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"My reason for writing these posts is to hopefully encourage you and/or your club to create your own youth program. I'm writing about our flying sessions with the kids to share information and give you a small glimpse of what it's like to work with a kids at the field. Hopefully you'll see that it's a lot of fun. Our program is not the best nor is it the worst, it's just one of many out there. So I would encourage you to find a youth program that you like, that fits your particular situation, and get started. Start small if you have to but start, and be sure to keep the kids safe."

Feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments about our program.

Tim Pease


HAWKS - Day 1 (Tuesday 6/3/03)

OVM club members pitching in: Wayne, Darrel, Tom, George, Josh (2002 Hawks graduate), Marty, and Tim.
Hawks students : Justin, Jessica, Matt, and Kaleb.
Weather: Overcast but still.

The first night of the "Hawks R/C Junior Flight Training Program" went well. Matt and Kaleb joined the Hawks late in the 2002 season and are back to pick up where they left off. This was Justin's and Jessica's first night in the program. Jessica is also the first girl in the program. Each of the students got in about 4 flights. We took it easy tonight by mostly letting the kids just fly. Ground school was limited to teaching the necessities like fueling, how to pick up the planes, and cleaning up. Justin caught on quickly and was soon adopted by George. He flew George's low wing beater around, with George at his side, for the rest of the night. They both had a good time.

We also got a donation of 24 sporty safety glasses. We have enough to give one to each student, one in each flight box, and a few spares. They'll be required, this year, for each student who'll be learning "engine starting", probably 2 or 3.


HAWKS - Day 2 (Thursday 6/5/03)

OVM club members pitching in: Wayne, Darrel, Tom, George, Josh , Marty, Tim, and Glenn.
Hawks students : Jessica and Matt.
Weather: Overcast, ready to rain and a little breezy.
Josh is a 2002 graduate of the Hawks program. He's very interested in helping us out this season. So we've started giving him specific duties like being in charge of the flying signup list. We also are looking to him to be a leader to the other kids. Many articles I've read (Model Aviation included) point to the fact that kids like to be with and interact with other kids. So we'll be trying to develop a few leaders among the current students to see if we can't work with all the kids in the Hawks program by going through a few kids with leadership qualities.

Tonight was very interesting. George came to the field with all the supplies necessary to do some soldering. Yes soldering! He brought a torch, gun, wire and solder. There was enough for everyone who wanted to solder some wire together to do so. He put it all out on the picnic table and started teaching.

At first we were skeptical about this soldering stuff for the kids. I know we use a little soldering in our kit building, so there is a connection, but I mean what kid wants to bend, wrap, twist wire together then melt some solder to it when they can fly an really nice Kadet LT40 ARF with a full tank? We'll the Hawks kids and a few visiting kids, put on some safety glasses and jumped on the soldering like a moth to a flame and had a ball! Even some of the adults got involved.

Half way through the evening I found myself out on the flight line alone with everyone else back at the picnic table, soldering. So I did the next best thing and took up some parents for a demo flight. Yea, yea I did some soldering too. I have a feeling that getting the kids interested in various building projects on the picnic table this season won't be as hard as I originally thought.


HAWKS - Day 3 (Tuesday 6/10/03)

OVM club members pitching in: Wayne, Darrel, Tom, Gay, Josh , Marty, Tim, and Glenn.
Hawks students : Jessica, Kaleb and Tyler.
Weather: Overcast, light rain and fairly calm.

It was very busy at the field tonight with lots of club members present. We had both flight lines running tonight. Josh is taking charge of the signup sheet and getting more comfortable with being in a leadership position. Tyler showed up tonight, which was his first time flying this year. He joined in 2002. He was a little rusty tonight but cought on quick. Jessica and Kaleb were working on smoothing out their turns and also learned to do rolls.

On a humorous note: I was with a student and the plane went dead stick. I put the LT40 into the wind for a little hang time on the way down, maybe even get it to fly backwards. Hey just trying to impress the kids you know. Out of all the background noise I hear Josh say, sarcastically, "Oh! isn't that exciting" (long pause while the wind comes out of my sails). I taught him how to fly maybe I should have taught him to respect his betters! That boy's gonna be trouble I can feel it. I gotta figure out some way to get back at the kid while I can still fly better than he does. Which doesn't give me a lot of time :^)


HAWKS - Day 4 (Thursday 6/12/03)

"rained out"


HAWKS - Day 5 (Tuesday 6/17/03)



OVM club members pitching in: Wayne, Darrel, Tom, Gay, Tim, and Dave.
Hawks students : Jessica, Kaleb, Ron and Tyler.
Weather: Clear with some puffy clouds and a slight breeze.

