AMA Foundation

Robert O’Connor was born on May 24, 1929. As a kid in the 40's, Robert built model airplanes and played stick ball. As with other families, his parents decided to move from the Bronx to the suburbs, to a little town called Mahopac, New York.   Robert’s love of flight followed him. He got the opportunity as a young adult to get flying lessons in a Piper Cub for helping out at the local airstrip. When he got married to his wife, Diane, they decided that his feet should stay on the ground. After Robert married, he decided to get into RC planes. He would come home after work to build a Top Dog, Falcon or one of the many others. On the weekends, Robert would always fly his planes. Sometimes in triumph and sometimes in disaster. At this time his friends nicknamed him "Crash n Burn". He loved it. Roberts son, Michael O’Connor, can still remember him running to catch up with a plane when Robert lost the signal. The planes they flew together had an actuator system in them that wasn't reliable. Mike remembers the days that him and his dad, Robert, would be searching for a plane or climbing a tree to get it down. Robert eventually included his son, Michael, in his hobby. He started Mike out on simple and stable models. Mike had a hard time landing the planes. He would get nervous and turn the wrong way which made the plane cartwheel into the ground. Robert worked with his son to teach him landing skills and rebuilding skills. Robert was a loving father. Michael's dad brought RC flying all together for him through the plans, pins, glue, sandpaper, hopes, dreams and fun. Robert O’Connor passed away on July 10, 2009. Michael donated an AMA Walk of Fame brick in his father's memory and honor. The brick was placed at AMA headquarters in Muncie, IN. Robert O’Connor will be sorely missed by family, friends and members of the model aviation community. Visit the AMA Foundation website or click here to learn more about the AMA Walk of Fame program.

The Casa Grande RC Flyers has recently been awarded a $175 Club Recognition and Reward Grant. Casa Grande RC Flyers club has been featured in The Robson Ranch Views monthly from Jan. to March and the April issue of the AMA Magazine. Casa Grande RC Flyers is an Arizona nonprofit corporation that raises money for local charities. Membership is open to anyone wanting fly or learn to fly radio-controlled aircraft. They also offer free lessons taught by any of nine AMA certified instructors. The club has about 156 members that include local residents and winter residents. Club members have visted area schools, 4-H groups, science nights and festivals to teach youth about aviation. The AMA Foundation thanks the Casa Grande RC Flyers for spreading awareness and the messages of our organization to all ages in their community. For more information: https://www.casagrandercflyers.com/communityservice.html 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.

Bremen Hobbies recently held a silent auction promotional event giving shoppers the opportunity to purchase a Balsa USA 1/6th scale Sopwith Pup, built and ready for receiver and battery. The aircraft was built at Bremen Hobbies by Chuck Hamilton and Lee Watkins of Hangar 331. Balsa USA donated the kit, covering materials, and accessories, and Bremen Hobbies donated the electric motor, speed control and servos. The winner was announced in the store in Bremen, Indiana on April 29th. Brad Hjerpe was the top bidder and winner of the aircraft. All proceeds from the winning bid were donated to the AMA Foundation, a total of $779.00 to the Scholarship Fund.

This video originally appeared in the June 1, 2017 edition of AMA's webcast: AMA Air. Find more episodes at https://air.modelaircraft.org.

The AMA Foundation would like to thank Bremen Hobbies for this wonderful opportunity to give back to the AMA Scholarship Fund. For more details about the scholarship fund, view here. AMA Foundation staff members would also like to thank Joe Vermillion for his efforts to help us capture video and pictures from the live winning bid announcement.          

The Beresford Area Radio Flyers has recently been awarded with a $50 Club Recognition and Reward Grant. Beresford Area Radio flyers were featured in the Sioux Center News for hosting a 25th annual model airplane show at Centre Mall in Sioux. Hobbyist came from Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa to see about 40 planes on display. Coordinator of the event Don Van Voorst told reporter Steve Hoogland, “If you’re going to be a club and you want to fly, you’re pretty much bound to the AMA.” The AMA Foundation thanks the Beresford Area Radio Flyers and attendees for making the event such a large success. 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 McMinn County Radio Control Association in Athens, TN recently received a $75 Club Recognition Reward and Grant by the AMA Foundation. The club received this recognition due to their efforts in making the Academy of Model Aeronautics more well known. Members, Pierce Ashburn, Sean Ashburn, Sid Averett, Dana Thornton, Tom Miller, Lynn Perkinson, Richard Weir and Bob Miller appeared in the Daily Post Athenian newspaper. The members were photographed for bringing copies of the Academy of Model Aeronautic Magazine to the E.G. Fisher Public Library. The AMA Foundation appreciates the members of McMinn County Radio Control Association for their efforts in spreading the messages of our organization.   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.

