drone

A total of $56,069.32 has been awarded in grants.

Congratulations to the 2020 recipients of the Flying Site Improvement Grant and the Take Off and Grow Grant.  

Flying Site Improvement Grant (FSIG)

26 clubs were awarded Flying Site Improvement grants in 2020! AMA established the Flying Site Improvement Grant program to invest in the continued improvement and growth of AMA chartered clubs and fields. Grant funding is provided through an allocation of membership dues each year as well as from funding from the AMA Foundation. These clubs are making a difference in the model aviation community, and the communities in which they operate. This year, $41,464.32 was awarded.

ClubAmount 

Rhode Island Aeromodelers $1,538.36

Southern New Hampshire Flying Eagles R/C Club $2,621.75

Brauer's Aviators $441.35

Fairfield League of Yankee Radio Controllers  (FlyRC) $393.20

Anderson Flyers RC Club $533.58

Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club $3,000.00

Charlotte Aeromodelers $3,000.00

District of Columbia Radio Control (DCRC) Club $972.00

Bay City Flyers $3,000.00

Blount County Model Aviators $1,135.00

Seminole Radio Control Club $1,811.00

Flying Cardinals of Northern Kentucky $1,841.75

Fort Wayne Flying Circuits $377.00

Henderson RC Model Airplane Club $516.57

Mid-Missouri Radio Control Association $1,660.47

Midwest Air Wing R/C Club $3,000.00

Des Moines Modelaires $1,298.35

Flying Pilgrims $1,606.82

Lake County Modelers and Flyers Association $3,000.00

Wausau RC Sportsmen $1,476.00

ARF RC Flying Club $516.50

Good Ole Okies Flying Society $1,090.00

Sky Corral R/C Club $1,940.75

Silent Electric Fliers of San Diego $496.45

Tri Valley RC Modelers $3,000.00

Puget Sound Silent Flyers $1,197.42

   

Take Off and Grow (TAG) Grant

23 clubs were awarded Take Off and Grow Grants in 2020! AMA awards up to $1,000 to clubs that implement a Take off And Grow (TAG) program in their local communities. TAG programs provide newcomers to model aviation an opportunity to learn about the hobby as well as practice flying model aircraft with experienced club members. TAG grants are awarded each year, thanks to the generous support of AMA members and AMA Foundation donors across the country. This year, $14,605.00 was awarded.

Club NameAmount

Aeroguidance Society$790.00

Meroke Radio Control$1,000.00

Penn Ohio Radio Kontrol Society (PORKS)$800.00

Valley City R/C Club, Inc.$1,000.00

Holly Springs Skyhawks Radio Control Group$800.00

Johnston County Aeromodelling Club$1,000.00

Largo Flying Club$500.00

Flagler City Radio Aero Modelers$800.00

Stone Mountain Radio Control Flyers$500.00

Henderson Radio Control Model Airplane Club$715.00

Madison Area Radio Control Society (MARCS)$500.00

Lake County Modelers & Flyers$500.00

Milan Flyers$400.00

Capital Area Radio Drone Squadron$400.00

Corsicana R/C Flyers$300.00

Richardson Radio Control Club$1,000.00

Casper Airmodelers Association$400.00

Rapid City Propbusters$500.00

Longmont Electric Aircraft Flyers, LEAF$500.00

Lincoln Sky Knights$400.00

Casa Grande RC Flyers$1,000.00

Oasis Flyers (Flying Aces)$800.00

   

 

Congratulations to each AMA club that qualified for an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant in 2019. We are thrilled to share with the membership that the entire $5,000 allotted to provide funding to clubs was awarded to 50 clubs. This means our clubs are going above and beyond to share positive stories about model flying activities. The more our clubs share, the more our hobby receives recognition. Thank you to each of these clubs for doing their part to make this happen. The Academy of Model Aeronautics encourages clubs across the country to take part in events and serve the community in ways that will entice community members to learn more about the hobby of model aviation. Becoming a vital part of your community will help your club build your membership and inspire others, including the youth in your community. 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. The program is simple. If your club has received publicity through the local media, simply submit the article, radio segment, or television clip to AMA’s Public Relations department. The department will review your application, and reward your club’s treasury based on the coverage received. Atoms Rcers Beresford Area Radio Flyers Binghampton Aeros Bristol County R/C Club Cape May County Wireless Aircraft Sport Pilots Capital Area Radio Drone Squadron Casa Grande RC Flyers Casper Airmodelers Cedar Rapids Skyhawks Celina Flying Sportman Coachella Valley Radio Control Club Des Moines Model Aires El Paso Radio Controllers Fluvanna County R/C Flying Club Fort Ben Radio Control Club Fremont County RC Club Heart of Texas Miniature Aircraft Club Holly Springs Skyhawks Radio Control Group Kootenai RC Flyers Lazy Eight RC Club Lewes RC Club Lincoln Sky Knight RC Club Mid Arkansas Radio Control Society Midwest Sundowners N.E. Kansas Blue Sky Squadron North Georgia Model Aviators Olympic RC Modelers Owatonna RC Modelers Palm Beach Radio Control Association RC Sport Flyers River City Radio Controllers Rochester Aeromodeling Society Rock River Aeromodelers Society Seminole Radio Control Club Sky Kings R/C Club South Coast RC Squadron Southern Indiana Flying Eagles Southwest Area Park Modelers SPARKS INC Stonecrest RC Flyers Sunday Flyers Susquehanna Valley Modelers Tampa Radio Control Aircraft Club Tinley Creek RC Club Tuscarora R/C Flying Club Viehe RC Fliers Wenatchee Red Apple Flyers

