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Help us? They did
far too much as it was.
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The
AMA's Education Committee chairman, Dr. Gordon Schimmel, has
been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Dr. Mervin K.
Strickler Jr. Aerospace Education Leadership Award presented
by the National Coalition for Aviation Education (NCAE).
The award is presented annually by NCAE to recognize
individuals who have made a personal commitment and lifelong
contributions to aerospace education. Nominees and winners
have been individuals who have demonstrated outstanding
aviation and space education leadership through a noteworthy
achievement and/or have made significant contributions to
the aerospace field over a continuous period of time.
AMA is proud to have Dr. Schimmel serving as a member
of our education team and I'd like to personally
congratulate him on this outstanding achievement.
We often talk about how much more there is to model
aviation and AMA than just flying model aircraft. We talk
about the camaraderie and friendships that are made with
others who share a common interest.
I recently received a letter from AMA member Tim DiPeri
that I'd like to share with you. Tim's story clearly
exemplifies the best of what model aviation and our
organization have to offer.
"Extreme hospitality alive and well in Murfreesboro,
Tennessee: I have been involved in model aviation most of my
life and have been flying radio-controlled airplanes since
1973. I have had the fortunate experience of flying with,
and meeting, some of the friendliest and helpful people I
have ever met. In fact some of my closest friends I have met
through this sport of model aviation.
"One Friday in June of 2009 I had an experience with a
model aircraft club that
completely floored me! Let me explain. I have been the
contest director for a helicopter contest in the Nashville,
Tennessee, area for fourteen years. My regular flying field
is within (and controlled by) one of the state parks. For
thirteen of those years I have had no problem at all.
"Without going into detail, at 4:50 p.m., on the
practice day (Friday), the parks department decided they
would not allow us to use their field for a contest (as
usual, we had all of the legal AMA paperwork and sanction)
and told all of the pilots to leave the field or face a
summons by the park police.
"I had folks that made ten-plus-hour drives to get here
and I was one stressed CD. I called a modeling friend and
let him know of our problem: a big bunch of world-class
helicopter pilots with no place to fly!
"Robert Hughes (my friend) happened to be flying as a
guest (the first time at this field in ten years) at the
Middle Point Skyhawks' flying field a couple of towns over
in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Jim Powers (president) overheard
the conversation (remember, this is about 5:00 p.m. on a
Friday) and offered to see if the members would have any
problem with us moving the contest to their field. Within
fifteen minutes, Jim and I were chatting and he got full
support of the club for this.
"I was pretty much speechless; I didn't know these
people from Adam and they are willing to shut down their
nice weekend of flying so the field can be exclusively used
by a bunch of helicopter pilots they don't even know. Well
we all caravanned to the field Friday night and met up with
Jim and began to mark out the field for our competition.
"I got home thinking that this cannot be true. Surely
there will be irate members yelling at us in the morning
about ruining their weekend of flying. I slept quite poorly,
concerned that this was way too good to be true.
"Saturday was a very nice day (too nice to give up a
flying field), and we got started. About mid-morning, I
caught a glimpse of someone walking toward me with a
determined pace. Here we go (I thought), getting kicked off
another field in the same weekend would be too much for me.
"No, this person, one of the club members, came to find
me to shake my hand and welcome me there and let me know he
was happy they could help. They even unlocked their doors to
let us use their mower, paint, and grill, as well as any
other items they had available.
"It sounds crazy but this went on all weekend,
club members and officers, coming out for a few minutes,
making sure we were all right and was there anything they
could do to help us. Help us? They did far too much as it
was.
"I want to offer my sincere appreciation to all of the
members of the Middle Point Skyhawks. In all the years I
have been enjoying this hobby, I have had so many positive
experiences of people wanting to help. This experience has
moved the bar high when it comes to hospitality and this
club and its members should be recognized for helping out
when it was not really the most timely or convenient thing
to do.
"What the club members did not know at the time was
that all of the monies from this event have been going to
help support an after-school program in a low-income area of
Nashville (through one of the churches). Without their help,
we would have missed this year's contribution for the first
time in fourteen years.
"Once again, thank you Skyhawks!"
On behalf of all of our members, I'd also like to
extend our thanks and appreciation to the Skyhawks. As Tim
wrote, the bar has been raised. MA
See you next time ...
Dave Mathewson, AMA president
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