March 2006 147
Announcements, news, and information from the
Academy of Model Aeronautics and the elected district representatives.
AMA News
NOMINATIONS for the office of Vice President in Districts II,
IV, VI, VIII, and X are due at the Headquarters of the Academy of
Model Aeronautics June 15, 2006. Any AMA Open member may
submit a nomination.
To be eligible to discharge the duties of AMA Vice President, a
nominee must be a Leader Member of the Academy and must
reside in the District.
(Nominees and nominators will be notified by HQ confirming
receipt of nomination.)
(If confirmation is not received within two weeks after you
have mailed your document, contact Mary Lou at (765) 287-1256,
ext. 201.)
A letter of acceptance and a résumé of professional
qualifications and model aviation experience from the nominee
must be on file at AMA Headquarters by June 30, 2006, 15 days
prior to the published meeting date.
Nominating Procedure Document
Relating to Article IX
Approved November 1, 2003
Candidate Guidelines
(a) No person may nominate him/herself for office.
(b) No person shall simultaneously hold two positions on the
Executive Council. In the event a person holding an office is
elected or selected to a second position on the Executive Council,
that person must choose which of the two positions he/she will
continue, such decision to be made within 48 hours of the
announcement of the selection, or else the person so affected will
be deemed to have selected to remain in the first office held.
(c) Incumbent is automatically placed on the ballot, provided
that he/she has been properly nominated and accepted, except that
a 3/4 vote against may withhold the incumbent’s name from the
ballot (see Bylaws, Article IX, Section 2).
(d) All nomination letters must be received at AMA
Headquarters thirty (30) days prior to the convening of the
Nominating Committee Annual Meeting. If received by electronic
mail or fax, it must be received by close of that business day at
AMA Headquarters, Muncie IN.
(e) Candidate must be a legal resident of the district in which
the election is being held; this does not apply to the office of
President or Executive Vice President.
(f) Candidate must be a current AMA member with Leader
Member status (other qualifications apply to the office of President
and Executive Vice President, Article IX, section 2).
(g) No person elected to and serving as an active member of the
Executive Council shall be paid for any regular column or article
in MA magazine. Exception may be made for such articles as the
coverage of special events provided prior arrangement was made
for said article. Articles and columns printed in the “AMA News”
section are not paid contributions. No paid columns may be
submitted after the individual has been placed on the ballot.
Candidate Acceptance:
(a) A letter of acceptance by the candidate must be on file at
AMA Headquarters fifteen (15) days prior to the meeting; if by
electronic mail or fax it must be received by close of that business
day at AMA Headquarters, Muncie IN.
(b) Along with a résumé of professional qualifications and
model aviation experience, your résumé should include, but not be
limited to, the following areas of consideration. (Note: all
candidates must have their campaign statement ready to be
delivered to AMA Headquarters no later than August 1.)
1. Management experience.
2. Financial background.
3. Insurance employment and/or expertise.
4. Legal background.
5. Technical background, including areas of aeronautics,
electronics (especially in radio frequency propagation and
usage), acoustics (as related to noise studies and analysis),
and other areas of engineering.
6. Aeromodeling background must be noted. The individual
will be required, if elected to national office, to deal with
questions related to all areas of aeromodeling and should
have a broad-based background.
(c) It is strongly recommended that these documents be mailed
certified, receipt requested.
District Vice President Nominations Due
SINCE 1970, the Academy of Model
Aeronautics has provided scholarships to
young men and women seeking to continue
their education in colleges and universities.
The primary awards are presented through
the Charles Hampson Grant scholarships.
In 2005, seven individuals received a
portion of the $41,500 Charles Hampson
Grant awards. These monies came from a
variety of sources including gifts,
memorials, and the AMA general fund.
The top winner of the Grant award also
receives an award provided by the Toledo
Weak Signals from monies generated from
the club’s annual trade show and
exposition. This year the Weak Signals
contributed $3,500.
An additional scholarship program
awarded funds this year. The Sig award, a
memorial in honor of the late Glenn
Sigafoose, is presented by Hazel Sig-
Hester and Sig Manufacturing Company.
Presented to one or more individuals, the
award is based upon financial need and
aeromodeling activity. In 2005, three
individuals were awarded scholarships
totaling $2,000.
This year, 27 applicants met the
established criteria and were considered by
the committee. Evaluated by a fourmember
committee, the applicants are
rated in several major areas including
grade average, test results, school and
community activities, and modeling
activities. High achievement in all of the
categories is important for the maximum
amount of scholarship awarded to an
individual.
Again this year, the committee members
were extremely close to one another in their
evaluations of the applications. Seven
awards were granted from Grant funds
2005 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship Recipients148 MODEL AVIATION
rather than the customary four or five
because of increased funding and two sets of
ties in the scores.
