I Am the AMA

Albert Glenn: FedEx pilot

By Jay Smith | [email protected]

As seen in the June 2015 issue of Model Aviation.

Jay Smith: How did you become involved with model aviation?

Albert Glenn: I was introduced to aviation on my first flight from New York to France when I was 3 years old. My mother said I broke away from her on the tarmac to get a closer look at the Pan Am Constellation that we were set to fly on.

From that time on, the love of aviation has been my passion. It was also fed by my father bringing home plastic models until I was old enough to build my first Control Line [model] and obtain my first RC airplane.

JS: How has model aviation impacted your life and/or career?

AG: Model aviation gave me the foundation for my flying career and helped the transition to learning to fly a full-scale airplane. It was a wonderful experience that allowed me to travel around the world and continue my hobby and passion.

JS: What disciplines of modeling do you currently participate in?

AG: I fly some helicopters and multirotors but mostly F3A [RC Aerobatics] models. Over the years, I have flown gliders, indoor RC, Quickie 500, IMAC [International Miniature Aerobatic Club], and jets.

JS: What are your other hobbies?

AG: I love to fish, but I spend my spare time helping young people who have an interest in RC airplanes and learning to fly. A relative, who is a Boeing 777 captain at United Airlines, and I have a [full-scale] C-172 that we donate for young people in the Shelby County school system in Memphis, Tennessee, who want to learn to fly. We are supported by fellow FedEx maintenance employees who keep the airplane flying.

JS: Who (or what) has influenced you most?

AG: My father, who wasn’t a pilot but a great role model, helped nurture the seeds of my passion.

I started working at FedEx in 1974. I met a man who was the quintessential airline pilot who helped mentor me in my flying career. Capt. Carroll Waters watched me start my first flying hours and continued doing so throughout my career until his retirement.

AMA also assisted in keeping that passion. I could read about all aspects of model aviation.

JS: With aviation being such a large part of your life, how have you given back to the aviation community?

AG: My whole life has been a blessing from all those who have helped me, and it has encouraged me at an early age in the importance of giving back. That part of my career has grown into a passion, which is a gift in itself.

In the 1980s, I helped run a flying camp in Tuskegee, Alabama, for young people learning to fly, became an AMA contest director and supported a number of AMA events, and helped start a partnership with the FAA and the Organization of Black Airline Pilots (now the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals) with the introduction of aviation career education academies, designed to acquaint 13- to 18-year-olds to aerospace careers and their first time flying an aircraft. These young individuals were introduced to RC airplanes as well.

I helped manage three US teams at the F3A World Championship, and I help other teams with the logistics of moving model aircraft around the world.