| John,
Similar things have done here in the U.S. but with no great regularity.
A few years ago, a cross-country race was organized wherein teams from
each geographic area were formed, each of which flew a 2-300 mile leg
of the route which extended from east coast to west coast. Much hoopla
was made of it and donations invited via the individual teams drumming
up pledges similar to the way they do for charity bicycle runs,
marathons and walk-a-thons. All proceeds were turned over to Jerry
Lewis's annual telethon for Muscular Dystrophy.
This was a great public image booster but it only survived 3-years due
to the obvious safety considerations of using public highways along
which to sit in the back of a pickup truck and fly an RC model.
Takeoffs and landings, especially emergencies, created the most obvious
hazaed to modelers and motorists alike so the race was discontinued.
But a precedent had been established for some original thinker to
devise similar but safe events on the same (and smaller) scale(s) to
continue contributing to the communities and bolstering our public
image. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened and whatever ground was
gained has surely been lost.
If each club in every community across the country/world selected one
charity and put on just one annual event to benefit this charity, I
have to believe our credibility would take a giant leap upward and we'd
very likely get new, even young people involved in our hobby/sport as a
byproduct. It's a win-win proposition!
__
| | / |\
\|/ |______|__(o/--/ | \
| | 00 <| ~~~ ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
|_|_| (O>o |\)____/___|\_____|_/ Adios amigos, Al
| \__(O_\_ | |___/ o (The Desert Rat)
|
| I think that this "image" problem might exist more in the modeling
community's eyes than in true public perception. I grant you that the
public, myself included, does not enjoy extended exposure to loud
engines, be they motorcycle, chainsaw, model airplane, etc. Hence
most model airplane fields in my area (Western NY) are located in
sparesly populated sections to accomodate the noise problem. I
doubt I would be anymore receptive to a model field in my neighbor-
hood just because they supported charities, or I had seen their
organiztion at the local mall. No, in fact when I have seen the
local toy train clubs and go-kart clubs set up displays in the mall,
I really did not think any more or any less of them because frankly I
am just not interested! This is how I think the public perceives us.
They really don't care one way or the other, unless we do something
to make them mad, most usually noise. What I am trying to say is the
public generally has a neutral attitude when it comes to RC aircraft.
I guess we all wish others were interested in the same things we are,
particularly if we are good at it. I do not have a problem with this
because I realize that you can't make people interested in things. I
became interested in motorcycles as a teenager for reasons I do not
understand. It didn't require a local motorcycle club's participation
in community events to spark this interest or any other public
relations gesture- I just liked them. Watching bids fly got me
interested in airplanes- I don't know why. The public does not under-
stand rc modeling and probably won't until for some inexplicable reason
it catches their fancy. Until then let's be glad we have found it's
joys and not let public indifference diminish our confidence in our
chosen pastime!
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| Re: -.1
At the risk of offending the last noter or others who share his view,
let me offer a diametrically opposed viewpoint.
The issue is not whether the public (whatever that is) is interested in
our hobby or not. The issue as I see it is whether or not when push
comes to shove, that people outside our hobby have a positive
perception of us. If we are viewed as good citizens who participate in
projects that benefit the community and who make a concerted effort to
"add-value" by doing things that are public service oriented, then I
say we build up a cushion of insulation that will come in real handy
when something nasty happens. By befriending our local communities, we
are building relationships that can go a long way towards easing the
bad publicity that easily gets out of hand when the going gets tough.
I've been in sales for over 20 years, and we have a saying that has a
bearing here. The saying goes like this: "All things being equal,
customers buy from people they are friendly with; all things being NOT
equal, they are still likely to buy from their friends." The point
here is that if we are on friendly terms with our communities, it will
be easier for there to be a "forgiveness factor" in their attitude when
and if there is a bad incident which is caused by one of us. My
attitude therefore has always been to be in community service in some
way so that this positive perception is firmly built. I believe it's
one of the best insurance policies we can have.
My .02 FWIW.
-Joe
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