Abstract
- Associations and Model Airports
- Buder Park MAPT saved by GSLMA
- Cedar Creek MAPT (Long Island)
- SDCAMC (San Diego County Association of Model Clubs)
- Why we need more associations of model airplane clubs
ASSOCIATIONS AND MODEL AIRPORTS
"RC Flying Today" has been asked to examine the issues most important to RC flying. In the past these issues were RC channels and 1991 equipment; those have been addressed previously. I now believe the most important issue is access to a model airport (MAPT — Model Airport).
Getting a MAPT takes a lot of work. Keeping it takes even more. This column should spotlight how people obtain flying sites, improve them, and keep them. As examples, see the Bergen County Model Airport (MA, December 1991) and the Stolfus MAPT (MA, February 1992) reports. They are very different in concept and execution.
Buder Park, St. Louis County, Missouri
Buder Park contains one of the few MAPTs that lie close to the borders of a large city. It has served modelers for more than 25 years and includes U-Control circles, an RC MAPT, and a Free Flight site. Recently the parks department announced future plans that initially did not include provisions for aeromodeling.
The Greater Saint Louis Modelers Association (GSLMA) responded. The association contacted helpful county council members with whom they had previously established friendly contacts, organized a letter-writing campaign, brought in newspaper reporters, and concentrated on demonstrating the facility's daily use by voting members of the public. AMA Headquarters was ready to send Technical Director Bob Underwood to help, but GSLMA's chairman, Gordon Cox, declined that offer while still making it clear that removing the facility had no valid purpose and would seriously inconvenience the citizens it served. The viewing public regularly came to see the shows.
Because the parks department's revised plans now include aeromodeling, the Buder Park MAPT remains open.
GSLMA is one of modeling's oldest associations, with over 25 years of continuous service to modelers. Its functions are to represent modelers' interests to county government and to provide needed publicity. GSLMA unites model clubs with interests in aviation, automobiles, and boats. The association currently includes three U-Control clubs, a Free Flight club, and 10 RC clubs; other car and boat clubs are looking to join.
GSLMA is governed by a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and treasurer, four at-large elected officers, plus representatives supplied by member clubs. Meetings are held once per month; meeting reports given by member-club representatives are entered in the minutes and printed in the member clubs' newsletters, so GSLMA itself has no separate newsletter.
Permits are required to fly at Buder Park. GSLMA is authorized to issue permits; a $10 donation is requested. Funds go into a Field Improvements Fund to buy fences, benches, etc. Maintenance is performed by the parks department.
Cedar Creek and Roslyn Harbor MAPTs, Long Island, New York
Cedar Creek and Roslyn Harbor MAPTs faced a similar threat. In Nassau County the parks department decided to close two MAPTs effective January 1, 1992, citing budgetary pressures. Two MAPTs had originally been built on abandoned dumps by modelers, who handed the paved runways to the county after their funds were spent. The clubs that use the facilities — the LIDS, Merokes, and Cobras — police activities, provide RC frequency management, volunteer field controllers to enforce safety rules, instructor pilots, and license examiners. If the county spent money on the MAPTs, the effect was hard to see: access roads remain potholed dirt paths through weeds, while other county park facilities are reached on paved roads.
LIAMAC (Long Island Association of Model Aviation Clubs), formed about 1965 primarily from U-Control and Free Flight clubs, evaporated when the Free Flight and U-Control sites fell victim to development and noise complaints. The RC clubs that might have kept LIAMAC alive chose to go their separate ways, so an association wasn't there when it was needed. LIAMAC might have secured paved roads for the MAPTs or maintained contacts with the parks department to intercept the move to close them.
Enough individual modelers complained in the right places to get the MAPTs re-opened temporarily while the county studied the situation, but the episode illustrates the need for continuing local organization and representation.
The San Diego County Association of Model Clubs (SDCAMC)
The San Diego County Association of Model Clubs (SDCAMC) was formed in 1986 to acquire land, buildings and bodies of water for modeling activities through negotiation with government, corporate, and private entities. The association was created because of a lack of communication and cooperation among San Diego's individual modeling clubs. As clubs lost flying sites to development or environmental concerns, it was difficult to find modelers with the time and experience to approach landowners or agencies for site use.
Led initially by Dennis Caudle, Don Madison, and Frank Hughes, the association united 23 of the county's modeling clubs: 18 RC airplane clubs, two Free Flight clubs, one helicopter club, one RC car club, and one RC boat club, with a combined membership of over 2,500 active modelers.
Now led by Jim Wilson, SDCAMC has taken an active posture in public relations. For five years the association supported the annual Miramar Air Show, featuring many of San Diego's top RC fliers alongside premier full-scale aerobatic pilots and teams such as the Navy Blue Angels. The association was also represented at the 1990 San Diego County Fair and staged San Diego's first mall show in June 1991. A county-wide swap meet in June 1991 attracted 150 sellers and over 1,000 buyers and spectators. Future plans included the Miramar Air Show and two mall shows in 1992.
SDCAMC published a comprehensive handbook, THE GUIDE TO SAN DIEGO COUNTY MODEL CLUBS & FIELDS. It contains contact names, telephone numbers, meeting information, maps and directions to sites, and advertisements from participating hobby shops. The guide was funded by ad sales to hobby shops and distributed through those shops. It serves as a county-wide reference for modelers.
SDCAMC is governed by a president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer elected from the delegates of member clubs. Dues of $30 per year are collected from each member club and spent primarily on a regular newsletter, correspondence, and postage. The council meets six times per year. The association emphasizes the positive side of modeling in its contacts with outsiders and has found that patience and persistence get results.
Over the past five years the association has played an active part in acquiring five new flying sites, the most recent being on the Balboa Park landfill within four miles of downtown San Diego. They obtained that site after a year of effort by emphasizing safe operation under the AMA Safety Code, insurance, and frequency management. SDCAMC is negotiating for two more modeling sites in the San Diego metropolitan area.
If San Diego can do it, so can you: form an association, plan ways to help the hobby grow, and be proactive.
THERE IS STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
The AMA is an association of model airplane clubs focused on federal issues. We need more associations focused on state and local governments. Associations of model airplane clubs often form when concentrated pressure on government is needed and then evaporate after their initial purpose is served. A good five-year plan and sustained communication can prevent that.
I believe associations fail when they lack a good newsletter. Good newsletters make good associations; they maintain contact, share information, and keep members engaged. Roger Jaffe edits several excellent newsletters and helped produce the San Diego guide.
We need more and stronger local associations because attacks on flying sites are relentless. Associations should work before a need arises and maintain active contacts with state and local governments to head off attempts to close or reassign MAPTs.
Consider recent moves by the FAA to place restrictions on RC flight and by the FCC to reassign some Amateur Radio frequencies. In each case the AMA has defended interests at the national level. If the AMA had disbanded in 1982 when the new RC channels came in, the consequences for our hobby could have been severe.
I plan to investigate MAPT problems regularly. There is always some club somewhere being pushed out of its flying site and looking for another. They need ideas, inspiration, motivation—and help. What better place to find it than in AMA's journal? Some people think this column should focus on other subjects. I welcome your letters expressing opinions and experiences.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
