Larry's Emmy
Larry Jolly
We modelers are fond of outdoing one another in vying for special awards. But when a model wins an Emmy, that's unique! It could only have happened to Model Aviation's (MA) own Heli columnist and his talented "Miracle Landing" building team.
If you read my story about making and flying a model Boeing 737-200 for the CBS-TV movie on the Aloha Air disaster ("Miracle Landing," November 1990 Model Aviation), you'll understand my thrill when the Larry Jolly Model Products team, along with the experts at Introvision Studios, won an Emmy Award for Special Visual Effects.
After the string of misadventures that had bedeviled our first days of filming—followed by the glorious catharsis of our model's own perfect "miracle landing"—it was especially gratifying to be honored in this way.
The 737 had been on display for nine months at Introvision Studios. A few weeks after winning the award, we flew our made-for-TV model at the San Fernando Valley Flyers Fan Fly. It performed like a champ and won the Most Realistic Flight award. With most of the team on hand, the Emmy certificate on display, and hundreds of modelers watching (most had read the Model Aviation article), the day turned out to be a super homecoming for ol' 723.
I can't tell you how much it means to me that our LJMP team was able to achieve such a performance. Winning an Emmy with a model aircraft is bound to reverberate in a better public image of our hobby. I hope everyone who's interested in model aviation can share in—and ultimately benefit from—this award.
After all, "Miracle Landing" couldn't have been made except with a model. That makes me glad and proud.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