Join us for a special AMA Foundation RC Resale sale during the Toledo Show: R/C Model Expo, April 7-9, in Toledo, OH. We will be set up upstairs in room 207 at the SeaGate Convention Centre, near the swap shop area. Thank you to the families of William Irving, Wayne Nyberg, and Charles Rife, and to Charles Sylvia for donating the collections to make this sale possible. The Toledo Show: R/C Model Expo is North America’s largest and longest running R/C model expo. This three day event showcases all types of R/C models including planes, cars, and boats. Along with all the exhibitors, there will be an R/C model competition, speakers, swap shop, and an auction. This event runs April 7 through April 9 and is fun for the whole family. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.toledoshow.com/ Here's a sneak peek at just a few of the planes RC Resale will have available! [gallery ids="3547,3548,3549,3550,3551,3552,3553,3555,3554"]

Secaucus, New Jersey was the site of AMA Expo East in February. Many AMA staff members attended to run the show, but this was a special trip for foundation staff as we were going to pick up a donation to take with us to sell in the expo's Swap Shop. This donation came from a good friend of ours, Charles Sylvia. You may remember Mandee’s blog post about her trip with Tony to visit Charles back in October to pick up his first donation to the AMA foundation and now he was donating again! Mandee and I flew into LaGuardia airport and took our first New York City taxi ride into New Jersey. There we picked up our (not as small as we thought it would be) cargo van. We had a Cessna 310 to take to Charles as trade for another plane and then he was donating twelve additional planes to the foundation! Once we had the plane loaded and secured, we were off to New Hampshire. It was already dark and we had a four hour long drive ahead of us. We entered our destination into the GPS and Mandee nervously pulled off in our rented van. We made it to our hotel just after midnight to get a bit of sleep before heading out early to meet Charles. [caption id="attachment_3434" align="alignright" width="150"] Chrystal, Charles, Mandee[/caption] The next morning, we were welcomed into the home of Charles and his wife, Fran, where Charles already had all of the planes lined up and ready to load into the van! Charles is very organized and had a file to go along with each plane so that the new owner would have all the information they could ever need to know about their plane. Charles helped the two of us safely load them in the back of the van and we were also able to visit a bit with them while we were at it. Once we had the planes secured and took a photo documenting the occasion, we were back on the road. [caption id="attachment_3442" align="alignright" width="150"] Mandee driving on the George Washington Bridge[/caption] We thought we had the difficult part behind us, the long drive at night and loading up all the planes…but then we realized that we were going to have to drive back through New York City to get to the Meadowlands Exposition Center. Did I mention that Mandee is terrified of bridges? Well, I learned that about her on this trip. And she learned that there a lot of bridges in New York/New Jersey! As we got closer and closer to the George Washington Bridge, I tried as best as I could to calm Mandee’s nerves about driving a cargo van across it…in very heavy traffic. As you may be able to tell in the photo, she’s a little tense.  But, we made it! Once we pulled into the Expo Center, the relief of making it was so overwhelming to Mandee she had tears in her eyes and I believe she almost kissed the ground. And now, we actually had the hard part behind us! [caption id="attachment_3437" align="alignleft" width="150"] Mandee, Frank, Chrystal[/caption] The next few days were a whirlwind of activity in the Swap Shop. We got to meet so many people including District II AVP, Frank Granelli, who lent us his expertise in our booth.  One of our customers, AMA Member Frank Costello, came to the expo after hearing we were selling a C-47 twin. It had been a long-time dream of Frank’s to own this particular plane. We were excited to help make this dream come true…but not as excited as Frank was to take his plane home! [gallery columns="2" ids="3432,3431"] We had a great time at Expo East and sold all of our planes with the money raised benefiting AMA’s educational/youth programs. The foundation team is so thankful to everyone who made this trip so successful; Charles and Fran, Frank, and all of the members who are giving each plane sold the opportunity to fly again! It was a busy weekend but Mandee and I managed to make it into the city one night for dinner and a show...but don't worry, we left the driving up to a professional! [caption id="attachment_3441" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Mandee and Chrystal on Broadway[/caption]   Chrystal Pearson Development Communications Coordinator AMA Foundation

The Celina Flying Sportsmen have recently been awarded with at $175 Award Recognition and Grant by the AMA Foundation. The club hosted their annual Swap Meet where dozens of vendors filled 70 tables to get people started in the hobby of R.C. model flying. The club was featured in Hometown Station, WLIO Lima Ohio,  for the success of the event. Eric Nelson, a member of the Celina Flying Sportsmen R.C. Club said, “The hobby's been growing like mad. The Academy of Model Aeronautics (A.M.A) was about at 165,000 people. This year, I saw the numbers we’re up to 195 thousand, that’s worldwide.” Gaining attention and growth into the hobby is something that is always appreciated by the AMA Foundation. We thank the Celina Flying Sportsmen R.C. Club for their efforts in sharing the passion of flying. 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.

At Sibley-Ocheyedan Jr. High in Sibley, Iowa, students had the chance to learn while having fun from Dave Herbert, a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. Dave came in and spoke to two classes and discussed over 12 machines. He also did a FPV Demo for one of the classes that came into to hear from him. The students were thoroughly impressed by Herbert's presentation and remained intrigued with his discussion. He finished his presentation by allowing the students to come up to his table and see all machines that he had brought to show the class. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSfpfXMg8Us&feature=youtu.be[/embed] The AMA Foundation would like to thank Dave Herbert for introducing students to the model aviation hobby and teaching them how to get involved. Allowing students to see what potential they have in the hobby is what makes the work of the AMA possible.  

Congratulations to Kevin Conners of Westbrook, CT, the 2016 winner of the AMA Foundation for the Future Sweepstakes. Kevin and his brother-in-law flew to California for the ride and to attend AMA Expo. Kevin was really excited to win. He had been checking modelaircraft.org to see if a winner had been selected. “When I called you and was told I had been selected, I was surprised, and excited, and felt very fortunate to be the winner. The ride in the P-51 will be remembered and treasured forever!” Kevin said. Dr. Kendall Wagner has agreed to donate another ride in 2017. Stay tuned for more information, and make sure to visit our website to learn more about Kevin and his experience, amafoundation.modelaircraft.org.     [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OXGNvIaocM[/embed]