The students’ planned majors include
electrical engineering, aerospace
engineering, mechanical engineering,
biomedical science, aviation, and
entrepreneurship/small business.
Information regarding applications may
be obtained from Jack Frost at AMA
Headquarters or visit the AMA Education
Web site at www.buildandfly.com.
Ross Howard
Ross Howard from Georgetown,
Indiana, is the recipient of a $9,000 Grant
scholarship and received $3,500 from the
Weak Signals scholarship fund. A 2005
graduate of Floyd Central High School,
Ross, a straight-A student in all four years
of high school, tied for top ranking in his
class of nearly 350.
The son of Beverly and Dennis Parr and
Ron and Joanne Howard, Ross is attending
Purdue
University in
Lafayette,
Indiana, and
plans to
study
electrical
engineering.
He was a
member of
the wrestling
team in high
school, a
member of
the student
council, and
a member of the school’s chapter of the
National Honor Society. Ross participated
in Student Renaissance, marching band,
and the French, Chess, and Web Page
Clubs.
A member of St. Marks United Church
of Christ, Ross is a Boy Scout and attained
the rank of Eagle Scout during his junior
year in high school. His Eagle Scout
project was to clear a large plot of land
near the Providence House for Children
which provides group homes and services
for children in foster care. On the cleared
land, benches which Ross built himself
were installed, providing a peaceful setting
for parents visiting their children at the
facility.
Ross spent a number of hours working
with veterans’ programs, other community
projects, and many school-service
activities. He has tutored students in math
and has mowed and maintained several
neighborhood lawns since 2000.
Encouraged by his father, he began
modeling when he was 8, starting with
plastic models then a CL Cox PT-19
trainer. With his father, Ross went to a
local field and flew a solid balsa CL model
with a .35 Testors engine. “Later I learned
that it was the same model that dad taught
his high school model airplane club to fly
with back in the ’70s,” Ross wrote.
A Dave Brown simulator helped Ross
learn to fly RC and he has also learned to
build and fly FF models.
Ross has been an AMA member for
eight years. He and his father worked as a
judge and a runner/scribe at the Mint Julep
Scale Contest in Kentucky, and the pair
worked three summers at the AMA Grand
Event when it was held at AMA
Headquarters in Muncie, Indiana. “While
dad worked as a buddy-box instructor,”
Ross explained, “I flight-prepped the
students by telling them what the controls
did and what to expect as they flew.”
“Dad has instilled in me a love of
aviation and modeling, and I look forward
to doing the same for my children.”
Congratulations, Ross! AMA wishes
you the best in your chosen career.
Matthew Liechty
Matthew Liechty, from Edgewood,
Kentucky, plans to major in aerospace
engineering at the University of Arizona.
The son of Eric and Debbie Liechty,
Matthew is the recipient of an $8,000
Grant scholarship.
Matthew joined AMA in 2001. “My
brother Eli got me started in the hobby,”
he wrote. “My brother began flying
remote-controlled airplanes when I was
still in elementary school.” A member of
the Flying Cardinals of Northern
Kentucky, Matthew explained that “I
myself was more interested in helicopters.
They were a very rare sight at our club, but
when I saw one fly inverted the first time, I
knew I had to get one.”
Forced to fly on his own because no
other
helicopter
pilots were
in the club,
Matt learned
quickly and
without
much
damage to
his first
aircraft, a
Raptor 30 he
received on
his 14th
birthday. He
has since
become a
proficient flier and is generally considered
the best helicopter pilot in his club. He is
often asked to help teach aspiring pilots
get started in helicopters.
Not solely interested in helicopters,
Matthew has helped Eli build several
airplanes, including a scratch-built flying
carpet which he helped design. “Last year I
designed and built a small RC hovercraft
from spare parts,” Matthew wrote.
Matthew regularly attends events such
as the International Radio Controlled
Helicopter Association (IRCHA)
Jamboree, the Nats in Muncie, Indiana,
and even attended the Tournament of
Champions in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his
brother. “I aspire to eventually be able to
compete in these types of prestigious
events myself,” he wrote.
Matthew attended Dixie Heights High
School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and was
ranked third in his class of 274. A member
of the National Honor Society, he was
elected to represent his school in the state
Honor Society convention and served as the
convention’s emcee. Matthew was a fouryear
member of the student council and
senior class vice president. He was chosen
for the Governor’s Scholars Program, a
prestigious course that allows select highschool
students to attend a five-week session
at a Kentucky college campus to encourage
academic growth and leadership.
Active in sports, he was team captain of
the cross country team and qualified for
the state meet. In track and field, Matthew
was a conference champion, placed third in
the regional meet, seventh in state
competition, and was named the team’s
most valuable player.
