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A Week of NAA Awards

   While we try to "even out" the NAA workload across the year, there are times when we still hit a very busy window - like a few weeks ago when we selected recipients of four different and unique NAA Awards and bestowed five others in a ceremony.

   On a Tuesday, a Selection Committee of six aviation and aerospace education leaders across America selected the recipient of the Brewer Trophy for Aviation Education. This trophy, first awarded in 1943, is awarded annually to an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization for significant contributions of enduring value to aerospace education in the United States. This year's recipient is the Academy of Model Aeronautics.

   On Wednesday, a panel of six (including two former awardees) selected the recipients of the Wesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman of Aviation Award. One of the historic and cherished awards at NAA, it was first awarded in 1955 (to Eddie Rickenbacker, Igor Sikorsky, and Godfrey L. Cabot - among others) and this year will be awarded to General Jack Dailey, The Honorable Jim Coyne, John Cashman, and Lenny Potts.

  Thursday evening, at a wonderful reception in the Mike Mansfield Room in the United States Capitol, we were honored to present five Public Benefit Flying Awards to people and organizations who have put their aircraft, their time, and their skills to the benefit of people all across the United States. They represent the very best of our aviation industry.

   On Monday, we convened a panel to select the 2011 Harmon Trophy (Ballooning) recipient. After a good discussion, John Petrehn, the winner of the 2010 World Balloon Championship, was selected as our Harmon awardee.

   And, finally, on the following Wednesday, a group of nine of the most distinguished aviation leaders in our nation convened to selected the recipient of the 2011 Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy - one of the most important and historic aviation awards in the world. The recipient is Lieutenant General Tom Stafford, USAF (Ret.) who has been involved in too many aerospace projects and accomplishments to list here.

   When I have the opportunity to speak publically at an event, I always describe our awards program this way: "The awards of the National Aeronautic Association cut across every conceivable aviation leader, accomplishment, and enterprise." And, for a week in September, that was demonstrated very clearly.

Jonathan Gaffney

NAA President and CEO

Aeromodeling Proves a Vital Laboratory for

Aeronautic Engineering (and It's Fun, Too!)

   It's been said that the first car race was held as soon as the second car was built.

   The same might be said for aircraft, including model aircraft. Today, competition among model aircraft is alive and well at the headquarters of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) in Muncie, Indiana, which hosted both the national and world championships at its 1,100-acre airfield in July and August 2011.

   The headquarters building even looks like an airport, complete with a control tower. The National Model Aviation Museum is also there.

   National Aeromodeling Championships Contest Director Ron Morgan has been running the competition for 51 years. Each summer he spends at least five weeks in Muncie with a staff of five people - this summer he was there 8 weeks because of the world championships.

   More than 1,000 people from around the world compete in the nationals in 120 categories, ranging from "microfilm" aircraft that Morgan says are like "super-thin Saran wrap" to highly detailed scale replicas that can weigh up to 55 pounds.

   The three major competition categories include radio-controlled flying, control line (aircraft fly along wires), and free flight, with many subcategories within each of these. Advances in technology have created many new categories over the years, which has increased participation and lengthened the competition.

   Morgan explains that model aircraft can "do anything a real plane does and more - there are some maneuvers in model acrobatics that you can't do in a large plane." He mentioned aircraft that can rise up from water and "helicopters that can fly upside-down and cut the grass." Others can fly straight down, stop, and then fly straight back up.

Ron Morgan (right), shown here with AMA Executive Director Dave Mathewson, has run the National Aeromodeling Championships for 51 years

   "Model plane technology can be a laboratory for real airplanes," he notes. "Many people in this sport go on to work at major companies such as Boeing." Morgan reports that model aircraft developed the concept of moveable rotors on fighter jets.

   AMA Executive Director Dave Mathewson adds that the idea of transporting the Space Shuttle on the back of a Boeing 747 was first developed using model aircraft, which proved that it could be done.

   Many model aircraft are powered by lithium ion and lithium ferrous batteries, which makes them nearly silent as they streak across the sky. Nanoplanes that Morgan says are "the size of hummingbirds" have also been developed.

   Morgan sees kids coming to the competition to fly simple planes (which can be purchased for just a few hundred dollars), and says they typically fall away from sport when they go to college, get married, and have families. "Then they come back in their 30s and 40s because they remember how much fun it was," he observes.

   Mike Harrison, a longtime aeromodeling pilot who competed at

Dick Mundee (left) and Mike Harrison (right) are partners in flying their lithium battery-powered model aircraft, which weighs less than 11 pounds.

nationals with his "Visa" aircraft in the precision aerobatics competition (FAI F3A category) with his colleague Dick Mundee says the sport is now dominated by younger people. Both Harrison and Morgan say that video games have given kids strong piloting skills, and pilots can now be trained on flight simulators.

   "When I started competing, everyone built their own planes," Harrison recalls. "I was very competitive in those days. Now it's a different animal. The sport has evolved to where people buy planes from just a few builders. Now kids don't learn as much by not building their own planes."

   Even so, competitors are always looking for an edge and exploring new technologies.

"The greatest thing about aeromodeling is the people I have met and the technologies they are trying to develop," Morgan comments.

EAA Reports on First Manned

Electric-Powered Helicopter Flight

   The Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) reports that electrical and aerospace engineer Pascal Chretien has achieved the first untethered manned electric-powered helicopter flight. In August 2011 Chretien hovered his coaxial design helicopter one meter above the ground for more than two minutes.

   Approached by the French automotive research company Solution F to build the helicopter, in 12 months Chretein designed, built, and flew the aircraft, which is powered by lithium batteries and brushless DC motors.

   Chretien chose the coaxial contra-rotating twin-rotor design to save weight and reduce required power output. The design also eliminates the need for a tail rotor, which, according to Chretien, uses 8-10 percent of the power required, especially in a hover.

