MAAA Wingspan

WING SPAN AUGUST 14 During the lock down of 2020, one 13-year-old Melbourne girl didn’t have to look too far to keep herself busy. Alma Segev, a recent emigre from Israel, is from a long pedigree of aeromodellers and pilots. Her father Yonatan, Uncle Ido, and Grandfather Tzvi have all been involved in the craft and it was not long before Alma became hooked. The first model plane Alma built was one her father had kept belonging to his late brother, Ido. The plane Alma built had been gifted to her Uncle Ido during an aeromodelling acrobatic competition in Korea. Sadly, Ido lost his life in February 2020 in a mid-air collision outside of Melbourne. Alma built his remote- control Bleriot XI on her own, carefully following instructions, learning many new skills along the way. Now when Alma takes this model plane to the sky, the spirit of Ido lives on. She said, “It was really fun building it and then flying it and seeing something I made, up in the air.” Since building the Bleriot XI, Alma has made a few smaller rubber band powered models and some from balsa wood for her seven-year-old brother Alon to throw. “I just enjoy building the model planes,” said Alma, “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but Alon wants to be an astronaut.” Father, Yonatan is proud of Alma’s dedication and skill at aeromodelling, “I watch her concentrate and focus, learning how to use the glue, cutting and sanding the balsa wood and shaping the pieces,” he said. Yonatan has fond memories of growing up in Israel, building similar scratch model planes with his father and brother, in their small town of Arad. The town had a local aeromodelling club and all the aeromodellers built model planes from scratch. Yonatan built his model planes using rubber bands, balsa wood, and later, electronic parts to make remote controls. Yonatan began flying at 9 years of age and Ido, eleven years his junior, was born into the hobby. family history of flying Inspires Young Aeromodeller