Background

The CMAC was founded as the Goodyear Model Aircraft Club in 1962. It was then one of many company sponsored employee special interest clubs. After a few years of model flying in various locations, the Club settled in at the Summit County Fairgrounds in 1970 by permission of the Summit County Commissioners.

In 1993, the club voted to end its official relationship with Goodyear as non-employee members became more numerous. It also voted to change the name to the Corsair Model Aircraft Club, in honor of the wartime heritage of the Goodyear company in the production of the Corsair fighter plane. The Club also was able to continue to use a field on the grounds of the Fairground and contributed to some road improvements and maintained the flying field. The field is closed to flying during the Summit County Fair and is used for overflow parking. During the 1990’s improvements to the field included a small clubhouse, an asphalt runway, and improvements to the safety fencing. The field is now the only model flying field in Summit County and is sanctioned by the Academy of Model Aeronautics. Our events are popular and well attended. The club website, www.cmac.org, is a good source information about club activities.

Membership

CMAC Club dues are noted at the bottom of the "Joining" web page. An Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) membership is mandatory to fly. The AMA website information is also at the bottom of the "Joining" web page. The CMAC has about 250 members and is one of the largest, and oldest, clubs in the nation.

AMA

The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) was founded in 1936 and is the national sanctioning body for our Club (charter #502). The AMA represents over 2500 clubs with about 165,000 members nationwide. There are 155 clubs in Ohio alone. The AMA provides many member services such as publications, events assistance, and very importantly, individual and flying site insurance.

Our flying site on the Fairgrounds, as well as an amphibian site permitted in the Portage Lakes State Park, are insured against liability and property damage for $4 million (each site). Each individual member is insured for $2.5 million. Individuals are protected by this insurance for flying on private property outside the regular flying areas.

We have an excellent safety record - we've never had a claim against our insurance for any injury, to a member or spectator, at our club in our 40 year history.

Our excellent safety record is due to our field layout, a standard set down by the AMA and our adherence to the rules of safe flying. Links to the AMA website can be found on our website.

Location

CMAC utilizes several locations.

• The CMAC Club land based field.
• The winter meeting location.
• The CMAC Club float flying location.
• The Indoor electric flying location.
• The Outdoor Electric flying location.

You can find detail information about these locations on our website Location page.

Training Program

CMAC has a training program for new pilots which has been very successful.

Two years ago, we started a formal pilot training program. Individual members had always received help on a “one to one” basis from more experienced members. New members were advised on model selection, building, adjusting, and flight training by pairing up informally with members willing to take on the responsibility. Demand grew so high that a formal training program began. Four of our members are certified by the AMA as instructors. Others help with “ground school,” which includes pre-flight inspections and training on an electronic, computer based simulator system.

Instructors use a master/slave “buddy box” system to provide safe control. A system of gradual building of experience and confidence has resulted in lower damage rates to model aircraft and more rapid progress of new pilots. New pilots must have their AMA membership cards and be passed by an instructor before being allowed to fly without the “box.”

We have year round programs to involve youth groups, most notably the Cub and Boy Scouts of America. Club members volunteer to go to troop and pack winter meetings indoors and give talks with demonstrations, and use the computer simulators to give the scouts a feel for flying. We also use small wooden gliders to involve parents and kids in a fun indoor flying activity.

We also sponsor outdoor “field days” for Cub and Boy Scouts at our field. Scouts are first given a session on the simulator, and then given the chance to control a real model in flight under the watchful eye of an instructor. We have reached out to the Girl Scouts and hope that they will join us for a field day soon!

Meetings

CMAC club meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM.
You can find detail information about where the meetings are held on our website Location page.

Events

The club sponsors several events throughout the year for the enjoyment of the membership as well as letting the general public get an idea of what this hobby is all about.

• CMAC Club Float Fly's are held at Nimisila Reservoir in the Portage Lakes area near Akron, OH each May and September.
• A CMAC IMAA Big Plane Fly-in is usually held in June field at our flying field.
• CMAC Club Fun Fly competitions are held throughout the season allowing members to have fun competing in events such as limbo pole, touch & go target landings, number of loops performed in 10 seconds, etc.
• One or more CMAC Club Frozen Finger Fun Fly's are held during the winter months. Flying in a snowstorm is an experience you won't want to miss!!
• Pylon Racing events are also held occasionally.

The large number of events requires the help of many members, please don't hesitate to volunteer. It's a great way to meet other members and maybe learn a thing or two.

Newsletter

The CMAC Club newsletter, the Windsock, is published monthly and is available on our website.

2006: The Seeds of Change

It might seem that all is well at our current flying field. But outside influences have intervened to disrupt this happy picture.

To the north of the Summit County Fairgrounds lie 290 acres commonly know as the Summit County Home. The Home itself was closed and replaced by a private facility long ago and most of the land lay vacant.

In 2006, the Metro Parks was gifted the 290 acres of the old Summit County Home by the County Council to add to the adjacent Munroe Falls Metro Park. The Fairgrounds property is still owned by Summit County and is leased to the Summit County Agricultural Society, operators of the Summit County Fair. We continued our relationship with the Fairgrounds. No one anticipated any problems.

In 2008, the Metro Parks began to publicize plans to put in “hiking trails” in the open field north of the flying field at the Fairgrounds. We became concerned that if these proposed trails came in too close to our flying activities, people could be put at risk. We took the initiative and contacted the Metro Parks.

The Metro Parks refused to consider changing their plans to accommodate our activity. They, in fact, claimed the right to remove us from the Fairgrounds by terms of a “conservation easement” granted back in 2006 as part of the gift of the land by Summit County.

Summit County Council disagreed with this interpretation and on June 30, 2008, passed a resolution supporting the CMAC’s position at the Fairgrounds. On July 23, 2008, our Club made a formal presentation to the Metro Parks Board of Commissioners asking for cooperation in planning so that our Club could continue to safely fly at the Fairgrounds and over a small part of the old Summit County Home field. After a six month wait, the word came back: our proposal was refused.

Search for a home

During early 2008 when we became aware of the Metro Park’s attitude, we began searching for a new home, in case our proposal to them was rejected. Our goal is to remain in Summit County and try to keep our club intact. Summit County Council is committed to help us in this search and several suggestions have come forward.

Model flying sites, on the ground, really take up little space. But for safe flying, they must have substantial surrounding open space.

This drawing shows a “schematic” that represents the AMA recommendations. It happens to be almost exactly the current layout of our field. The overall flying area is about 40 acres. The “lawn” mowed grass area is about 3.5 acres. The rest is “tall grass” or trees.

This aerial view photo is a “leaves off” fall season view. Our parking area, clubhouse, and runway are clearly visible. Top of the view is North. The Metro Parks boundary is the north edge of the green grass area and extends east and west.

This view, with color graphic markings, illustrates the “over fly” area and is from our presentation to the Metro Parks last July. It shows the proposed planned trail relocation to safely allow our continued operation at the Fairgrounds. The light red semi-circle is the “safe flying” zone. The yellow Metroparks boundary “wraps” around our field. The Metro Parks rejected this proposal.

Our Future

At the present time, our club future is an unknown. We have talented and dedicated club members, as well as others in the community that support us. These people refuse to say die, so we believe our future will be good.