205,881.69 raised this year.
Help us reach our goal of of $400,000!
Pictured from left to right Dr. Laird Jackson, AMA Foundation Board Chairman, Ron Pitcock, Bob Brown, AMA Foundation Board member and AMA President, John S. Langford, and Daniel Bott Sr., CIMC,
For information about the AMA Foundation Board of Directors
The Academy of Model Aeronautics Foundation would like to thank the family of Dewey Orville Broberg Jr. for creating the Dewey O. Broberg Jr. Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship will be awarded to one of the members on the winning team during the UAS4STEM national competition. The award will recognize the team member who shows dedication to the team, determination, and adherence to the rules and purpose of the competition.
Dewey Broberg Jr. is the inventive genius and founder behind Du-Bro Products. He played an instrumental role in designing and developing many products that aeromodelers still use today. Dewey is also remembered as being one of the founders of the Radio Control Hobby Trade Association (RCHTA) in the early 1980s and the annual trade show, now known as iHobby Expo, they host annually in Chicago.
Dewey began modeling at the young age of six and his passion for the hobby has grown throughout his life. He invented the first Du-Bro product in the 1950s when glow engines were started with lantern batteries attached to the engine with two alligator clips. Dewey modified a plastic clothespin to simplify the connection and the first Du-Bro product, the Kwik Klip, was born.
Dewey created a line of lightweight, nylon-hubbed wheels, followed by a nose wheel brake and steerable nose wheel hardware for early RC fliers. An expanded and upgraded line of these products are still available through Du-Bro.
Du-Bro’s continued to expand their company thanks to Dewey’s inventive mind. Due to the expansion, the company moved to Niles, IL in 1959. The company moved again in 1967 to Wauconda, IL, where they are still located today.
Du-Bro produced the first Radio Control helicopter kit in the United States, known as the Whirley Bird. The aircraft is on display at the National Model Aviation Museum and at the Smithsonian. The Whirley Bird was followed by a larger Hughes 300, a 60-powered Shark, and a smaller Tri Star.
Dewey applied his innovative skills to other areas as well such as fishing accessories, archery products, bird houses, and more.
Dewey’s children, Jim Broberg, Kathy Broberg Weiland, and Gayle Broberg Lundgren currently own and run Du-Bros Products.
Sadly, Dewey “Orv” Broberg passed away on January 12, 2015. He will be dearly missed by the aviation community, but his legend will live on through the Dewey O. Broberg Memorial Scholarship.
To learn more about Dewey “Orv” Broberg visit the AMA History Project website.
The Intel Corporation in DuPont, Washington, has an initiative called “Great Place to Work” (GPTW). Part of this initiative is to develop “Fun Teams.” The idea is to create a great workplace environment and stimulate workers by including activities directed specifically at workers’ interests. Several teams have already formed, including kayaking/rafting, golf, soccer, basketball, photography, and dancing.
James Holland, Senior Validation Technician at Intel has been taking his RC airplane to work with him, flying in the parking lot during his lunch hour. After a while, several other co-workers started to join him and soon they had a group of about 15 pilots! Here is his story. “Just for fun, we started flying small electric planes in the Intel back parking lot during our lunch hour, with a small group of guys that would fly every day, even during the cold of winter. The parking lot was fun, but not entirely safe due to the fact that cars were coming and going, and sometimes people were nearby. At times, there were guys flying in the rear parking lot, as well as the front parking lot at the same time. It became clear that we needed to establish some sort of control to be safer, and so we could continue to keep our site friendly to presence of our aircraft.
Intel’s GPTW program’s goal is to entice interest in Intel as truly a Great Place to Work by investing in the people who work there. Part of this initiative was to create fun teams of various sorts. The list grew very quickly and many different teams developed. The small group of dedicated fun fliers saw this as a unique opportunity to create an RC fun team. After negotiations with the fun-team and site managers, the Intel RC DuPont Group was formed. A vacant unfinished parking lot on the Intel property was graciously approved by our site manager for our use. We spent a few weekends removing rocks from that area for a makeshift runway. It was not as smooth as flying from the parking lot, but now much safer as all fliers are at the same place on the property, and we no longer had to worry about cars, people, etc. The trees surrounding the lot always seem to catch any plane trying to get away.
The site managers moved some picnic tables out there so we have places to work on planes in our pit area. One by one, more people noticed us regularly flying during lunch time and interested people began to join us. Most could not believe at first that this was an Intel-sponsored team! The Fun Team purchased two networked RealFlight simulators with all add-ons and 50-inch plasma screen monitors for them. The simulators were set up in our common game room, where all Intel DuPont employees now have access to learn to fly RC! When the weather is bad outside, the networked simulators provide an excellent alternative for some fun flying or to brush up on our skills.
