Sometimes it takes gumption to be an aeromodeler. For more than 75 years, AMA Nats competitors have had the gumption to match one savvy modeler against the next, one model design against the new and fashionable, and one pilot's training against the others.
     Trained eyes and stopwatches judge those who contend for a title that will prove, at least for that moment, that they've achieved an admirable talent. Being a judge also takes gumption.
     As I write this, hundreds of modelers outside at the International Aeromodeling Center are cultivating a spirit that is alive in all people. Yes, the AMA members here at that Nats have the spirit of competition but, more than that, they have the spirit of community.
     What it means to be an AMA member is to nurture the spirit within us; to be and do more than we thought possible before and help others do the same. That spirit is validated every time the wheels of our models take to the air.
     The Joe Nall Giant Scale Fly-In is both momentous and a cultivation of spirit—more than 800 spirited pilots, if you need the number of how large that spirit has become. Decades ago, the Confederate Air Farce started the event based on the large number of people interested in Giant Scale, and then the group named it after a person it believed emulated an image of community.
     The crowd that gathers is auspicious, which is why the MA staff members repeatedly cover the event. Everyone there, after all, is an AMA member, and we like seeing what they're doing: having fun together!
     It seems that every year the Joe Nall takes place, something is added. The largest change was when the gathering was relocated to a larger site. Now at the Triple Tree Aerodrome, the event accommodates the people almost better than it does the models and their pilots. It's a model airplane country club.
     Oops! That's not even accurate anymore, because the 2009 event welcomed helicopter pilots and set them up with a dedicated flightline. My heart is all aflutter when I think how every RC interest in one place might fly through the sky in harmony. If you don't take my word for it, check out Jay Smith's report and dramatic imagery on page 16.
     Dramatic is exactly what we were thinking when Ryan Livingston sent a note, including video, of an original creation that literally made us gasp. (That's a dramatic reaction.)
     Okay, some might look at a cardboard airplane and think homely thoughts, but the effort is so momentous that his model quickly became charming.
     Remember what I mentioned about gumption? Ryan's project is overflowing with it—scientific gumption, savvy gumption, and horse sense. (What do horses have to do with sense, anyway? See what Merriam-Webster has written about gumption in its dictionary; horses are mentioned.)
     Sure, modelers have worked with alternative materials. We've brought you foam models, composite models, paper models, wooden models, and even cardboard models, but Ryan's is so large that it raised the achievement bar.
     Check out his story on page 37. And if you're online, check out the MA's Exclusive Online Features page at www.modelaircraft.org/mag, to see the video he gave us.
     If people want something bad enough, they find a way to make it happen. There's that gumption again.
     It takes guts to plow under a lifetime of work (okay, just some of it) for the purpose of flying model airplanes. But that wasn't the point when the founders of Riddell Field conceived their plan. The goal was to bring their small community of aeromodelers together. And that's the spirit we love to hear about. MA