News Flash: We Need to Update This Story!

It's obvious that quite a few folks who knew about this story, also read ANN... but we didn't hear from them until our first piece appeared. The information they imparted was invaluable to producing a complete and far more-interesting portrayal of the events involved. Thanks!

Folks... a PLEA from ANN.

While we think we do a great job, we can't write all the details about a subject until we get all the details. We consult hundreds of sources EVERY day... but if you have knowledge of a breaking or interesting story, and want to make sure we get it, please e-mail us right away and fill us in. Be complete, let us know what sources you're citing and how we may get back to them... and as a result, all of ANN will benefit... due to YOUR efforts.

A lot of people who came forward, after this story appeared, with more facts could REALLY have helped us if they did so BEFORE then. ANN News-Spies are one of our most coveted resources... so PLEASE let us know if you think we should be clued in on something... right away.

The home-made UAV did indeed cross the Atlantic. We got that part right. We even got a few details right, from various news stories we assimilated; but since we had to depend on conventional sources, we didn't get all the details we wanted.

We received an enlightening bit of mail on Friday, that updates the story a great deal, from a direct source, Dave Brown:

... Yes, we crossed the Atlantic, but it was Maynard Hill who engineered, and built, the model, and it is he who is 77, nearly blind, and nearly deaf.
 
My "contribution" to the effort was, simply, as the pilot who turned off the autopilot, in Ireland, shut off the engine, and landed the model.   I also have spent the better part of the last week, talking to the press, both in Ireland, and in the USA.........and they don't seem to be able to get the story straight.......I told my employees in Ohio, that if they are going to make me 77, I'm going to RETIRE!!!!
 
As to the distance, it appears that it was, actually, 1912.4 miles, and the time was 38hrs 53minutes.
 
A great accomplishment, which I am proud to have been a part of, but for which I SURELY, couldn't take significant credit......That belongs to Maynard Hill, and the whole TAM team. (watch how you pronounce that!)
 
Best Regards --Dave Brown

A LOT of modelers read ANN.

Here's another couple of truly informed sources:

You did a real nice story on the model that crossed the Atlantic ocean, just one small problem! The credit should go to the 77 year old Maynard Hill, not the much younger Dave Brown. Dave Brown did land the plane in Ireland, but Maynard Hill the builder launched the plane from New Foundland. All of the records that you discuss also belong to Maynard Hill. Keep up the good work! -- Regards,
Steve Carruthers

Even more input:

"TAM 5" is the name of the radio controlled model aircraft which by all indications set a new world straight-line distance record last Sunday.

The flight involved a conventional (pilot on the transmitter sticks) take off, climb to cruise, switch over to GPS/microprocessor control, and return to manual control for landing.

The only thing odd about the TAM units, other than having the GPS and microprocessor control for the mid-portion of the flight, is that they lack landing gear; they are hand launched and 'belly in'; the engine/prop is set up so that the prop stops in a horizontal position to avoid breakage.

Dave Brown, the only person mentioned in your article, is indeed the President of the Academy Of Model Aeronautics (AMA), and Mr. Brown assisted in the record-setting flight by serving as the landing pilot, taking control of the model as it neared the designated landing site in Ireland.  Mr. Brown successfully landed the model within 35 feet of the proverbial "X", a reasonable task for any of the 180-odd thousand AMA members involved in radio controlled aircraft modeling. As in your world, landing is the only required maneuver.

Mr. Maynard Hill and a dedicated team of assistants are responsible for the record-setting flight of TAM 5, not Mr. Brown.

Were it not for Maynard Hill, himself a past AMA President, and his team of assistants on both sides of the ocean, there would have been no TAM flights at all. Neither Dave Brown nor AMA had any involvement in the project except in their normal duties as they relate to the organization (AMA)
itself. Indeed, there was no mention of the TAM effort until after the successful flight.

While Mr. Brown deserves credit for completing a routine model aircraft landing, Maynard Hill deserves the credit for the entire program, along with his other assistants.

Maynard Hill is almost totally deaf and legally; it is he who puts red dye in the adhesives so he can see it, not Dave Brown.

None of the web sites listed in your article are responsible for or are associated with any part of Project TAM, they are merely associated with aeromodeling itself.  --Fred McClellan, Life Member, AMA

[With one exception to Mr. McClellan's note --  we did cite the correct TAM site -- ed.]

FMI: http://tam.plannet21.com, www.fai.org; www.modelaircraft.org; www.maci.ie