Terry Rounce, who died on October 2nd, was introduced to model flying at Fairlop in 1947 at the age of ten by his father. He worked as a pilot for 18 years and was a long term member of Bretons MFC, which he joined in 1982 and had been a past club chairman, as well as secretary for 29 years. He represented his club at London Area committee meetings from the 1980s and it was soon clear that he was a man who was prepared to buckle down and do the work that was needed, rather than just talking abou...

It is with great sadness that I have to inform BMFA members that Roy Bamford, a long term flyer and committee member of Park Hall Helicopter club has passed away in August.Roy was a generous and helpful person, putting lots back into the community. Following retirement from BT, he has supported children with their learning in after school classes and helped adults with numeracy and literacy skills, as well as undertaking other worthy volunteering activities. Roy was well known in the H...

As the National Governing Body for model flying in the UK the BMFA remains obliged under the Government’s guidance on COVID-19 measures for grassroots sport to provide advice and guidance to enable model flying to be conducted safely.  That guidance is provided in our 6 steps to COVID-Secure at  https://clubsupport.bmfa.uk/6-steps-to-covid-secure.  With the recent removal of some legally-mandated requirements it is now a matter for individual clubs to decide which of these m...

The replacement contests for a cut down substitute Free Flight Nationals will not be the same as the “real” Nationals. We will apply a “light touch” organisation. The contests will be flown for their respective Free Flight Nationals trophies. The contests will be run to the standard gala format. Free Flight Scale - Sculthorpe The STC will run a casual free flight scale session with no specific contests at the East Anglian Gala. Bowden Trophy – Sculthorpe S...

“Affordable Competition Flying”a look at what is available to the beginner to BMFA Competitions with the emphasis on Scale and Rudder, Elevator, Spoiler’ controlled RC Soarers.with Andy Sephton, 18th May 2021 @ 7.30pmClick here to register for this webinar.

Despite Covid and thanks to Zoom, the Free Flight Forum took place in November and the 2021 Free Flight Forum Report is now available. It covers a wide range of topics to inform, challenge and inspire you, whatever your free-flight interest and for the first time, it’s in full colour.Indoor Duration - A Challenge to Conventional Design - Tony Hebb; Coupe in a Box - Gavin Manion; Building Other People's Mistakes - Stuart Darmon; The Models of Ray Monks – Simon Dixon;  Si...

It is with great sadness that we report the death of our long-term Patron, HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh.Prince Philip became Patron of the Society of Model Aeronautical Engineers (now trading as BMFA) in 1957 and, despite relinquishing many of his patronages when he stepped back from public duties over recent years, he remained in place as our patron for a remarkable 64 years.  Prince Philip also served two terms as Chairman of the Royal Aero Club and had also served as its Preside...

Gordon Cornell, one of the great characters of UK aeromodelling, has died peacefully at the age of 88. Probably as famous for his eccentric personality as for his enormous talent as an engineer and craftsman, Gordon’s whole life was lived in model aviation, from his professional involvement with FROG and ED in the fifties, to his cottage industry supplying hand- built diesel engines, which occupied him until his brief final illness.         &nbs...

The BMFA Article 16 Authorisation includes a requirement for remote pilots to report certain accidents, serious incidents and other occurrences to the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).  This was an existing requirement, but has been emphasised in the terms of our Authorisation.To read the full guidance about mandatory occurrence reporting see https://rcc.bmfa.uk/art16-occurrence-reporting If you have been involved in an incident and are not sur...

EnglandThe regulations surrounding the easing of restrictions from Monday 29th March have been released.See https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/364/schedule/1/madeModel flying club sites can reopen from Monday 29th March. Where a club is operating in a COVID secure manner and has implemented the BMFA 6 Steps to Covid security guidance in full (see https://clubsupport.bmfa.uk/6-steps-to-covid-secure ) the gathering limits (Rule of 6) do NOT apply.It is important to note that after conducting...