Any Youngsters In Your Club?

[David Davis]

I belong to a club of about thirty members in the middle of France. Most of us are retired but there are a couple of blokes in their forties and another who is thirty but he's recently become a dad so we haven't seen him this season.

 

One of our best pilots is Hubert who is 13 years old. He used to fly a thirty-year old trainer but the engine kept cutting out. I asked why this was happening and he said that the engine, a Webra 40 was worn out. Now I happened to have the self same engine sitting in my cupboard. I had bought it years ago but never used it so I gave it to the lad. He was soon flying that battered old trainer in inverted circuits again until he crashed it which proves that even he is human!

 

To replace it I gave him an old but uncovered WOT 4 fuselage, a battered old wing I'd picked up years ago in the Boot Hill corner of the Shropshire Model Flying Club's premises, and the yellow and blue tailplane from one of my old WOT 4s. At seventy-five with too many projects on the go I was never going to finish the model. Within a few weeks he and his father Erwan, probably the best pilot in our club, had covered the fuselage, installed a radio and an OS 55, glued my old tailplane in place and worked out the dimensions of fin and rudder from images on the web. They didn't bother with the cosmetics, just put it into an airworthy condition. On his second flight with the new model, Hubert was flying it in inverted circuits and showing us all how to do it! They repaired the old trainer too!

 

Fortunately they live in Paris so we only see them during the school holidays.

 

Picture of my old WOT 4 and Hubert's bitsa below.

[Brian Cooper]

Yes, we have three active youngsters, but fewer juniors are committing to join the hobby. 

Nowadays they refer instant gratification (video games) rather than having to put in the hours required to master a real-life skill. 

However, we still have some who are bright enough to keep their noses away from staring at a mobile phone for hour after hour. 

[Shaun Walsh]

A father and son joined our club last year. Son is in his early/mid teens and by all accounts he's progressing very well.

Unfortunately we are literally a dying breed.

[David Davis]

3 minutes ago, Shaun Walsh said:

A father and son joined our club last year. Son is in his early/mid teens and by all accounts he's progressing very well.

Unfortunately we are literally a dying breed.

 

 

That's certainly true.

[Cuban8]

Even with all the nonsense registration stuff etc, getting started with model flying has never been easier for youngsters in 2023. So many different aspects of flying to tempt them whether it be simple ready to go foamies that fly themselves, drones or whatever. Loads of information on the web and social media and our own BMFA promoting us wherever it can.

As a young lad in the sixties and mad about aviation and the thought of radio controlled flying models, I didn't have any idea about model clubs in my area or how to get any sort of help or even to find out where models were being flown. Just the way it was until I got much older and more independant and had far more scope to seek out what I needed to know myself. By sixteen and able to get around on my first motorbike, I could make the half hour ride on my own to Wanstead Flats in East London, and witness myself just what the hobby was all about. I guess a state of high panic would erupt at a club if a minor turned up alone at a club to watch the flying now. Such a shame, really.

So much different now, but the airmindedness of young people no longer exists as it once did. We can only do our best to make our hobby as attractive and relevant to modern youngsters, and the various inititatives that BMFA have developed are to be warmly welcomed. The bottom line is that one can only do so much to make the hobby as attractive as possible to the young, but if the wonder and interest isn't there, what can one do?

One of my clubs has no juniors at all and club number two has just a couple of young teenagers who rely on parents to have the time and inclination to bring them to the field and supervise them in these days of child protection rules and regs. Such is the way of things.

Great pictures of your young flyers BTW, Brian.

[Jon H]

I have bene the youngest regular at every club i have ever flown at since i was about 12. Now 38, still the youngest. 

 

I came across this video a week or so ago and think that, for the most part, their comments are spot on. 

 

 

[MattyB]

The only junior members most clubs will see these days are children or grandchildren of existing members. Sadly I can't remember a junior who wasn't connected in this way for the last ~10 years in the clubs where I am a member. This is for lots of reasons, but competition from other pastimes that are far easier to access and the fact aviation is now seen as a passe commodity (i.e. a plane is just something you get on to go on holiday) rather than an exciting novelty are the main ones.

