The strength of an organization can be traced in part to the thoughts, ideas, plans, enthusiasm and interest of its newest members. In the past few weeks, this belief in the need for new "wide eyed" model aircraft pilots has been expressed by our members in letters and calls. The following letter from Jim Surra of Pappy John's R/C Distributors expresses a very important point ..... "You can take it with you!"
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Dear Roger.
It's always nice to talk to somebody who is as concerned as you are about the state of our fine hobby. I really enjoyed our talk I thought I would ramble on here with a little dose of Pappy's philosophy concerning our hobby. Everyone of us once looked up into the sky, watching an airplane whether it be full scale or radio control and said, "I'm going to fly one of those some day!" having no idea when or how we could ever possibly achieve such a goal, or what it would take. But everyone of us reading this did find a way. We might not have known at that time what we would learn to fly; control line, radio control, full scale, or even all three. But learn we did and we were proud of it. The joy of flying was truly ours, to enjoy forever. This is where the story becomes disconcerting. Look around at your flying fields. You can see that there are many of us that have enjoyed a lifetime of flying, for there are a lot of gray topped heads out there. But that is the disturbing part also. The plain facts are that on most flying fields there is a preponderance of older flyers. Now, don 't get me wrong, they belong on those fields. But there are not the number of new young flyers that there should be. Talking with young people, I have discovered a pattern of reluctance on the part of older flyers to take the time to teach newcomers to fly. This isn't always the case, but to those who practice this, all I can say is, it must be difficult to live with your shame. Very few of us actually taught ourselves to fly without help. For each of us, there was some kind (in my case, extremely patient!) person who took the time and effort to teach and pass on the skills necessary to participate in this hobby. This a priceless thing. When these planes soared skyward on our first shaky flights, our hearts were riding on those wings. Indeed, they still do! Now, look at those fellows sitting quietly and watching longingly at your fields. Think back ..... Without that gray in your hair, you looked a lot like them once. Now, it's our sacred duty to pass the torch to the next generation. It's priceless. But you can take it with you .... and that, my friends, would be a tragedy.
Sincerely, |