In 1998 my wife and I attended and volunteered to help with the flight instruction portion of AMA's Grand Event. As far as the hobby's decline, I seen the writing on the wall when I visited a small hobby shop about a 1/4 mile from AMA
headquarters. Due to a lack of customers, the owner was in the process of closing shop even though they were only a short distance from the AMA facility. Interesting. Also, before the day of the Grand Event activities, I asked how many of the employees were
RC pilots?
To my surprise, very few were. So I asked if there was anyone who wanted to get in some stick time. The newsletter editor, who I don't remember his name, approached me and asked if I could give him a lesson.
Although the wind was blowing around 15-20 mph plus, I got one of the provided trainers in the air and handed him the tx. He did very well and I even assisted him in landing the trainer. BTW, one official, who was watching, said that using the buddy/box
was mandatory. I showed him a copy of the rules and it stated that the buddy/box was "recommended", not necessary.