fun fly

The Flying For Good featured May submission is Colonels Fly'n Aces. The club is located in Taylorsville, NC. The club actively raises money for three different charities in their community. On Memorial Day weekend, the club hosted their annual Spring Fling Fun Fly. All proceeds from the event supported Sipe's Orchard Home, a local children's home that houses teens approaching adulthood who need help learning to live on their own. Sipe's Orchard Home also has a preschool program that helps kids prepare for kindergarten. This year, the Colonels Fly'n Aces raised $500 to help Sipe's Orchard Home. On July 14, the Colonels Fly'n Aces will be hosting Warbirds Over Hefner Air Field to support the Alexander Chapter of the DAV. The funds will be designated to directly benefit the local disabled veterans. The club will also host their final event of the year on September 15. The event is Fly'n for Food to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of NW North Carolina. The club is able to donate proceeds from all of their flying events. They have chosen to keep donations local because the money has a bigger impact and the charities depend on the community for support. The AMA would like to thank the Colonels Fly'n Aces for giving back to their community. The AMA wants to know how your club has given back to charity. To learn more about the Flying For Good Program, click here.

In 2010, the Franklin County Radio Control Club had dwindled down to six or seven members. At the time, only two members were active flying members and their home airfield at Turners Falls Municipal Airport had become overwhelmed by vegetation and lack of care. The club decided to host a Father's Day Fun Fly to introduce more people to the hobby. The first year of the event, the club saw "way more people than expected" show up. By the following Tuesday, 14 people showed up to the group's regularly scheduled meeting who wanted to learn more about flying. Since then, the club has grown almost four times larger, with 23 members, 20 of which are actively flying. This year, the club hosted their eighth annual Father's Day Fun Fly at Turners Falls Municipal Airport on June 16-17. The event featured flyers showing off different miniature aircraft, from model planes and helicopters to drones. There was also extreme combat flying and races, special guest flyers, including national champion Dean Lampron, was at the event to show off many unique skills and abilities one can learn flying radio-controlled aircraft. Spectators were able to practice on a computer simulation, learning how to pilot a miniature aircraft. After practicing on a computer simulation, spectators were able to try flying through buddy box. Club vice president, David Korpieski, stated that the club chose to have an event on Father's Day due to the hobby's popularity among men and the event allows fathers to "pass the craft" onto their children. For more information about the Franklin County Radio Control Club, visit FranklinRC.com or find them on Facebook.  

The Flying For Good featured May submission is the North Country Flying Tigers Model Airplane Club, Inc. The club is located in Hudson Falls, NY. The club hosts an annual fun-fly in August that is open to the public. The club actively raises money for Make-A-Wish Northeastern NY which is a service for eligible wish kids and their families that works to grant children their heartfelt wish. For the 9th Annual Fun Fly in 2017, the club raised $2,000 for Make-A-Wish Northeastern NY. The North Country Flying Tigers Model Airplane Club will host the 10th Annual Fun-fly Airshow from 9 a.m. to dark on Sat., Aug. 11. This event also serves as the clubs celebration of National Model Aviation Day.   The AMA would like to thank the The North Country Flying Tigers Model Airplane Club for including the public in their fundraiser for Make-A-Wish Northeastern NY. The AMA wants to know how your club has given back to charity. To learn more about the Flying For Good Program, click here.

The North Georgia Model Aviators recently received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward Grant for $50. This club is located in Dawsonville, Georgia. The club recently found a new 40-acre flying field. The club broke ground in September 2017 and has been open to its members for three months. The field opened for its first public event March 22-24.The event was open to all RC aviators across the country in its first aerobatic fun fly event sponsored by RC plane manufacturer Extreme Flight RC located in cumming, GA. Currently, the field consists of a 550 foot runway and a newly constructed covered pavilion with stations for aviators to work on their planes. They also plan to add another 200 ft to the runway, run power to the pavilion and set up a weather station and camera system. The club has many sponsors who support the development of their flying field. The sponsors include Extreme Flight sponsored by Jase Dussia and John and James Geirrein. The club saw approximately 60 model planes take flight at their event. The event also included a raffle and barbecue with all proceeds going towards helping the nonprofit club. The clubs goal is to have the field open for other neighboring clubs to use since many clubs have closed in 2017. The North Georgia Model Aviators club is located at 323 Geirrein Road in Dawsonville, GA. 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 Local Area Fun Flyers (LAFF) are located in Bullhead City, AZ. The club was covered in the Mohave Valley Daily News on Dec. 27. The RC club has 30 members and they meet at the Rodney Briscoe Memorial Flying Field at Rotary Park in Arizona. LAFF is actively looking for other RC aircraft enthusiasts in their area to join them in their flight plans. The club is planning a fun fly day in February that will be open to anyone interested in learning about the sport. Andy Murphy, a member of the club, said “This field is a great place to come out to fly. People can come out with us and give it a try before they invest in the sport; if they find they are interested, we can help get them started and give good advice on how to do it as inexpensively as possible.” For more information about LAFF email localareafunflyers@yahoo.com. To read the story from the Mohave Valley Daily News, click here.