 

In reality the most likely group to take up the hobby nowadays are 40-60 year olds whose kids are in their late teens or later, and have the time and money to invest in a new hobby. Trying to replicate the period from the 60s to mid 80s where youngsters were involved in large numbers is probably a forlorn hope now IMO.

 

EDIT - I just watched the video above, and it has a lot of good points. The challenge is obviously getting existing members to buy into the vision of running a youth focussed programme within the club which requires a lot of planning and execution - that's a lot to ask after a full day at work, or a lifetime of work for those who have retired and see RC as a relaxing pastime.

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by MattyB

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

We had 3, two brothers moved to another area, another had a tantrum on the club's Bixler his mother 'corrected him' ( censored) and we haven't seen him since,,,

[David Ashby - Moderator]

We have one 11-year old and a 15-year old. Both very keen and learn quick. Their parents bring them along. 

 

I saw that video a few weeks ago, it's very good. 

 

A few years back, when I was in the editorial hot seat, I asked Andy Ellison to write one of the magazine's '10 things' articles on the subject of encouraging youngsters. You can read it here and very good it is too. The thing I took away from it is that it has to be fun, if it isn't then youngsters will just move on to something that is. 

 

 

[David Davis]

French kids don't go to school on Wednesdays but I believe that they do go to school on Saturday mornings. We used to run a Wednesday afternoon session in our club's workshop and two brothers used to come along. They were about twelve and fifteen years old. They started building two simple electric powered models from foamboard but older members were constantly correcting them and ended up building the models themselves.

 

The lads don't come anymore...

[SIMON CRAGG]

Despite trying everything we could possibly think of, youngsters in our club = 0.

 

Great photos chaps!.

[leccyflyer]

I believe that we have one youngster in one of my two clubs, a lad and dad pair, which IMO is a superb way to have a great time in this hobby. The young lad is coming on really well with his flying. My other club has no current youngsters, as the lad half of the lad and dad pair has grown up. It's a pity, because it's great to see the youngsters develop and so often soon surpass their dads in flying skills.

 

In terms of growing or maintaining the hobby, the youngsters have not been a strong target for attracting new members, I think largely as they have so much else going on and the airmindedness which was such a feature of our childhoods, simply isn't there any more. To my mind a much more fruitful source of new members is in terms of potential returnees to the hobby, specifically the middle aged chap with disposable income who has started to get a bit of spare time - especially the recently retired. It helps that they will have had at least a degree of that airmindedness instilled at a young age, when we still had an airforce and aircraft industry. That's where most new members in the past decade have come from in my experience.

[Jake Bullit]

As soon as they discover cars and women they're off 😆

[David Davis]

29 minutes ago, Jake Bullit said:

As soon as they discover cars and women they're off 😆

I did the same at their age but I couldn't afford a car so for me it was bikes!

 

[leccyflyer]

In my day it was discovering beer, bikes and girls which tempted teens away from aeromodelling. Things must have changed if they are now discovering women instead. Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft have a lot to answer for....

[Andy48]

1 hour ago, Jake Bullit said:

As soon as they discover cars and women they're off 😆

To university that is, and away from their local club.

[aidan mcatamney]

We just have three young people in our club with a membership of around 16.    Two of them are in their 30s and the other is in his early 20s.  They are the three best pilots in the club with lots of flying skill in abundance.   In todays world it is just so difficult to keep young people interested in flying rc model aeroplanes.  They seem to get bored so quickly and flying rc models just doesnt cut the mustard for them like it did for all of us when we first started out.   Very sad state of affairs really as young people are the lifeblood and future of our hobby if it is to survive into the future.  

[Geoff S]

Although I did a very little 'aeromodelling' as schoolboy it was never a primary interest.  It was just one of the things I did like shooting my air rifle, model trains, riding my bike, building radios and amplifiers etc.  At 15, I realised that in just a year I'd be able to ride a motorcycle and that, for years became my main pastime, transport, and competition objective until sailing took over.  I didn't take up aeromodelling until a serious pedal cycle accident ruled out sailing and serious cycling ... and even that came after I tried RC model yacht racing.  I was retired before I passed my 'A' and I'd already built a few models from kits before then (a Precedent Electrafly, a Trainer and the Precedent Funfly I passed my 'A' with).

 

So an influx of very young modellers (though desirable) isn't a complete necessity.  Older people with practical experience in other fields come into the pastime, too.

[Brian Cooper]

I started giving goes to kids when I was still a kid myself -- I was 13 -- and that was over 56 years ago. 

 

With the help of few others who are keen to promote our great hobby, we are still doing it. 

We give demos to get their imaginations ignited. . . 

We fly fast; we fly low; we do lively 3D aerobatics; we fly under limbo tapes; we fly (streamer cutting) combat; we burst balloons. . . we do just about anything which can create a "WOW.." 

And the kids love it.

 

They are always keen to have a go on the buddy box -- and we make that fun too -- but fewer and fewer are taking up the hobby. 

 

But hey ho... we keep plugging away at it. 

.

[Ron Gray]

2 hours ago, aidan mcatamney said:

young people are the lifeblood and future of our hobby if it is to survive into the future.  

Sorry but I disagree. The future of our sport are the older generations with some money to spend on toys. The youngsters will come through in their minority but mainly blatting around doing 3D. 

[extra slim]

yeah, I've always been a bit confused by the whole "lack of youngsters" debate. I've been flying since the mid 1970's and there have never really been more than the odd 1 or 2 in the clubs I have been in, and for many many years, none. Just from my experience , most folk joined, either mid to late 30's when kids had just come along and they wanted to get out for a break, or in retirement.. with obviously those in between.  As I say, just my experience, so lack of youngsters I dont see and never have seen as a problem. 

[Bruce Collinson]

1 hour ago, Ron Gray said:

Sorry but I disagree. The future of our sport are the older generations with some money to spend on toys. The youngsters will come through in their minority but mainly blatting around doing 3D. 

Minded to agree with Ron.   We do have younger members, from teenage through 20s and 30s, but the steadiest influx of new members is semi or fully retired but active returners and touch wood, for several years they have kept us full.

BTC

[aidan mcatamney]

1 hour ago, Ron Gray said:

Sorry but I disagree. The future of our sport are the older generations with some money to spend on toys. The youngsters will come through in their minority but mainly blatting around doing 3D. 

We can agree to differ on this subject.  But all I can tell you is this.  Where I come from , model flying clubs have withered away and some have folded up completely as older members have died off and no young members have come forward to take their place.  When I say young members , I'm talking about people up to the age of 40 years old.  They are just not interested and the ones over 40 and upwards are not taking up the hobby either.  So this is what is happening in my area and its a fact that the hobby where I live is dying a slow death.  

[MattyB]

20 hours ago, aidan mcatamney said:

We can agree to differ on this subject.  But all I can tell you is this.  Where I come from , model flying clubs have withered away and some have folded up completely as older members have died off and no young members have come forward to take their place.  When I say young members , I'm talking about people up to the age of 40 years old.  They are just not interested and the ones over 40 and upwards are not taking up the hobby either.  So this is what is happening in my area and its a fact that the hobby where I live is dying a slow death.  

 

I'm not sure I understand your point tbh... You seem to be saying that if no-one in any age-group takes up the hobby, then a club will struggle. I think we can all agree on that!

 

@Ron Gray's and @extra slim's point (which I agree with) is that far more beginners are in the 35+ range than <25, and those people tend to stick around longer too. Given that, if you are trying to encourage newcomers then focussing your efforts on that demographic is likely to be more successful in keeping your club vibrant. TBH I think this has always been the case - even when I was growing up in the 80s there were very few junior members of the clubs I frequented, but plenty in the 40-65 demographic whose time and resources were more plentiful. Those people also tend to be more useful to the club in terms of doing maintenance and filling committee positions (not many teenagers want or could be trusted to man the ride on mower...!). 

[Ron Gray]

The older generation also have the advantage of having their own transport and do not need adult supervision (well that also applies to some of our current 'older' members too!).