an accomplishment! The Newport News Park Radio Control Club formed a committee and drafted up a proposal on how their club can contribute to the AMA Foundation in support of our mission and vision. The AMA's Mission is “to advance the organizational goals of the Academy of Model Aeronautics through the financial support of its charitable programs.” The AMA's Vision is “to inspire financial support for Aeromodelling as a hobby, sport, and scientific pursuit – a legitimate part of our communities and a necessary component of the aeronautical continuum.” The NNPRCC committee came up with a program called the “AMA Foundation Challenge.” This challenge consists of three primary objectives:

• Promote awareness of the AMA Foundation’s mission and vision
• Provide annual financial support to the AMA Foundation General Fund
• Challenge individuals and organizations to support the AMA Foundation

The first part of the challenge is to promote awareness of the AMA Foundation. To do this, the proposal calls for developing and maintaining a small supply of printed materials to have at club events. These materials will provide information about the AMA and ways to join the club. In addition to the printed materials, electronic materials will be hosted on the club website. This material would provide an overview of how the AMA benefits all model aviation enthusiasts and hyperlinks to the AMA Foundation website. Part two of the proposal is to provide annual financial support. Using club funds, the committee would purchase a “grand prize” item to sell raffle tickets for. The committee will sell raffle tickets for a period of time and after completion of the raffle, the club’s treasury will be reimbursed and all remaining proceeds will be allocated to the AMA Foundation General Fund. In addition to the grand prize auction, featured items will be raffled off exclusively during the club's National Model Aviation Day celebration including a completely ready-to-fly electric trainer, a 1-year club membership, and more! Lastly, the proposal suggests having a sponsored cookout for club members and guests, with prominently placed containers soliciting donations. All proceeds from the sponsored cookout will be allocated to the AMA Foundation General Fund. The final part of the AMA Foundation Challenge is to challenge others. The proposal calls for development of a brief report, to be used for post-event promotion. This report should include images or videos from the AMA Challenge activities before and during an event, a note of appreciation for participants and volunteers, and disclosure of the total proceeds raised. This report should encourage individuals, clubs and other organizations to meet or exceed the efforts put on by the club. The post-event report can be shared with various local and national media outlets. The AMA Foundation encourages other clubs to use the proposal made by the NNPRCC committee as an example to raise money for the foundation.

Every year the Weak Signals club of Toledo, OH sells raffle tickets to those attending the Toledo R/C Expo show to raise money in support of the AMA’s scholarship program. This year, the club raised $1,000 for AMA scholarships.

This donation will be split between this year’s top three AMA scholarship award recipients.

We would like to thank the members of the Toledo Weak Signals for the continued support of the scholarship program.

Learn more about the Weak Signals RC club on modelaircraft.org.

We would like to thank JAG RC, owned by Greg and Jenni Alderman, for contributing a portion of the sale of Showtime smoke oil back to the AMA Foundation. The smoke oil will be available at different shows throughout the country this flying season. "Showtime" Model Aviation smoke oil is formulated from the same base stock used by the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds and now by several well-known pilots in the RC jet pilot community. Supplies are limited: $70 for 4-gallon case (four 1-gallon jugs @ $17.50 per gallon) $20 for a single 1-gallon To learn more visit JAG RC on Facebook.  Or visit the JAG RC website, https://jag-rc.com/.      

Terry Wiles and his wife won an AMA Goldberg award with a check for $200. After receiving the award with the check, the Wiles decided that they wanted to give back to the District IX Camp AMA Scholarship Fund. In the fall of 2015, Jim Tiller was new to the AMA Executive Council. Tiller was informed of a young man who would be a great candidate for Camp AMA. After returning home from an event, Tiller had received an $800 donation from the 95th Street Club in Kansas City to go towards money for AMA youth programs. The check was a memorial taken up by the club for one of their longtime members, Darrell Watts. After receiving the check, it was arranged for Matt Carlson to be the first recipient of the District IX Camp AMA Scholarship. With the generosity of local clubs and members like Terry Wiles, five more tuition scholarships have been given since the first. The recipients have been Toby Ray, Denver, CO, Austin Axmann, Kansas City, KS, Ethan Thibault, Rapid City, SD, Morgan Young, Denver, CO and Ashton Newton, Dakota City, NE. In February 2019, Wiles and his wife decided to donate 24 lasered cups from their business which is about $200 worth in their cost. By selling the cups, Wiles figured it would bring in around $480 to the scholarship fund. The cups sold in one day so they lasered an additional 24 cups which also sold in one day. The Wiles expect to raise over $1000 from the original $200 Goldberg check.  