The Sequin RC Aeronauts Club and the Olympic RC Modelers received an AMA Club Recognition and Reward. The Sequin RC Aeronauts received $75. The Olympic RC Modelers received $125. The clubs are both located in Washington.  The clubs hosted their 7th annual Fun Fly-in Fundraiser for Hospice on August 26-27. The event is a family-oriented event that includes demonstration flights, static displays of aircraft and raffle drawings for prizes. The event ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and it was five dollars per car load. All AMA Pilots were welcomed with a $10 donation landing fee. The activities at the event included Balloon rides, remote controlled plane demonstrations and a “Wings and Wheels” car show. Each year, one hundred percent of the proceeds go to volunteer Hospice of Clallam County. The mission of the Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County is to provide free around-the-clock registered nursing availability to terminally ill patients. At the end of the event, the clubs donated $4,174 to Hospice. Also, both clubs were featured in the “Peninsula Daily News”. The AMA would like to thank the Sequin RC Aeronauts Club and the Olympic RC Modelers for partnering together to host a successful event while raising money for a great cause. 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 North Country Flying Tigers located in Saratoga Springs, NY, received an AMA club recognition reward for $175. Bob Lippman, President of the North Country Flying Tigers, was featured on Look TV to promote their 9th Annual Fun Fly Air Show. The event was held on July 9. Each year, the club holds a fundraiser for a charity. This year, the club had a silent auction and all the proceeds went to the Make a Wish Foundation. To watch the video with Bob Lippman, click here. The AMA would like to thank the North Country Flying Tigers for raising money for a charity each year at their Annual Fun Fly Air Show. 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 Minot Aircraft Modelers located in Minot, ND received an AMA Club Recognition Reward of $125. The club currently has 32 members and is growing quickly. Members of the club have various types of aircraft including planes, helicopters and quad-copter drones. On Aug. 5, the club hosted their International Fun Fly and had 49 participants. Anthony Martinez, a member of the club, used his drone to take still photos and videos of the activities during the local group’s International Fun Fly. To watch the video from the event, click here. The Minot Aircraft Modelers hold different events throughout the year. The club normally holds an annual event at the Dakota Square Mall and holds an open house in the spring at their flying field. They invite the public to their flying field where they put on a show and teach about model aircraft. The AMA would like to thank the Minot Aircraft Modelers for holding different events throughout the year to show the public 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.

Coachella Valley Radio Control Club enjoyed their weekend hosting an annual War Birds Fun Fly benefiting Wounded Warrior Project and Rebuilding American Warriors.  The event had more than 30 pilots flying model military airplanes from World War I and II. Coachella Valley Radio Control Club has remained a Gold Leader Club for consecutively 12 years. They allow anyone at any age  to join their club if they wish to fly planes and are passionate for the hobby. “This is just one of those thousand points of light for people to enjoy that helps others at the same time. We are so proud of our facility and the fact that it was built with no public money” said club President, Dan Metz. The AMA Foundation admires the non profit club for working to make a difference in the community and sharing their love of model aviation to all. To view the full story, view here.  

On Saturday, Nov. 5, Hampton Roads Radio Control Club hosted their 10th Annual Fun Fly Event benefiting Suffolk’s Toys for Tots Program. With more than 45 registered radio-control pilots, the event was able to raise more than $15,000 and collect thousands of toys for Toys for Tots program in the county.  “This is one of the best days we’ve had in five years, because of the weather,” said Chris Weeks, club vice-president. “The contributions exceeded our expectations.”     The day consisted of free Starbucks in the morning, a fly in with planes of all shapes and sizes and some electric powered, and Christmas themed parachutists. Santa was accompanied by elves who jumped out of the airplane to hear about children’s Christmas wishes. At the end of the day, Club President Jeff Haywood presented Skydive Suffolk owner Mike Manthey, members of Kingdom Kuts and Chuckatuck Volunteer Fire Department with plaques for their help in sponsoring the event.   Hampton Roads Radio Control Club has done a wonderful job bringing in members of the community to support a great cause.