Visitor: Dave Mathewson (District 2 VP)

Were short on kids at the moment. Some of the kids returning this year have conflicts with other activities so we need about 6 or 7 more to fill our Hawks nights at the field. We don't want to advertise because we'll get more kids than we can handle and anyone put on a waiting list isn't likely to fly this season. So we'll continue looking for potential members as the opportunity presents itself. In fact there were two youngsters at the field tonight who got a demo flight each and took some Hawks membership forms home with them. We also have leads on several other kids and if they all join we'll be full.

We gave Dave Mathewson an open invitation to come to the field anytime, he accepted our invite and stopped by tonight. There were about 15 OVM club members and 4 members of the Hawks present for Dave to meet and talk with. Club membership and attendance are up since last year. This is a good indication I feel of what effect the youth program has had on our club. Tonight's attendance was a good example, considering I was the only one who knew, ahead of time, that Dave might be coming over. Hawks nights (Tuesdays and Thursdays) seem to be the busiest.

This was Dave's first trip to our field. We invited him to stop by to say hi and also to have an up close look at our youth program. I went over the program with him, showed him the flight manual, the progress matrix, the planes, the new worktables, and the hardwired buddy boxes. Dave also spent some time out on the flightline with one of our students. With all the rain this spring Dave said he hadn't had many chances to fly. It was an enjoyable evening all around. (TP)

Dave, thanks again for coming by. Visitors are always welcome.


HAWKS - Day 6 (Thursday 6/19/03)

OVM club members pitching in: Darrel, Gay, Tim, Josh, and Glenn.
Hawks students : Jessica, Kaleb (new), Nate (new).
Weather: Partly cloudy, slight breeze, cool.

The two kids that stopped over on Tuesday got signed up tonight. They are Kaleb, age 8, and Nate, age 11. We mostly let everyone just fly tonight, not much ground school, because the weather always looked like it was about to do something. Nate was getting into the groove and doing realy good for his first night. Kaleb on the other hand just wanted to do loops, didn't matter what direction. He also didn't have much trouble with right hand turns but just about all his lefts were overcontrolled and ended up being more of a split-s than a turn. Which is ok since he'll learn split-ss' anyway. These maneuvers of his ended up in several power dives that I thought would tear the tail of the LT's but they held up.

The LT's definitely get their share of abuse during the season. We're surprised they made it through last season. Tonight during a spot check we found a bad clevis in the elevator of plane#2. Plane#1 wouldn't taxi due to a stripped screw in the nose wheel, it eventually got fixed. Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. We just bought a new LT and a new engine. This one will have a 52 4-Stroke in it. Marty plans on putting it together, with the kid's help, on the picnic table in the next several nights.

We went with the 4-stroke this time because of the power, cleanliness, and fuel efficiency but the real reason is that we had a few bucks and we really like 4-strokes. We plan on shelving plane #2 and using it as a back up if needed. This plane has an old, tired, OS 40 FP and some days it's just doesn't want to get off the ground.

Josh was back with us tonight. He instructed Kaleb and Nate as to how to fuel up and de-fuel the planes. Josh also got time to fly his quickie that he and his father built, it's a real screamer.


HAWKS - Day 7 (Tuesday 6/24/03)

OVM club members pitching in: Tom, Mike, Jim, and Tim.
Hawks students: Jessica, Kaleb, Kaleb (the younger), Lacy, Nate, Tim, Jonathan, and Tyler.
Weather: Clear, Humid, and calm.

The sky was busy tonight. We had several OVM members flying along with seven youths. A few of our regular helpers weren't here tonight. Which added a little stress to the evening. Usually there's someone at the picnic table doing ground school or just keeping the kids, who are not flying, busy. We didn't have that tonight. The individual who was to work the table couldn't make it and so being understaffed we were very busy. We had three new student's sign up, Lacy, Jonathan, and Tim. Adding to stress, we had a bad landing on plane#1 which pulled out the nosegear along with loosening the engine. This grounded one of our two Hawks planes. Thanks to Mike, he had it back up and running in about 45 minutes. A thanks also goes out to Jim, whose still learning to fly himself, for graciously lending us his trainer and buddy box for us to use until Plane#1 got fixed.

All seven of the kids wanted to fly, naturally, and we did our best to accommodate them, except Jessica, she gave up her time to let the new kids fly, she's got a big heart. I had Kaleb and Tyler try some inverted flying, both did well. Tyler also worked on takeoffs http://www.amadistrictii.org/d2forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=35 and flying low and slow. The other kids, who are mostly new, worked on radio range checks, left and right turns, loops, and rolls. Kaleb did his first takeoff tonight, I think he's happy about that. I say "I think" because Kaleb doesn't show much emotion either way, so who knows. The kids are all different and they're even different on different days. So you gotta go with the flow and work with the "kid of the moment".

There was a midair tonight . Midairs are pretty rare; this is only the second one I've ever witnessed. A Trainer plane (not the Hawks) with an aluminum landing gear and an Avistar. The trainer plane lost its landing gear and managed to land with just its nosewheel. The Avistar lost its tail feathers and tent staked in the high grass at the South end of the field. The trainer plane will be back but I'm not sure about the Avistar.


