"Focus on Education" Column
Model Aviation Magazine
June 2004 

Occasionally Gordon Schimmel, chairperson of the AMA Education Committee, will use the “Focus on Education” column to profile an AMA member who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and brought the joy of aeromodeling to newcomers young and old.

Gregg Stockdale renewed his interest in building model airplanes in a credit union computer room. In the “old days” of data entry—actually only a few years ago—he worked nights, running data-processing jobs that would sometimes take an hour or more to complete once the information had been entered.

“It was back in the days when we had the old clunkers that would take forever to batch-process reports we had to generate from time to time.”

Because, quite literally, there was nothing to do until the run finished, he bought a static model airplane to fill the time and built it in a couple of evenings. Gregg hadn’t built a model since he was a kid and because he enjoyed the process so much, he found himself looking for more complex flying models as a challenge.

His next project was a CL model followed by his first RC model—just as the hobby began to benefit from significant improvements in technology. Once Gregg learned to fly, he was hooked on RC and has built and flown numerous models, flying mostly for fun.

Today Gregg is the chief executive officer of a credit union in Southern California and he has developed a number of ways to give back to the communities his credit union serves. He is a member of six Chambers of Commerce, the Rotary Club, and is on the Board of Directors of the local United Way.

Almost ready to fly: Gregg and a few of the boys with the Firebird IIs donated by Horizon Hobby.

Gregg serves as Scoutmaster to a local troop of Boy Scouts. As a young man, he attained the rank of Eagle and recently he convinced the Boy Scouts of America to sanction the first aviation-only Scout troop in the country.

Once he had official approval for the idea, he set about creating a unique aviation program, assisted by a Youth Education Stipend (YES grant) from the AMA Education Committee. Gregg put together a Boy Scout troop based exclusively on an aviation theme.

Projects undertaken by the troop were ambitious. The Scouts began by learning basic balsa construction techniques, including building and flying a Delta Dart, ARF construction and flying, and finishing with electric- and gas-powered RC aircraft.

Gregg’s wife is a sixth-grade teacher and, as a volunteer doing a model aviation activity in her classroom, he discovered a love of teaching. “However, I soon learned that my delivery had to be focused and I had to feature a variety of activities to keep the kids interested.”

He took this experience with him when working with Scouts. “I had to be crisp and to the point; I had to keep the presentation moving or the Game-Boys would come out and I would lose them!”

Gregg came to believe that too often a young person’s first exposure to modeling is set in a negative context. “Everything is ‘don’t,’” he says. “Don’t step too close to the airplane; don’t touch the airplane; don’t stand in front of the propeller; don’t cross this line when we’re flying.”

While he respects the need for preparation and certainly the need for safety, he came to believe that simplicity creates access for many more newcomers who would otherwise be put off by the complexity of gas-powered RC flying.

Enter Gregg’s appreciation for simple, electric-powered park flyers.

Support from the YES grant and from several airplanes donated by Horizon Hobby made it possible for him to introduce his Scouts to RC flying in its simplest terms.
Horizon Hobby was one of the first to market the Firebird II, a V-tailed ARF electric park flyer, and its donation helped him carry out his philosophy of getting kids into the air quickly and easily.

“Unfortunately, in this day of instant gratification, it is important to help kids begin to achieve some flight mastery as soon as possible.”

By using the Firebird II, Gregg discovered he could solo kids in one outing. He began with an evening familiarizing the boys with the airplane and the transmitter: throttle on the left for climb or descent, rudder control on the right to turn the airplane. With a spotter standing behind each student, a Scout could master a successful first flight in short order.

The original Scouts recruited for Troop 439 tackled a number of projects and most stayed with the group during its initial three years. However, Gregg discovered that as the boys grew older, their interest in aviation began to fade. As with teenagers everywhere, these activities held little interest when compared with sports, the opposite sex, and getting a driver’s license—not necessarily in that order.

Because finding replacements for an aviation-only troop did not produce enough new recruits, Gregg has shifted his focus to one that he believes will produce better results. Beginning this spring, he will offer his merit-badge program as an activity available to other Scout troops in the Los Angeles area.

“There are more than 200 troops in the Los Angeles basin, with approximately 20,000 boys who might be interested in an aviation merit badge.” Gregg plans to showcase his program in a Scout Expo at the Santa Anita Race Track, an annual event attended by more than 10,000 people.

Visitors stop by the booth at the Scout Expo to learn about Troop 439 and its programs. The annual event attracts more than 10,000 visitors. It is a showcase for activities and programs in greater Los Angeles.

Craig Matsura and A.J. check out the controls before the first launch. Craig was a major contributor in helping Gregg organize the troop.

By offering the merit-badge program to other troops, he hopes to create a “multiplier-effect” enabling him to take the art and craft of building and flying model airplanes to many more Scouts in the area.

Gregg has recruited a few other members of his club, the Santa Fe Dam RC Modelers, to promote model aviation to Scout troops. These members participate by speaking at meetings, assisting in merit badge completion, demonstrating the basics of flight, providing flight simulators, facilitating visits to the club flying field, and providing stick time for Scouts on club trainers.

Members of Boy Scout Troop 439 and their parents get a special tour at the Planes of Fame Air Museum at Chino Airport. The field trip was one of several special events organized for the boys by Scout leaders.

What motivates Gregg? Obviously, taking on these projects is extra work. “It’s not work when you like what you’re doing,” he notes. “It’s unbelievably rewarding when you see how kids react—what I call the ‘Oh, Wow!’ effect. In my professional life, I see my work with employees as teacher and coach, and it’s the same with the kids in Scouting. You reach a point in your life when you want to give something back; you don’t want to just pass through this world and find out that you didn’t make a difference.”

Dr. Schimmel has served as chairperson of the AMA Education Committee for eight years and is superintendent of schools in Mansfield, Connecticut.