Hello, District VII members. Have you all been enjoying flying so far this season? I sure have!
Let me tell you a story about why I so enjoy this hobby. It is because of the passion we all share. I was in Muncie, Indiana, for our most recent Executive Council meeting in April. With the weather warming up, and having such a wonderful facility to fly at as the International Aeromodeling Center, I brought an airplane with me to take advantage of the post-meeting time and to knock the rust off since it has been some time since I last flew my models.
Rust? I should say more like I seized up! I did not think, after all these years of flying, that I would be nervous. I went to Site 1 and, as I unloaded, I saw a person already there and we started to chat. I told him about my raging nerves given how long it had been since I had last flown. With his encouragement, it was now or never, and so off in the air I went. All I can say is wow! It sure felt good to be back in the air.
I landed and we swapped back and forth flying. What a fun time. Here is the craziest part of it. As we spoke, I learned that he was from the metro Detroit area and is a member of a club in Detroit with which I am quite familiar. Not only that, but it turned out that we have mutual friends. I asked him what brought him to Muncie to fly, and he said, "With such a wonderful facility, how could one not take advantage of it?" Anthony, it was great meeting you and I hope to fly with you again soon.
It is great to see clubs within District VII active with school programs. Les Smith, from the Cadillac Area Modelers Society, sent in a report about the club’s most recent activities.
When our club arrived at the school, we met with the principal and the superintendent. I presented the school with several copies of Model Aviation for the library. They had set up a projector and had a large screen on the stage area of the auditorium. We used this to project output from a DJI drone and our Real Flight simulator.
The kindergarten and first graders came in first and we started our presentation with Robert Bednarick flying his DJI Neo drone. He panned up and down the bleachers so that all of the kids got to see themselves on the screen. This was the hit of the show. Bob demonstrated that the drone had the capability to follow him and follow hand commands.
Lee Goodrich flew his Night Vapor next. Robert Light provided commentary, explaining the controls and providing details about the airplane, and he continued for all of the later flights. I flew a Blade 120SR helicopter, followed by Jay Stargel flying a UMX Crescendo sailplane. Robert Light put a battery in his EDF A-10 Warthog and showed the kids the retracting landing gear. While the A-10 was held aloft (it was too big and fast for the gym), the fan’s airstreams were directed at the bleachers so the kids could get a feel for the output of the electric fans.
Finally, we hooked up the simulator and showed its abilities. The teachers had been instructed ahead of time to select a student from their class based on the student’s social conduct and school spirit during the previous week. These seven students were allowed to come up and fly an aircraft on the simulator.
The students returned to their classrooms. When they had all filed out, the principal informed me that they had an autistic student who was really upset. He thought that he didn’t get to fly because of he had done something wrong. He was brought in, and I helped him fly on the simulator. He really beamed when he was done and was skipping when he went back to class. It was a heartwarming experience.
The second and third grade students were brought in and the performance was repeated. Each performance lasted approximately 45 minutes. Based on the response, I’m sure we will be invited back next year.
Until next month, enjoy the fine weather and, of course, share the passion!