Bend aero modelers

About Bend Aero Modelers

We are a charter club of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) #2311, dedicated to the sport of building and flying of Radio Controlled Model Aircraft. Located on the east side of the Cascade Mountains in Picturesque Bend Oregon, the Bend Aero Modelers membership has a wide variety of interests spanning from scale to pattern, combat, helicopters and Jets. Many of our members are sport flyers and fly just for the love of modeling. For more information, check our news page located on this site, or visit our membership page for information on joining our group. Come fly with us here in sunny Central Oregon.   

 Map To Horse Ridge

History

Bend Aero Modelers got their start flying from the land fill on South 27th in the late 1980's. Just a group of fun loving flyers at that time, it wasn't till 1990 that the group officially organized to form what is now known at the Bend Aero Modelers. Chartered in 1990 as Academy of Model Aeronautics Club #2311, the group made a brief move to Tillicum Park after the city asked us to move from the land fill. While not conducive to flying powered R/C aircraft due to noise restrictions, the Tillicum Park site is still used to this day by the Central Oregon Soaring Society.  In the mid 90's BAM looked to the Bureau of Land Management "BLM" for help, and acquired a suitable site 17miles east of Bend on Hwy 20. Building on this relationship over the years, BAM has entered an agreement with BLM to extend our land lease through the year 2012, thus protecting our interests for years to come. BAM took a bold new step by paving a portion of our runway with a generous donation from Deschutes Redimix in 1999. Then in November of 2007 we organized a runway committee to look at extending the runway even further. In April of 2008 the dream became reality when BAM contracted with Hooker Creek to extend the runway to 550', a daunting task for a small group to fund a $9000 improvement.  Originally some 600x60 feet with a compressed gravel base, our paved portion now stands at 550x30 with 150' in mat over-run for a total of 700'. This will enable Popp's field at Horse Ridge to accommodate big gas aircraft and high performance aircraft alike. We continue to look to the future by considering options to improve our relationship with the city of Bend, and Bend Park and Rec which helps our ability to contribute back to our community. It is the ultimate dream to see an R/C park created here in Central Oregon, for use by all R/C enthusiasts, a site to be proud of, bringing aero modeling events to Central Oregon, and where better than here in Bend.  Our small group remains focused, looking eagerly to 2010 and years that follow.