Model Aircraft Symposium

An Excellent Example of One of The Hundreds Held Around the Country

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You are brand new to the world of model aviation. And, like most new modelers, you have dozens of questions and wonder where to go to get them answered. Coming here to RC Sport Aviator, the Academy of Model Aeronautics’ (AMA) online magazine is a good first step, but there are also several other options available to you.

Generally speaking your local hobby shop can provide answers to many of your questions. The knowledgeable, experienced staff will help you get your new model aircraft ready for flight and, in some cases, even provide introductory flight lessons. Another excellent resource is an AMA Chartered Club. With over 2,400 clubs throughout the United States chances are there is one near you. There are several advantages to joining an AMA club. The camaraderie of others who have an interest similar to yours is one. AMA Clubs also provide a flying site where you can enjoy your new hobby. They can help get you started in the right direction, and most also offer training programs to help make sure your first flights are successful.

A searchable database of AMA Chartered Clubs can be found online at http://www.ama-dist-8.org/Clubs/Locator.html. A search within a certain radius of your home or within your zip code will return a list of AMA clubs along with contact information for a club representative.

Other excellent resources are trade shows, symposiums, and model forums. Each caters to its own niche but all can be an asset to the new modeler.

Several trade shows are scheduled annually throughout the Unites States. The larger shows boast participation by hundreds of manufacturers, distributors, and industry representatives. They attend to introduce new items to the modeling public, answer your questions, and help you resolve problems you may be having with their products. It’s shows like these that give you an opportunity to see, up close and personal, hobby related items you otherwise may only be able to read about in modeling magazines. Some of the larger trade shows include AMA’s annual AMA Convention held in Ontario, CA each January. Others include the Southwestern Areamodeling Conference in Texas, the Weak Signals Annual RC Model Show in Ohio, and the Westchester Radio Aero Modelers (WRAM) Show in New York. A complete listing of model aircraft shows and dates can be found on the AMA Website at http://www.modelaircraft.org/.

Symposiums and forums are much lower key and smaller than trade shows, most often catering to just the local modeling community. They focus more on informational lectures and hands on demonstrations. A good example is the forum held in Syracuse, New York each January. Simply called Model Aircraft Forum (MAF), this event is organized by two local clubs, The Aero Radio Club of Syracuse (ARCS) and The Syracuse Thunderbirds Aero Radio Society (STARS). The forum was created in the mid nineties to take the place of a much larger symposium organized in the nineteen seventies by the Central New York Model Aircraft Association. In 1995, after twenty years, the Association felt they no longer had the energy, ambition, or manpower available that was necessary to put on a first class event. A few members from the ARCS and STARS felt that it was important enough to continue to hold some type of get together to help break up the long central New York winters and began to discuss the possibilities. The MAF was born out of those discussions.

The eighth annual Model Aircraft Forum was held this year on January 31, 2004. It has grown in size each year and this year was no different in spite of the several feet of snow that pummeled central New York during the days leading up to and the day of the event.

Exhibitors included TufFlight Models known for their extremely competitive Radio Control Combat models. Their booth is always popular during the forum but this year it was even more so as they introduced their newest entry into the Radio Control market, the 4D.

Joe Chovan (L) and Mark Mozzo, owners of TufFlight Models showed off this TufFlight 4D on skies.

The 4D is a model capable of performing all of the 3D style maneuvers with the advantage of an extra “D” for durability, a definite plus when working yourself through the aerobatic learning curve.