MAAA Wingspan

23 MAY WING SPAN MAAALogo. wanting to give back by upholding the ‘total inclusion’ culture that it believes in. “The BMMAA caters for all and doesn’t discriminate. We have a couple of junior members and we even have some adult female flyers too,” continues Joe. “As long as you’re old enough to hold a transmitter safely and enjoy aeromodelling, then you can be part of the group.” Fellow member, Les Spaltman is the BMMAA’s appointed contest director. He’s also a scratch builder of models and the father of the club’s two junior member flyers. With Les’ father being an avid aeromodeller since the late 1950s, the sport has now impressively embraced three generations of his family. “When my daughter was born I built her a control line model and by the age of four she was at the point where she could fly solo,” he says. “Then, recently I introduced my eight-year-old son, who already flies control line confidently, to free flight and he really took to it enthusiastically too. Once he’s down at the flying field there’s simply no stopping him.” Les says that when he joined the BMMAA, he found it to be extremely welcoming, encouraging and accommodating, with an ideal flying environment to operate within. “The club really does cater to all facets of the hobby. This is certainly one of its strongest appeals-it welcomes all types of pilots and disciplines,” he says. The club wants to encourage an even wider diversity of disciplines to fly at BMMAA, reinforcing the club’s inclusive aeromodelling culture further. “We have control line, helicopters and we’ll encourage drone pilots to come and fly and be part of the club as well-as the field affords them plenty of space,” he says. “There’s even a lake at Mount Wallace that will provide a float flying facility once it’s completely filled. Once this is in place, it will provide a diversity of types of models [and] for all who enjoy model aviation.” Although Joe has recently stood down as secretary, he believes there is still a passionate and driven community of people who will maintain the positive driving force to continue moving BMMAA forward well into the future. “We have good people, including the Committee of Management who will achieve the goals the club needs to strive for,” he says. “As a result, I feel comfortable and confident standing down and handing over the baton to the new club secretary, committee and on-going club members.” You can learn more about BMMAA by checking out their website here FEBRUARY WING SPAN

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTgxNDU=