Soaring the Superfund Skies

Dave said, "For the past several years, AMA's East Coast Flying Site Assistance Coordinator, Joe Beshar, has been working to develop a partnership with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). His intent is to use reclaimed Superfund landfills as model aircraft flying fields. Joe's efforts resulted in a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the EPA and AMA. Essentially this indicates that the EPA endorses the use of these closed Superfund landfills as model flying fields.

Today, because of Joe's work and that of many AMA members, a number of chartered clubs across the country are flying from reclaimed sites. The EPA has been so pleased with the results of this effort that last fall they began work on a short film highlighting the positive results of our MOU.

Reclaiming closed Superfund landfills is directed by the EPA, but control of the individual facilities rests with the local stakeholder, frequently the municipality in which the landfill resides. The film, Soaring the Superfund Skies, is directed toward the leadership of these municipalities and attempts to show the value of using these sites in their communities for modeling activities.

The primary advantage for us is that these sites are open, flat, and usually away from populated areas. Allowing a model club to use a site means that it is well maintained and becomes an asset to the community as opposed to an eyesore, which benefits the community.

The film focuses on Superfund sites, but it will also be of value to our members and clubs when they approach owners and managers of other sites appropriate for model aviation flying fields. The film should be released by the time this issue of Model Aviation reaches you."