Matthew was active in his church youth
group and served as a mentor to
elementary students. He was a volunteer at
Saint Rita’s School for the Deaf his junior
and senior years in high school, initiating
and leading the volunteer effort his senior
year. He has been a volunteer at Christ
Hospital and served as a judge in the
elementary science fair.
Congratulations and good luck at the
University of Arizona, Matthew!
Steven Vande Lune
Steven Vande Lune was the 2005 class
valedictorian at Kokomo High School in
Kokomo, Indiana, and received a $7,250
Grant award. The son of Douglas and
Mary Vande Lune, Steven’s plans are to
attend Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, and
major in mechanical engineering with an
emphasis in aeronautics.
Steven has been interested in
aeromodeling since he was a young boy.
Beginning with simple stick-and-tissue
models, his
interest
intensified
when he
became
involved in
the Science
Olympiad’s
Wright Stuff
competition
in seventh
and eighth
grade. He
experimented with several modifications
of Midwest’s Right Flyer and in his
freshman year of high school built a wind
tunnel to test various airfoil shapes for his
science fair project.March 2006 149
With a used Hobby Lobby Telemaster as
a trainer, Steven became involved in RC,
joined the Kokomo Blue Angels, and
became a member of AMA. In the five years
since, Steven’s hangar has grown to include
a GWS Pico Cub and Mustang, and a Sig
Four Star 40 and Fazer, all of which are kit
built. A newer purchase has been the indoor
electric micro helicopter.
As an active member of the Kokomo
Blue Angels, Steven participates in the
club’s annual mall show and fly-in, helping
to set up and tear down the equipment and
gear. He also assisted his former science
teacher with an after-school flight program
called the Middle School Flight Lab where
he set up several RC aircraft and aided with
instruction.
Steven is a member of the National
Honor Society, a K-Club Varsity letterman,
and a member of the Spanish club. He was
on the varsity swim team throughout high
school and was the National Interscholastic
Swimming Coaches Association’s state top
16 and an Indiana High School Athletic
Association state finalist.
He was a member of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes, the Grace United
Methodist Youth Group, the Oakbrook
Student Ministries, and the Children of the
American Revolution. Some of his other
activities have included planting trees and
other community beautification projects.
He has worked as a lifeguard summers
for the Kokomo Parks and Recreation
Department and is a United States Soccer
Federation-certified referee. Steven has
worked in that capacity in various
community programs since he was 12 years
old.
“While in college, I plan to stay active in
modeling,” Steven wrote. “I have already
found that there are two RC clubs nearby.”
AMA wishes you well, Steven, and
congratulations!
Zechariah Spychalla
Zechariah “Zach” Spychalla, son of Leo
and Beth Spychalla, is the recipient of a
$6,250 Grant scholarship and a $1,000 Sig
award. Zach plans to attend Marquette
University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and
major in biomedical science. He hopes to
attend medical school.
Zach graduated from Watertown High
School in
Watertown,
Wisconsin,
with a 3.986
grade-point
average. In
school he
was an
active band
member,
playing
soprano,
alto, and
tenor
saxophone in
several
school and church bands and ensembles.
He qualified for state competition in the
District Solo and Ensemble Festival in
2004.
Zach is held in high regard by his
fellow students, teachers, and school
administrators. His guidance counselor,
Jon Sterling, wrote, “While his grades
have always been exemplary, Zach strives
more to learn what’s happening in class as
opposed to worrying about the As.”
A member of the National Honor
Society, Zach served as the group’s
treasurer his senior year. He was a member
of the school’s math team and was the
team captain his senior year.
Zach’s work experience includes
employment as a subcontractor for
Spychalla Aircraft LLC building plugs and
molds from which parts are made and sold
to the modeling community.
An avid modeler, Zach has been
involved in the hobby since he was 6 years
old. He has been an AMA member since
1994. A former member of the Lakeland
RC Club, Zach is a current member of the
Beaver Area Radio Flyers in Beaver Dam,
Wisconsin. He learned to fly on a Kadet
trainer with his father when he was 6. The
first airplane he built was a Big Stik.
“With some glue and three engines later,
this Big Stik is still flying,” wrote Zach.
When Zach was 10, he acquired a 1/6-
scale Pica T-28 and shortly after he began
construction on his 1/5-scale Stuka. Being
an inexperienced scale builder,
construction went slowly but with help
from his father in the wing design, he
completed it in 2001. Zach has since built
many Combat, aerobatic, and glow aircraft,
and has completed a Balsa USA Fokker
D.VII and a Yellow Aircraft Mk XIV
Spitfire.
