In April 2025, a new Facebook group was created, AMA District IV—Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, and North Carolina. Since then, we have grown exponentially and have postings about AMA club events, news, pictures and videos of model aircraft and, most importantly, pictures of newcomers to the hobby, young and old, training on buddy boxes. Increasing our presence to attract newcomers to our hobby is one of the reasons that we expanded.
Visit us at www.facebook.com/groups/amadistrictivand spread the word to model aircraft enthusiasts!
Contest Director Juan Cruz sent a report on the Newport News Park RC (NNPRC) club’s Scale Fly-In.
We flew, we crashed (a little), we filmed it all! The NNPRC club in Virginia just wrapped up its first Scale Fly-In in a long time, and let’s just say it was kind of a big deal. We had 41 AMA members from local clubs join us for a day of flying, camaraderie, and model-building inspiration. The weather couldn’t have been better—clear skies and light winds set the perfect stage for an amazing event.
A wide range of RC aircraft took to the sky, from nimble park flyers to Jody Miller, a member of the 2022 US Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) F3J Team Gold, with his stunning 40%-scale 1-26 glider. We even got a close look at Todd Smith’s impressive OV-10 Bronco.
Members from the Tidewater chapter of the International Plastic Modelers Society were also present to display their craftsmanship and have a hands-on build session to show us how a box of plastic turns into a miniature piece of art. That gave us all a greater appreciation for the artistry of Scale modeling.
Catch all of the action—the flights, the builds, and even the crash recovery attempt (it went about how you’d expect)—in our new video at https://youtu.be/Jo5heqsulwA.
Huge thanks go to Juan for pulling this off like a pro, to Bruce for the extra camera magic, to our volunteers, the City of Newport News, and, most importantly, the visiting clubs. The day was a huge success! We’re already looking forward to the next one. Visit the NNPRC website at www.newportnewsrc.org.
Go fly and have fun safely.