Protecting your club flying site

by Tony Stillman, Flying Site Coordinator As seen in the February 2015 issue of Model Aviation. It is a good idea for club members to think about their flying site situation and plan activities to protect the site you currently enjoy. If your club is leasing property from a private individual or company, is your club actively working to ensure that it will be able to continue leasing in the future? What can you do?

Look at things from the property owner’s perspective. What would make you want to lease property to people who fly model airplanes? In some cases, it might be that the owner has a love for aircraft and enjoys your presence. This can often be the case with clubs that fly at small, privately owned airports or crop duster sites. These are usually located in rural areas and can be great sites. Spending time with the site owners to let them see what you do and interact with them so that they can enjoy your airplanes can sometimes create relationships that can ensure the club has a place to fly for many years. Have you ever thought about having a field party for your site owner? I even know of a club that gave the landowners a nice weekend getaway in a nearby tourist area. It only cost the club a couple of nights in a hotel and a gift card for a dinner for two at a nice restaurant—probably $300 total club investment. I hear that the club does this annually, and it is a much-anticipated vacation for the landowners! Now that is what I call a great relationship! What if your landowner is a business? I bet you can think of something that the club could do for it as well. Perhaps the club could assist with a fundraiser for a charity or special project that the company is working on. How about partnering in a community goal or project? Maybe it is only going over and cutting grass and cleaning up the parking area monthly. Money is not the important thing here. It is relationships! In the South we have a saying, “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” Sure, you are paying for use of someone’s property, but what you want is more than property. You want a relationship. What can you do to make the landowner happy? Give it some serious thought. What you come up with might be worth more to them than the money you pay for the use of the site. What could you do if your site owner is the US government or a local or state government? Think about it from its perspective. The administrators receive many requests. What is it they want? Some want to improve their community and bring positive economic impact to the area. Show that your club is helping fulfill these goals. Work to host events that bring in modelers who spend money at gas stations, restaurants, and hotels. That will usually please any county commissioner. Invite these people to an event or club meeting. Work with kids in community programs and schools, and make sure you inform the news media. Work with them during county-hosted events. Many clubs have demo booths at county fairs and parades. Show that your club is part of the community. Think creatively. Come up with ideas that will put a positive light on your club in front of the local officials who make the decision to allow you to be there. When was the last time that your club contacted its neighbors and invited them to a club picnic at the field? Some may not attend, but those who do should be given the “royal treatment” so that when they talk about it, others will want to come the next time. I know of a club that does this annually and new club members are a by-product! Some clubs offer free memberships to neighbors and their kids. They provide flying lessons and some even work with the children to help them build and become modelers themselves. If the neighbors become involved with you in a sport that you both enjoy, they will be much more interested in your club staying around. With the local community involved, chances are your club will have less vandalism and equipment theft at the field. If you start working now to build relationships with neighbors and landowners, then you are protecting yourself from having your lease terminated without cause. If you are an asset, they will most likely try to protect your right to fly, or at least work to find a suitable replacement flying site. Discuss holding events such as these with your club. See what you can do to improve the relationships between the club and the site owner. It is easy to sit around and not be involved. That is one of the many reasons that we lose flying sites and AMA members. Work to create an environment that protects your flying site and privilege to fly there. Be good neighbors and good tenants. Show that you care about your relationships with them and the community. Now, back to the model shop. by Tony Stillman | [email protected]