50-year-old Club’s Membership… Evaporated!

The Fly Away Radio Control Club is one of the premier model aircraft clubs in the District of Columbia, and has existed as an AMA chartered club for more than 50 years. For years the club operated from its unassuming flying site along the banks of the Anacostia River, about 4½ miles from the US Capitol. Unfortunately, the use of this property came to an end in January 2009, when the federal government issued a permanent flight restriction (0/8326) banning the operation of model aircraft within the Washington Metropolitan Flight Restriction Zone (FRZ), a security zone that extends approximately 15nm from Ronald Reagan National Airport.

To date, requests for a waiver to allow the RC club to continue MA operations at Anacostia River Park have been denied, and the loss of the flying site has decimated the club’s membership. However, stalwarts of the club remain hopeful that the ban will eventually be lifted or a waiver issued allowing the citizens of the District of Columbia to once again experience the thrill and adventure in discovery this great hobby provides.

Click the link below to read an op-ed article in the Washington Post written by Peter Curtis, secretary of the Fly Away Radio Control Club…
A Model Airplane Club Grounded in Bladensburg

Rich Hanson
AMA Government and Regulatory Affairs