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This holiday season, the number one gift under the tree is going to be a multirotor: large and small, for children young and old. This is a sure sign that our passion for this technology is going mainstream. In the long term, this is great news: the more people who have first-hand experience with these systems, the easier it becomes for us to argue for their safe, beneficial and non-intrusive use in society.

However, in the short term, it means that a quarter of a million novice pilots are about to take to the skies. Here at the Roswell Flight Test Crew, as enthusiasts and proponents for this technology, we feel that we owe it to them — and to ourselves, and to the future of this industry — to do everything we can to help them get started on the right foot.

Therefore, today we are launching “Drone for the Holidays” (www.dronefortheholidays.org), and we're hoping that you will join us to offer these new multirotor pilots in your own community a few hours of orientation and basic training.

If you'd like to sign up to hold an event in your community, follow this link: http://bit.ly/1CziKvV

The goal is a nationwide effort, set to occur on Saturday, January 3, 2015. Whether you're a local Academy of Model Aeronautics flying club, a Drone User Group Network chapter, or just a group of friends who enjoy this fast-growing segment of the RC community, we hope that you'll join us to make this project a success.

This will not only help these new pilots learn to fly in a safe and responsible manner, but the scope and scale of this undertaking will prove to the Federal Aviation Administration and other critics of this new technology that we, as a community, can come together and regulate ourselves without heavy-handed rules and restrictions imposed from the outside.

Here is what you need to do to participate:

• Find a location to host the event, such as a local museum of science and industry, or even a gymnasium at a school in your community. During the holidays, there are going to be plenty of spaces like that available.
• Use this form (http://bit.ly/1CziKvV) to tell us a little bit about yourself and your event. We promise to keep all of your information confidential.
• The Academy of Model Aeronautics will send you a packet of membership brochures for you to hand out at your event. By getting these new pilots to join the AMA, we'll ensure that they continue to have access to good training and safety information, and build up our political clout in Washington, D.C.
• We'll make up customized flyers and handouts to help you get the word out, and send them back to you in .PDF format. Follow the links above to see samples of what they'll look like.
• Take the flyers and handouts around to local hobby shops and toy stores in your area, and asked the proprietors to steer new multirotor owners to your event, so that they can learn to fly safely.
• We'll also send you a media kit to help promote your event, including a draft press release and letter to the editor in .DOC format. Customize them with the information about your group and send it out to the local media in your community: television, newspapers and radio stations. Not only will they help you get the word out about your event — they may even want to interview you about the hottest gift of the holiday season!
• Use the hashtag #holidaydrones on Twitter to share information about how your event is coming together and to build awareness about the project.
• Along with the media kit and flyers announcing your event, we'll provide you with handouts for the day of the event itself, so people have something to take home and refer back to when they are flying.
• On the big day, get together as many skilled RC and multirotor pilots as you can. Bring along as many docile, palm-sized aircraft and simulators as you can get your hands on and have fun. You're sure to meet new friends and most likely find new members for your club or group. Tweet early! Tweet often!
• Make a record of how many people turn up for the event: experienced RC pilots serving as instructors, as well as how many people show up to participate. Tally adults and children separately, so that we can show we're bringing the next generation up right.
• Shoot some video of your event. Most likely, your cell phone is capable to capturing HD video and that will be just fine. Go on camera and tell us who you are, where you are, what you're doing and how many people showed up. Make it fun! We'll collect video from everybody and put together a wrap-up piece on the Roswell Flight Test Crew YouTube channel.

These are exciting times for the hobby drone community and RC flying community as a whole – become part of it by signing up to host a Drone for the Holiday's event today!

Follow this link: http://bit.ly/1CziKvV to register to host an event in your community. Questions? Send us an e-mail at:

holidaydrones@roswellflighttestcrew.com