SMV Youth Development in Hausen am Albis

The Youth Development Department once again had a booth at the air show in Hausen am Albis on October 1–2, 2011, at the invitation of MG Affoltern, to offer advice and support to the young people in the audience

. As a special highlight—and thanks to the organizer’s great generosity—on Saturday and Sunday, very young aspiring pilots were able to demonstrate their skills to the

expert audience. And their skills were impressive. Alongside the large superscale models, established model builders, and the professional pilots in attendance, the

showed no signs of nervousness whatsoever and amazed the audience with their outstanding performances. Following a teacher-student demonstration featuring three young pilots from a youth development program

While the MG Affoltern club, in cooperation with Pro Juventute, showcased the skills they had acquired so far, three other young pilots demonstrated their abilities, including Robin, who, at 8½ years old, was the youngest of the model pilots. He has been flying for 3(!!) years already and, with

a homemade electric model, he performed a wide repertoire from the aerobatics program, which even included torque rolls. As a highlight, he concluded his flight demonstration with a perfect inverted landing on the upside-down-mounted landing gear.

The other very young up-and-coming pilots, some of whom had already showcased their talent at various championships and earned their first accolades, also thrilled the large crowd in attendance. We certainly don’t need to worry too much about the future when pilots like these are in the starting blocks.

The air show once again offered a special spectacle with several thousand spectators and served as the perfect platform for promoting youth development. Thomas Suter, the SMV’s head of youth development, was able to answer numerous questions on both days about getting started in model aircraft building, and the information was gratefully received by young and old alike. It was striking that many—

Adults interested in getting started in model aviation. The numerous vendors in attendance had apparently sparked an interest in model aviation in quite a few people.