HAWKS - Day 8 (Thursday 6/26/03)

OVM club members pitching in: Wayne, Bart, Tim, Gay, Marty, Josh, and Darrel
Hawks students : Jessica, Kaleb, Nate, Tim, Jonathan, Tyler, and Casey (new).
Weather: Clear, very Humid, very hot, and calm.

The heat was terrible tonight and there wasn't a breeze to be found. Other than that we had a great time. We had six Hawks members show up tonight. Tyler brought a friend, Casey, who is considering joining the Hawks. He took a demo flight and then some paperwork home for Mom and Dad to sign.

Were always trying to get more pilots to step up and help out with giving the kids stick time. Last year we were a little short in that department. So far this year we've added Tom and George. Last night we got Bart to help out. Some of the hesitation seems to be either that they've never taught anyone to fly before or that they don't want to be the one to damage one of the Hawks planes, or They're new themselves and don't feel that they have much to offer. I tell them simply that, as a minimum, all they need to do to is take the plane off, let the kid fly around for 10 minutes, then land. If they don't instruct that?s ok there are others who can do the teaching. What the kids need and want is sticktime what the Instructors need is a 10 minute break here and there. I also tell them that there will be damage now and then. It may be at their hands or someone else?s but it will happen and that as they say is the price of doing business. We'll fix what?s broke and if we can't we'll break out the spare LT but we will keep moving forward.

Back to the kids. Tyler wanted to work on takeoffs again tonight. He specifically wanted to get to where he could do it while he was standing on the flightline instead of standing behind the plane. After about 6 takeoffs he was on the flightline. We had to use Plane#2 because plane#1 still had idle problems from Tuesday night.

The attention span of these kids sometimes can be very short. On occasion you'll catch them watching the other planes instead of the one they're flying. It's funny sometimes to watch the look on their face as they turn back looking for their plane and it's not in the sky where they left it. Of course they don't want you to know that they don't have a clue which plane is theirs and you've taken over control so they can't move their sticks to help them decide. Sooner or later they gotta ask you which plane are they're flying. It is a moment for sure.

Marty brought the Hawks new SIG Kadet LT40 to the field tonight. He set up shop and proceeded to have an ARF construction class on the picnic table. From what I saw most of the kids were involved at one time or another but it seems that only Jessica stayed through until the end, I don't know what that means so don't ask me. Marty did say overall things went very good. This is the other half of the coin. One side is kids flying and the other side is giving the kids opportunities to be busy during the non-flying time. This balances out the evening because you can't fly them all at the same time.

As hot, humid and uncomfortable as it was tonight, We had a good time with the kids and they with us.


HAWKS - Day 9 (Tuesday 7/1/03)

OVM club members pitching in: Wayne, Darrel, Tom, Gay, Josh, Marty, and Tim.
Hawks students : Jessica, Kaleb, Kaleb (the younger), Lacey, Tim, and Jon
Weather: Bee-U-T-ful

There was a beehive of activity at the field tonight. The sky and runway were busy most of the night. I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen this many people at our field at one time when there wasn't a picnic going on. It was really nice to see.

We fixed the problem with plane#1's engine , so both planes can actually taxi now, thanks to Wayne. Marty and myself put a construction/repair toolbox together. We filled it with all the extra pieces and parts we had lying around and the things we thought might be needed to repair or even build one of the Hawks planes. We put so much stuff in it that I think we could fix most of the planes at the field. (other than covering and soldering)

Marty and the kids not flying worked the picnic table again tonight. They're working on putting together our new SIG Kadet LT40 ARF. Last night they were primarily working on gluing the wing together. I don't know a whole lot about what happens at the picnic table since I'm usually on the flightline all night but I do check in once in awhile.

I don't know how the LT40's put up with all the abuse they get. I can't count the number of times I've pulled an LT out of a high speed dive expecting the tail to rip off or the wings to fold. The kids do stress them out for sure. We have a four level training program and currently most of the kids are in level 1, which is the easiest. I worked on tailslides, takeoffs and landing approaches, level 3 and 4 stuff, with Kaleb tonight while Tom worked on the basics with the rest. We use tailslides, stall, spirals, and other disorienting maneuvers in level 3 to get the kids used to seeing the plane out of whack, then making them fix it.

I want to stop here and say thanks to Tom. He started working with the Hawks this season and been a great help. Even though he's new to instructing he's doing a great job. He's learning as well as teaching. He comes to the field, on Hawks nights, with a what do you want me to do attitude and puts up with me until the end of the night, Thanks Tom.

We got another engine donation tonight, an OS 45 I believe. I think Glenn donated it. Last week we got a FOX engine from Dick, thanks guys. I think that brings us to a total of about 7 engines for the program. We also have 6 or 7 planes that were donated not including the 3 LT's. The planes have some hanger rash or in need some major TLC. I'm not all that sure what we'll do with all the stuff.

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