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 Capital Area Radio Drone Squadron (CARDS) recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $175. The club is located in Grand Ledge, MI. The Capital Area Radio Drone Squadron hosted an airshow from June 6-8, 2019 from 9am to 5pm. The event featured more than 100 scale planes from aviation history. The planes were available for static viewing, as well as in air at the field.  Many of the planes had an 8 to 10 foot wing span, with some being even larger.This air show was the season opener for the Giant Scale Warbirds and Classics Alliance, which holds similar shows throughout the midwest. In the year 2020, CARDS will honor the RC hobby by celebrating its 50th anniversary as a club of enthusiasts dedicated 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 Fluvanna County RC Flying Club recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $175. The club is located in Fork Union, VA. The club was recognized on their local television and radio stations. They hosted the fourth annual Wings and Wheels 4 PAWS fundraiser on Saturday, June 8th. The event benefited four animal rescues in Fluvanna County. The event included a car show, model aviation, a drone race, food, a raffle, games for kids and much more. While poor weather kept down the number of pilots and car registrations, they estimated almost $4,000 was raised. 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.

Patrick W. Beagan, of Arlington, Massachusetts, passed away at the age of 45 in June 2017. Patrick studied mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder and pursued a decades-long career in software design and development. He founded a small software company in the late 1990s and then held senior positions at several software companies in the Boston area. Most recently, he was awarded a patent for an innovative software design at Oracle Corporation. Complementing his professional career and long-held interest in flying, Patrick discovered the art of flying and the science of building multirotor FPV racing drones in 2014. He was immediately captivated by this hobby that combined the reward of designing and building his own aircraft, the analysis and problem solving of debugging issues, and the thrill of first-person flight—not to mention the camaraderie of the local FPV flying community. Patrick was a founding member of the Boston Multi Rotor Club in 2015, and at one time, was one of the top-ranked pilots in the New England area. He made a nice group of friends in the local racing community and was always willing to lend a hand or spare parts. In addition to his professional life and newfound passion in all things drones, Patrick pursued many outdoor sports in his lifetime including skiing, snowboarding, windsurfing, kitesurfing, and cycling. He and his wife of nine years, Andrea, were also ardent travelers and nature lovers—having traveled together across the US and in 30-plus countries around the world. Patrick's wife is sponsoring a scholarship for the 2019 UAS4STEM program in her husband’s memory. She is keen to acknowledge how this hobby touched Patrick's life through continual learning, competition, and fun. Her hope is to help promote the same enthusiasm and learning opportunity for the next generation. The UAS4STEM drone challenge was designed by the AMA to encourage teamwork, competition, and success through a STEM-based education platform. The program provides teams of four to 10 middle and high school students with training, insurance, and equipment to compete in a waypoint and payload delivery challenge. To learn more about UAS4STEM visit https://uas4stem.org/.

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

Michael Solon was 2018 recipient of the Dewey O Broberg Scholarship. Michael was introduced to RC world when he was in 9th grade. He joined the aeronautics team at his high school as a freshman. He would stay late to fly flight simulators and he eventually graduated to crashing real RC planes. He prefers to use drones because of their practicality. One of Michael's favorite memories is during Christmas. He received a drone as a present. The first time he flew his drone was to take a few photos around the beach. However, because he didn’t trim it yet, the wind immediately sent it at max speed away from him. Soon after, his new drone made its way towards the ocean. Michael said it got far enough so that all the camera could see was ocean and the sun rising. When Michael was about to give up, the wind suddenly changed directions and pushed it back onto the beach. The whole adventure was recorded on video. After high school, Michael plans to go to college to study mechatronic engineering. Congratulations to Michael for being the 2018 recipient of the Dewey O Brobery Scholarship.