MAAA Wingspan

16 One of Australia’s largest model aeroplane clubs, the Sports Aeromodellers Association Moreton Bay Region Inc (SAAMBR) has proactively shared their passion for aeromodelling, attracting 1200 people to their airfield in Burpengary for a special model Airshow. In an endeavour of growing the sport and welcoming potential new members, the club showcased various model aircraft disciplines, while encouraging the public to view the planes up close and personal, understanding how they are built and how they are flown. Club President, Greg Petherick said the airshow encouraged members of the community to experience the sport, creating a strong sense of community and camaraderie around aeromodelling. “Over the years, our club has slowly seen a reduction in members. Despite having more than 200 members at present, we still think it is important to be proactive, holding airshows and ‘Have a Go’ flying days in order to grow our sport,” he said. “There were people who attended our airshow who had no idea about aeromodelling but were keen to learn. The airshow featured pilots and our local members who conducted demonstrations with various aircraft from scale, IMAC, drones and pylon racing. “To ensure our clubs and our sport don’t fade away, it is important that all MAAA clubs are creating opportunities where we encourage new members through showcasing the thrills and excitement of our sport.” During the airshow, the club handed out flyers to their upcoming Have a Go flying day, where planes and instructors were to be available to give hands-on experience of flying. “We wanted to use the airshow as a way to create exposure for the sport but also promote our club and what we are all about,” said Greg. “At the airshow we handed out flyers for the Have a Go Fly day, encouraging them to come back and experience the thrill of flight first-hand.” Greg said a great way for clubs to generate interest in their Have a Go day is to: Make sure when organising an event that you feature a diversity of aircraft that showcase the variety of disciplines under the MAAA umbrella Invest in some advertising in your community newspaper to help promote the event in the lead-up Encourage your members to share the event on their personal Facebook pages as well as share on the club’s Facebook page or any community event pages For more than 75 years, the MAAA has been Australia’s largest flying organisation, welcoming and nurturing our members young and old as well as creating a strong sense of community and camaraderie around aeromodelling. club story : SAAMBR