Still in our infancy, we are now looking forward to more members, more employee exposure, and possibly site improvements like runway surfacing, safety fencing, signage, etc. We are interested in growing this Fun Team to a whole new level of fun. We have ideas such as fun-fly events, or maybe introductory flight days with instructor pilots with trainer systems at the ready for first time pilots. We regularly have new aircraft showing up at the field, and several new pilots which have already learned to fly right here at their place of work!
The RC Fun Team is a unique kind of team probably not seen yet at many companies. There are many benefits to having employer-sponsored Fun Teams. It is an excellent way to bring people together, and helps develop relationships which can then benefit the company. Teamwork through diversity is what truly makes Intel successful, and the Fun Teams are an excellent way to bridge the gaps between people of different interests and backgrounds. The Fun Teams enhance communication skills, and help people open up, relax, and truly smile as they have real fun!”
“I think the value of the company to have a Great Place to Work is one of the ways that we retain people and all come back to work happy every day. It’s really important to foster an environment where the employees can relax and decompress to later come back to be productive and with a refreshed mindset. Creativity is not obtained by putting pressure in the environment but the other way around. The different fun activities offered by the Great Place to Work program creates a relaxed environment where people interact in different informal situations (not work related). Those bonds improve teamwork and ease communication in the different organizations. In the end the company implements these groups to improve moral, reduce stress and have fun.”
AMA can help you if you are interested in creating a similar situation with the company you work for. If they are large enough, it is possible to present this concept to them for consideration. Contact Tony Stillman at fsac@modelaircraft.org if you would like to pursue this concept where you work!
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;
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
Hi everyone! I moved to Indiana from Georgia to work with the fine folks at HQ. We can now work much closer together to provide better support to clubs and their flying site needs. I hope to work with many of you to protect your current site, but I am also here to help when a site is lost. Please feel free to contact me anytime. If you have not already checked out the Flying Site Assistance on the AMA website, I hope you visit it and see what resources are availalbe. This will be growing all the time and I hope to add many new items and features! visit www.modelaircraft.org/flyingsiteassistance
Tony Stillman
Academy of Model Aeronautics
Flying Site Assistance Coordinator
fsac@modelaircraft.org
(800) 435-9262 ext. 230
The Academy of Model Aeronautics has been named as the 4th place award winner by the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation for a Pilot's Choice Award Grant. The AMA is one of eight charities that will receive funds for aviation-related pursuits. 
As the 4th place finisher, AMA will be granted $5,000. AMA’s education department will use the funds to develop a model aviation day camp at AMA Headquarters in Muncie, IN. The on-site camp curriculum will be further developed to share with AMA’s 2400 clubs throughout the country. The goal of the day camp will be to ignite imagination and learning through principles of flight. Everyone who attends will not only learn more about model aviation as a hobby, but will learn many principles of STEM-based education. AMA Associate Vice-President Michael Lee represented the AMA at the Flying Aviation Expo in Palm Springs, CA, where the live announcement naming the winners was made. AMA was recognized for its educational pursuits and for its continued efforts to represent the model aviation community. 
“Awarding these aviation charities provides the opportunity to advance their individual cause and together expand awareness and appreciation for aviation," says Allan Schrader, President of Lightspeed Aviation. “Since its inception, the Pilots Choice voting and awards have introduced us all to dozens of worthy charities and amazing people that are making a significant impact around the world." The Lightspeed Aviation Foundation was established in 2010 out of the commitment and passion of the Lightspeed Aviation Corporation to serve the aviation community. Since introducing its first product at EAA AirVenture in 1996, Lightspeed Aviation has established a reputation for leading product innovation in aviation headsets with a number of "first to market" advances in comfort, quiet, clarity, and pilot-centric functionality. This has earned Lightspeed a loyal customer following among professional, commercial, and private pilots. Learn more about the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation.
The AMA Foundation would like to thank AMA Member Josh Price, who took part in the "Cold Water Challenge" to support the AMA Scholarship Program.
Josh's goal-call out ten people and donate ten dollars for each one of the ten people to accept to the AMA Foundation scholarship fund. If all ten people agree, that's $100 that will go towards next year's scholarship awards. Josh hopes those he mentioned will accept the challenge, and share it with ten of their friends.
Said Josh in a comment to the Academy, "Hopefully this catches on and exponentially increases with more and more people calling out their friends and fellow club members. Also I would like to add that pond water at Joe Nall is acceptable as well."
Are you up for the challenge?
