Jasper RC Flyers give newcomers hands-on taste of radio-controlled flight

More than 60 community members filled the Jasper RC Flyers’ flying field on June 20 for a two-hour open house built to turn first-time curiosity into supervised stick time. No prior experience or equipment was needed.

The club’s buddy-box training system drew the most attention. Four experienced instructors stayed busy throughout the morning, connecting their transmitters to the controls so beginners could take the lead on the aircraft while still having an expert ready to catch mistakes. By noon, the club had logged more than 40 supervised training flights for children, teens, parents and grandparents. Children decorated and flew chuck gliders, and the club handed out 24 of them so younger visitors could keep learning basic flight concepts at home. Six prize winners also left with aviation-related items donated by Flite Test and HobbyKing.

The Jasper RC Flyers are an Academy of Model Aeronautics-chartered club. The Academy of Model Aeronautics was founded in 1936 and has 165,000 members. The Jasper club began before 1995, when members were flying at a field near Holland, Indiana. For beginners, the club offers free RC flight instruction, and members fly every Tuesday evening beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Jasper RC Flyers flying field.

Jeremy Church said in the Academy of Model Aeronautics’ District VI newsletter that Jasper RC Flyers added six new members, including youth pilots ages 11 and 15, worked with Vincennes University Jasper Campus’s STEM Camp, partnered with Southridge High School aviation classes at Huntingburg Regional Airport, hosted 25 pilots at its annual fun-fly, supported Patoka Valley Civil Air Patrol cadets with rocket launches and donated $500 to the Deaconess Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center. Church also said two former youth members went on to aviation careers.