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The Southwest Area Park Modelers recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $175. The club is located in Arbutus, MD. The club held their Charm City Fly which featured dozens of planes and supported disabled veterans. The event included a candy drop, model airplane aerobatics, a raffle, and more. The event raised over $2,600 for their cause. If you would like to watch some of their event coverage, you can do so HERE and 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 Seminole Radio Control Club recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $75. The club is located in Tallahassee, FL. The club held their event on October 6th from 10am-3pm. The cost on entrance was $15 donation from pilots and $5 for the lunch.  Everyone received hamburgers, hot dogs, bottled water, and got to see and participate in model flying. The club provided everything that was need to have a fun day flying. They encouraged new participants to try their hand at flying and ask questions to learn more about the 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 Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Foundation Board and staff are saddened to hear of the passing of Board Chairman emeritus, Laird Jackson’s recent passing. “Doc” as many knew him, was a member of the AMA Foundation’s first Board of Director’s serving as its first Chairman. Doc was a noted physician certified in internal medicine, clinical genetics and clinical cytogenetics with a principal interest in Prenatal Diagnosis and research in that area and childhood genetic conditions.  As an aeromodeler, he has been most active in control line flying and worked with the AMA and FAI in national and international competition and its administration. Click here to learn more about Dr. Laird Jackson and his many accomplishments.

With grant assistance from the AMA, the Island Flyers R/C Club installed a new GeoTex runway in April 2019 at their field in Fernandina, FL. Club members went to work tillling, digging, filling in, and leveling the ground for a 250' x 30' fabric runway. During four full days of work, the runway was laid, secured with staples and tightened by the sun overhead. In addition, the club laid the taxiway and flight box with GeoTex fabric. After the runway was completed, it was marked and cleared for its first flight. The club was also able to purchase a used 20' Conex storage container to house field equipment and other supplies(see photos below). The Island Flyers R/C Club hopes to attract new members as a result of their runway project. Upon completion of the project, club President John Willis wrote, "Thanks for your support in making this happen. As a small club, your contribution was very helpful." Visit the Island Flyers R/C club's website to read more about their runway project.                     We are honored to have contributed to so many successful site improvement projects over the years! Apply now for the 2020 Flying Site Improvement Grant program: https://modelaircraft.org/site-grant.  

The winner of the AMA Foundation For The Future Sweepstakes has been chosen and the winner has been revealed. William (Bill) Fitzharris from Arizona is the lucky winner and will be enjoying a trip to AMA Expo West and a flight in a P-51 Mustang, Lady Alice. When asked about his history with flying and how excited he is for the trip, this is what he had to say: How long have you been flying model aircraft/involved with the AMA? Bill has been flying since his early teens and has built and flown control-line in the days of the Redhead McCoy glow engines. His club was sponsored by the local Plymouth Auto Dealership, and that was it for the next 60 years. Then, a few years ago his daughter gave him a surprise birthday gift, an E-Flite Apprentice ready-to-go out of the box. He joined a local club, the Arizona Model Pilot's Society (AMPS) and the AMA. What are your areas of interest in model aviation? Free flight, RC, helicopters, scale, etc.? Currently he enjoys flying RC. What is your profession? Has model flying had any impact on your career path? Bill is a retired Wells Fargo Financial Advisor. Model Aviation has not really had an impact on his career choice. He has attended numerous airshows in the D.C. area along with the Air and Space Museum and Udvar-Hazy Museum, which his daughters have said they have visited too many times. How excited are you about winning? "Being known as "Mr. Never Has Won Anything," excited is not a strong enough word to describe how happy I am. This one is for the books!"

The Midwest Sundowners recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $50. The club is located in Munster, IN. The club recently received a story published about them in their local newspaper. It dove into the history of their club and even included some personal stories of some of their members. The club, located in Munster, IN, flies at an outdoor flying field in Winfield and at the Sparta Dome in Crown Point when the weather prohibits outdoor 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.

The Coachella Valley Radio Control Club recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $125. The club is located in Indio, CA. The club is one of the oldest service organizations in their area and was able to get on their local radio station recently to talk about their club and some upcoming events. The club will be hosting their Top Fun event the first weekend in November and hope community members will come out and watch to support the club. You can listen to their full radio interview 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 Holly Springs Skyhawks Radio Control Group recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $125. The club is located in Holly Springs, NC. On August 31, 2019 the club hosted their third annual Wings Over Springs Electric Fly In charity event. Over 80 pilots were in attendance for the event, as the day had perfect weather conditions for flying. The club was able to get plenty of sponsors for the day and were able to give out goodie bags to all registered pilots, as well as free water. Visitors of the event were able to see demos almost all day as well as MultiGP Drone Racing. The event also included a raffle with a grand prize as the finale. Hosts of the Parkflyer Podcast traveled across the country to attend the event and get some recordings. You can read more about the event and see photos HERE. You can listen to the podcast recordings HERE and 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 Tuscarora R/C Flying Club recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $75. The club is located in Mary-D, PA. During their monthly meeting at the beginning of September, the Tuscarora R/C Flying Club made Jonathan Sommers an honorary member of the club and pilot. Sommers, who has autism, had been attending their meetings for over 20 years. The club noticed his dedication and wanted to do something special for him. Not only did the club make him an honorary member, but the Academy of Model Aeronautics also heard about what was happening and they decided to make him and honorary pilot. Jonathan received several gifts from both the club and the AMA. Among those gifts was a brick with his name on it on the AMA Walk of Fame. 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 Olympic RC Modelers recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $75. The club is located in Port Angeles, WA. In August, the club participated in the 2019 Olympic Peninsula Air Affaire and Sequim Valley Fly-in. The event brought in about 3,000 visitors and included a group of five historic planes from the Port Townsend Aero Museum, helicopter rides, a car show and more. The Olympic RC Modelers participated in the event as a fundraiser for Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County. 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.