   Other unique features of the aircraft are the flight controls, which employ a combination of power variation and a mechanical tilt system of the tail fin to control yaw, conventionally inputted through rudder pedals. Chretien steers the craft by using a cyclic control that varies blade angle, while the collective is controlled by an overhead handlebar system that weight-shifts the aircraft beneath the rotating blades.

Balloon Federation of America

Launches Dropline E-Blast

   The Balloon Federation of America (BFA) has launched a monthly e-blast entitled, The Dropline. All BFA members are automatically subscribed, and nonmembers can sign up to receive it free of charge.

ACONE Members Get Preview of

Terrefugia Transition Aircraft

Richard Gersh (left) with ACONE President Dan Schrager

   Aero Club of New England (ACONE) members received a private tour on September 10, 2011 at the Terrafugia plant in Woburn, Massachusetts to view the development of the Terrafugia Transition�, which is a Roadable Light Sport Aircraft. The Transition is expected to be available in late 2012.

  The tour was conducted by Richard Gersh, Vice President of Business Development for Terrafugia.  The Transition� combines the unique convenience of being able to fold its wings with the ability to drive on any surface road in a modern personal airplane platform. Stowing the wings for road use and deploying them for flight at the airport is activated from inside the cockpit.

The Terrafugia Transition�

On its website, Terrafugia says the features of the Transition� offer unique functionality that "addresses head-on the issues faced by today's private and sport pilots," which include "uncertain weather, rising costs, and ground transportation hassles on each end of the flight."

 Wichita Aero Club Launches 

 Marketing Campaign with New Logo

   The Wichita Aero Club (WAC) has launched a marketing campaign that includes a new, updated logo reaffirming Wichita's title as "The Air Capital of the World." With a slogan of "Where Aviation Rules," WAC has unveiled an updated and more modern mark created by the Greteman Group, one of the city's leading advertising and branding agencies. It is designed to be used by aviation and non-aviation firms and organizations, and to express the community's pride in Wichita as the world's leading aviation business center.
   "In 1928, this city was known as the 'Air Capital of the World,' based primarily on the fact that it was home to 16 airplane manufacturers, six engine factories, 11 airports, and a dozen flying schools," notes WAC Executive Director Dave Franson. "By virtue of the volume of airplanes emerging from those plants, there was a basis for civic pride.

    "Prior to the Great Depression, Wichita was manufacturing one-quarter of all the aircraft produced in the United States. Those were heady times. But what makes the claim a reality today is the amazing productivity of the workers and the quality of the products they've manufactured in this city in the 80-plus years since then."   

   WAC has two luncheons coming up. On October 18, Barry Eccleston, President, Airbus, Americas, will speak. On November 7, Chet Fuller, Senior Vice President, Sales,  Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, will speak.

C.E. "Bud" Anderson to Receive

 ACNC Crystal Eagle Award

Bud Anderson during World War II.

      The Aero Club of Northern California (ACNC) will honor WWII Triple Ace C.E. "Bud" Anderson at its Annual Crystal Eagle Banquet on Saturday, October 22, 2011 at the Hiller Aviation Institute at San Carlos Airport.

    Anderson scored 16.25 aerial victories over German Luftwaffe aircraft while flying the P-51 Mustang "Old Crow'' in the World War II skies of Europe.

   Assigned to the 363rd Fighter Squadron of the 357th Fighter Group at RAF Leiston, England, he became the group's third leading ace. He flew 116 missions without being hit by fire from enemy aircraft and without turning back from any mission.

   In his 30 years of military service, Anderson flew more than 100 types of aircraft, logging more than 7,000 hours flight time. He was a test pilot and chief of fighter operations at Wright Field, chief of flight test operations and deputy director of flight test at Edwards Air Force Base, and served two tours at the Pentagon.

   Anderson commanded three fighter organizations, including the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing in Vietnam in 1970. He retired as a Colonel in 1972, then managed the McDonnell Aircraft Company's flight test facility at Edwards AFB until 1984.

   Anderson co-authored the book, "To Fly & Fight - Memoirs of a Triple Ace'' in 1990. In 2008, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

Clay Lacy to Receive Howard Hughes

Award from Aero Club of Southern California

Clay Lacy in the cockpit.

   The Aero Club of Southern California(ACSC) will honor Clay Lacy, a world-renowned pilot with over 50,000 flying hours, with its 33rd annual Howard Hughes Memorial Award. The award will be presented February 8, 2012 at a banquet in Los Angeles. ACSC President Nissen Davis said Lacy was selected by a committee of former recipients of the prestigious award.

    Lacy is Chairman of Clay Lacy Aviation, based at Van Nuys Airport. He is internationally known as an innovator in business flying and aerial photography and currently holds 29 World Aviation Records. He has conducted several philanthropic aviation missions, including a 1988 around-the-world flight in a Boeing 747 that raised $530,000 for children's charities. He also sponsors scholarships each year for pilots and students.

    Previous recipients of the award include Jack Northrop, Chuck Yeager, Kelly Johnson, Neil Armstrong, Bob Hoover, and 27 other distinguished leaders in aviation and aerospace.

Atlanta Aero Club Hosts Luncheon 

 And Tours FlightSafety International 

AAC Vice President Elaine Weatherby and LeRoy Eley.

      The Atlanta Aero Club(AAC) hosted an August luncheon which featured guest speaker Kirk Thornburg, Vice President, Southwest Airlines. Nearly 100 members and guests listened to Thornburg share the plans for the Southwest Airlines - AirTran integration.  AAC was honored to be joined at the August event by Retired Federal Aviation Administration examiner and Tuskegee Airman LeRoy Eley. 

AAC Board Member Ken Reid in a flight simulator.