A giant 76 pound, 25-foot wing spanned Stein Adler Glider took flight at the Pomona Valley Model Airplane Club in California during their Toys for Tots event. The glider was purchased by an AMA Member, Cal Orr, from the AMA Foundation at the Toledo show. Watch the video here.  

The Casa Grande Rc Flyers will host their 6th annual Air Show at their club field on March 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be a swap meet the morning of the event. Admission is free and the event will benefit the Valley Humane Society. The Air Show will feature model aircraft flights by professional pilots using fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and drones. A radio-controlled care race demonstration on the clubs car track will also be featured at the show. Superstition Hobbies will be at the event to offer both car and airplane products. A representative from Horizon Hobby will hold a Spektrum transmitter programming seminar at 10 a.m. In addition, a member of "Team Horizon" will fly in the air show featuring some of Horizon's best products. There will be a raffle with many prizes including a complete model aircraft ready for the winner to fly. Gates open at 8 a.m. for the swap meet and vendor set-up. The event will officially begin at 9 a.m.

The National Model Aviation Museum will be hosting Black Wings: American Dreams of Flight, a Smithsonian traveling exhibition. The exhibit will be on display February 1, in celebration of Black History Month, and will run through March 31. The exhibition is based on the book Black Wings: Courageous Stories of African Americans in Aviation and Space History. The exhibit was created by exhibition curator Von Hardesty of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. In 1903, America's fascination with flight was sparked by the Wright brothers.  Many African Americans were enthusiastic about flight but faced racial discrimination. They were denied access to formal training to become pilots and mechanics. The Smithsonian traveling exhibition, Black Wings: American Dreams of Flight, chronicles a powerful group of aviation proponents who challenged these obstacles and created their own legacy in the world of flight.  Developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the exhibition was made possible by the generous support of the MetLife Foundation. To learn more about upcoming events at the International Aeromodeling Center, home of the AMA in Muncie, Ind., visit www.modelaircraft.org/IAC.

The AMA and AMA Foundation would like to welcome David Martin into the Heritage and Legacy Societies. David is an active member of the Cape Coral R/Seahawks club located in Cape Coral, FL. David is a retired SMSgt USAF reserve. He worked on b-52, KC-135, F-4, F-16 and C-5 aircraft doing sheet metal and fiberglass repair. He currently does steel, aluminum and sheet metal fabrication and welding. He flew RC planes occasionally in the mid-'80s and then returned to the hobby in the late '90s. Click here to learn more about the AMA Foundation Heritage and Legacy Societies.

The AMA Foundation will have the donated Charles Sylvia collection at the swap shop at AMA Expo East. AMA Expo East will be held Friday, Feb. 22 - 24 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, NJ. For more information on Expo East, click here. If you would like to make an early bid on an item, please contact Mandee Mikulski at mandeem@modelaircraft.org. We hope to see you there! All sales through RC Resale benefit the AMA Foundation and the programs it supports. T-45C EDF JET SNJ-5 Foam HABU EDF Viper EDF F4U Corsair F7F Tigercat twin ECM Cessna 337 twin ECM Not photographed: Zero Foam Bf-109 Foam MJ-61 Foam F4F Wildcat Mosquito Fighter Twin Foam Focke Wulf F-190 Foam P-38 Twin Flightline Foam Dauntless SBD Dive-Bomber Foam Spitfire Foam P-40 Warhawk Foam AD-1 foam ZLIN Westland Whirlwind Twin Scratch Built PT-17 Biplane Panther EDF Jet 120mm ME-262 EDF Twin Foam P-47 Park Zone in Box Foam SR-10 Park Zone in Box Form Pulse 25 e p-38 Twin FMS Foam KAOS 40 Stinson Voyager SR-9 MIG EDF Foam Swift Drone 4 bl w/GPS Spektrum DX-7 TX Vision Aire Wing Set and Tubes Corsair Wing Set Sport Cub w/ Floats Thunder Power 820CD Charger Spektrum DX-7 TX P-40 Glass Composite Hanger 9