From an Individual Initiative to a Shared Hobby

Dear Reader

Many wonderful flying sites were once created through individual initiatives. After a deliberate search—but often by chance as well—a model aircraft enthusiast finds a suitable spot, a nice slope, or a stretch of dirt road. They use these sites all by themselves. But because model flying also has an important social aspect for many of us, a good friend—or even two—soon joins in. In the good old days, it’s said to have been quite possible to purchase such a site. Today, the trend is clearly toward renting. Either way, these once-private sites—which we clearly owe to our enterprising colleagues—were

too much for many to handle in the long run. It soon became necessary to have a club operate the site, or an existing group was considered as the sponsoring organization. Together, the “model airfield” project can be managed far more effectively.

The club system has been declared dead a thousand times. Clubs disappear; new ones emerge. In my view, they form the foundation of our direct democracy and prevent centralization. The legal framework is very broad and liberal. We are free to join or leave a club. As the example of the emergence of many airfields shows, lone wolves

—often called “mavericks”—and our clubs are ultimately subject to the same social and political currents. Not everyone wants to join a club—for whatever reason—and can still be a great model flying colleague. We model aviators are not a two-tier society; rather, we strive to overcome the growing challenges together. The view that everyone is needed to achieve this seems to be gaining ground. This is certainly encouraging for model aviation in Switzerland.

Best regards

Emil Ch. Giezendanner

The opinions expressed on this page by the editor—as well as by other authors of this issue—do not necessarily reflect the official position of the SMV. Readers can find official association announcements in the “SMV” section.