Rotor and Wing Association of America (RWAA)

SIU Aerobatic Team

Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame awards RWAA the "Spirit of Flight" award for 2006

The Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame www.illinoisaviation.org has selected The Rotor and Wing Association of America (RWAA) to receive its "Spirit of Flight" award for 2006. The award is presented to organizations that have continuously made a substantial contribution to aviation in Illinois over a long period of time.

Front row seated left to right: Michael Henry, Matt York, Bradley Painter, Pat Ryan, and Scott DePrenger. Second row: Melissa Hadley, Shane Sotiriu, Josh Smrt, Alex Knight, Leslie Bowen (Club Historian), Richard Droste, and Paul Trainor. Third row: Shaun Lakeberg, Greg Parrott (Secretary), Michael Ramsey, Lauren Roels (President), Todd Morgan, Michael Kotrba, Christian Gustafson, Miles Bardell (Vice-President), Tim Spencer, Jeremy Brown (Treasurer), Chris Maskell (Program Coordinator).

RWAA is a Registered Student Organization at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Founded by students in the Department of Aviation Technologies and Dr. Charley Rodriguez in 1982, it was initially called the Helicopter Club. A majority of the members of RWAA are students in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts' Department of Aviation Technologies.

Where the initial interest of the club was placed solely on rotorcraft, the focus of the club branched out to include promoting aviation. In 1984, RWAA hosted a fly-in with numerous planes and spectators in attendance. Building on the success of the 1984 fly-in, a similar event was held in 1985. The numbers of display aircraft and spectators continued to grow. Following the 1985 event, RWAA decided to produce an airshow. In 1986, RWAA became the only student organization in the world to organize, fund, host, produce and direct an airshow. These annual events continued at the Southern Illinois Airport through 1994. In 2000 RWAA managed the aeronautic elements of the airshow held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Southern Illinois Airport (KMDH) and SIU's College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CASA). As knowledge of the groups' capabilities spread RWAA was sought after to produce and direct airshows throughout the state. RWAA has helped the communities of Morris, Cairo, Mount Vernon, Harrisburg, and Marion, Illinois host airshows and fly-ins.

The International Aerobatic Club (IAC) initiated a contest for college students to encourage young people to learn and master aerobatic maneuvers. In 2001 RWAA members entered this collegiate aerobatic competition. Usually referred to as the SIU "Aerobatic Team" these RWAA members have won the IAC Collegiate Championship in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005, out scoring aerobatic teams from University of North Dakota, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, University of California and other major universities' students.

Besides airshows and aerobatic flying prowess, RWAA is well-known in the region for its Aviation Adventure Camps and other aviation education activities. Beginning in 1988, the club began manufacturing and delivering airplane-shaped school desks to grade schools throughout the state. RWAA has delivered over 40 desks that were patterned after the Boeing PT-17 Stearman. Teachers who received these desks were asked to use the desk to encourage better academic performance and classroom deportment. Recipients have found the airplane school desks to be significant in terms of motivating students.

RWAA hosted several Paper Airplane Contests over the years. Winners from different age groups and gender categories competed for various prizes, including free flight lessons, airplane rides, airplane school desks for their classrooms, model airplanes, gift certificates, and numerous other articles. Hundreds of students have competed in the Paper Airplane Contests.

Seeking to further enhance interest in aviation, RWAA has conducted numerous Aviation Adventure Camps for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Tiger Scouts, 4-H, and other groups. These camps expose the students to aviation for the day. Students do a variety of aviation tasks such as installing rivets, planning cross-country flights, going for airplane rides, touring aircraft, and examining piston and turbine power plants. These activities are coupled with lessons in science and math using wind tunnels and other equipment that reveal the properties of air and how lift and thrust are produced during flight. Students often build and fly pneumatically-powered rockets and compete for prizes during the camp.

Beginning with a Tsunami Relief fund-raiser in 2005, RWAA has teamed-up with the local Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter (EAA 277) to provide Young Eagle Rides. To date, the outcome of this effort has produced over 100 Young Eagles in the southern Illinois area.

Between the Paper Airplane Contests, Aviation Adventure Camps, and Young Eagle Rides, the RWAA has likely interacted with more than a 1,000 local students over the years. There is no way of estimating how many students have been touched by the airplane school desks through the years. The number of spectators who have attended RWAA airshows probably approaches 100,000. Needless to say, the RWAA is very proud of their many contributions to aviation and aviation education, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale is very proud of RWAA.