I am thinking of ways that we can get people interested in R/C aircraft. I always love it when I see someone new at the field learning to fly. Any suggestions or ideas?

I also have a question. Will AMA cover a non-member for a limited number of flights if they're being trained and/or on a buddy box with an instructor? Is there any official designation for the instructor or can it just be any AMA member with flight experience? I am thinking of donatind my trainer to be kept in our club's shack, ready to fly, mabye get a visitor a flight or two on the buddy box. Hopefully get them hook line and sinker

There is an AMA program similar to what you described, but I'm not sure of the exact details.

However, as far as recruiting new members, something we have found to be very good is doing Mall Shows in the winter (Late winter/early spring, so they can start soon) and during the flying months, our club will enter a float in some of the local parades with people walking along side handing out FAQ sheets.

Another thing we do is to fly demo flights at town events, and give lectures on flying (With demos if the weather permits) to local Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops.

In Canada we have MAAC which is our AMA equivelent. I have checked this out and MAAC does have an official "Instructor" designation. It requires another test which isn't much harder than the wings test. Having said MAAC allows an instructing pilot to cover the newbie with his own insurance if the newbie doesn't have his own insurance yet. The instructing pilot also does not have to be an "official instructor" but it is recomended that the guy teaching have at least 1 years experience after getting his own wings. Does this help??

We do fly ins and have swao meets here... Last time we pulled in two more members at a swap meet!! On the first day!! Our fly ins are great our last one was a couple weeks ago and a bunch of people insterested in flying showed up. Minn thanks for the mall show idea may have to give that a try!

A lot of information on options for training is available on the AMA website. Check on the first flight free and the introductory pilot programs and this will help answer your questioins. I have also contacted them by email with questions and they have been very responsive and helpfull. Good luck

Specific answer to your question

Have a club trainer and buddy box available on Saturday's and Sundays. Put up a sign that offers free crashproof introductory flights.

When your club renews it's AMA charter also include your intro pilots in to the INTRO PILOT program. That facilitates the insurace coverage to the instructor and guest on the buddy box.

Limit the free flights to 3 total of 15 minutes or one tank of gass each. You will find folks that want to learn at your expense on your trainer. When it gets broke you are now fixing their errors.

If you see people standing around ask them if they want to try it.

About 20% of our members joined through being invited.

Your right on the money there. People standing around are there for one reason they like planes same as us. They have questions and are just waiting for us to ask "you have a plane" or"want to give it a shot" A trainer and buddy box is the ticket to new members. If you have friends that show intrest bring them to the field and hook them up with someone (if not you) that can get them in the air even if its just a couple of mintues. Remember back when you were that guy standing off to the side wishing someone would just ask you if there was something that they could do for you. Its time to give a little something back and make some great new freinds.-Mike

Our club has had some good luck by holding a "public welcome day". We work with the city and the county and promote it as much as we can and try to hold it in the early to mid spring and try not to have it when there are alot of other activities going on in the area. Some of our local radio stations have a community calendar and we list it with them.

Basically, we just invite the general public out and let them know that we have trainers on site to let them take turns on the sticks and make sure members are available to answer questions as well as having demostrations.

It has worked out very well and in the last 2 years we have just about doubled our membership. It is a good P.R. tool and does alot to raise awareness for our club and especially for the hobby. Any more it is easier than ever to get into R/C planes and we have found that we get alot of people that comment that it is "something they have always wanted to try".

T.

The way I see it, people are either interested in RC planes or they're not. Somebody who's not interested will ask a few questions --"what kind of range does that thing have?" "can you loopdeloop?" Then that's the end of it.

Mall shows, website, introductory lessons, etc., are good ways to let people know that your club exists, that there is an outlet for their potential interest with some friendly knowledgeable folks and free training on how to set up the engine, fly the plane, etc. That's important info for those already leaning towards the hobby, but I don't think it could ever "get people interested."

Our club holds an annual "Food-for-fly" event. Show up with an item to donate to the local food bank and you have your time on the Buddy-box.
We flew 36 people that day for over a hundred flights. The new pilots ranged from about 6 yrs to 70 yrs., appx. Some had always wanted to try and others now have the bug and have showed up on other fly days. Some stopped by, saw what was happening, went to the store and came back with donations so they could fly.
We collected an impressive ammount of food which was very much appreciated here in the local community.
We were exausted by the end of the day but felt it was worthwhile both as a public service and promoting our club and sport. It really was a lot of fun.