Zach’s competition experience is
notable. He has competed in the Mint
Julep Scale Meet, the AMA Nats, and the
U.S. Scalemasters, placing well in the
competitions and receiving “Best of”
awards for various accomplishments.
Zach enjoys nearly every aspect of RC
including Giant Scale, aerobatics, and
Combat aircraft. “Recently, I have also
greatly enjoyed electrics. I have had
electric jets, warbirds, and 3-D airplanes.
To sum it up, I do just about anything in
radio control airplanes and enjoy every
minute of it,” he wrote.
Zach, AMA wishes you good luck and
hopes you enjoy every minute of school as
well!
Dallas Parker
Dallas Parker, from Northridge,
California, is the recipient of a $4,000
Grant scholarship and the beneficiary of
the $2,230 proceeds of a raffle held at the
2005 AMA Convention. The son of Jim
and Cathy Parker, Dallas had a 4.15 gradepoint
average at Advantage Preparatory
Schools in Santa Clarita, California.
He attended honors classes at College
of the Canyons his junior and senior years
of high school and earned transferable
college credits in engineering math and
chemistry. Dallas volunteered for informal
tutoring, helping fellow students with
chemistry and calculus.
Dallas played soccer and volleyball in
high school and received the
Sportsmanship award and was team
captain one
year in
volleyball.
He played
baseball for
11 years in
Little
League and
was chosen
for the All
Star team
eight of
those years
and made
two
tournament
teams. He was recognized as a member of
the Home Run Club in his league.
In 2004, Dallas went on a mission trip
to East Berlin, Germany, with his high
school church youth group. The group
assisted in relocating a church, painting the
home of someone in need, and helping
with local sports camps.
Dallas built his first model, a P-30, at
age 7. He progressed to hand-launched
gliders and was flying his father’s Towline
Gliders, bunting gliders, and then highperformance
F1A models by the time he
was 11 years old.
Selected as the Junior Assistant Team
Manager for the 1999 Junior FF World
Championships in Israel, Dallas had the
opportunity to fly as a guest at the
competition. Subsequently he represented
the United States on the Junior FF teams in
2000 and 2002. He placed the highest of
the U.S. Nordic team at the 2000
competition in the Czech Republic and in
2002 he was part of the Nordic team
receiving the Silver Medal in Slovakia.
Dallas holds the Senior F1A record.
Since he was 11 years old, Dallas has
competed in several contests per year. “I
especially remember the 2002 Southwest
Regionals contest,” he wrote, “where I
maxed out in F1A, F1H, and Outdoor
Hand-Launched Glider.” In another
accomplishment, Dallas was appointed the
second alternate for the 2006 Open FF
Team.
Other contests Dallas has regularly
competed in include Max Men, SCAT
Annual, Big Al’s, the FF Champs,
Livotto’s, the Southwest FAI Challenge,
the Sierra Cup, and the Patterson contest.
His participation in international
competition includes one contest in Poitou,
France, and two World Cup
Championships in the Czech Republic and
Hungary.
Dallas is a member of the National Free
Flight Society and the Southern California150 MODEL AVIATION
Aeronautics Team. He plans to attend
California State University Northridge, and
eventually hopes to transfer to Cal Poly
Tech and major in mechanical or electrical
engineering. Good luck in your chosen
field, Dallas!
Sarah Radziunas
Sarah Radziunas from Northford,
Connecticut, is the recipient of a $3,500
Grant scholarship and an additional $250
Sig award. A graduate of North Branford
High School, Sarah was in the National
Honor Society, a member of the lacrosse
team, and a four-year member of the
school’s fencing team. She was selected to
represent her school in the Connecticut State
Fencing Tournament.
Sarah was an active member in several
clubs including Pangea, a humanitarian
organization,
and Priority
One, a
community
service
organization.
She has cocoached
a
middleschool
girls’
basketball
team for a
number of
years in
summer and
winter
leagues.
Since age 11, Sarah has worked as an
apprentice at the Eli Whitney Museum in
Hamden, Connecticut. The museum
produces hands-on learning projects for area
school children and Sarah has designed or
redesigned a number of the projects in the
museum’s catalog.
Now, as a chief designer at the museum,
Sarah is responsible for teaching the area
youth and supervising apprentices. “My
work varies from coordinating a birthday
party for 20 elementary school kids to
designing a project for the summer program
or local school program” she wrote.
In the museum’s summer program, Sarah
is the resident airplane instructor. “Whether
it be an AMA Cub, an Airhare, a catapult
glider, a P-30, or an A1,” she wrote, “if a
camper wants to build it and fly it, I am
there teaching.”
Sarah is an active member of the Wilbur
and Orville Wright Society where she first
began building and flying model airplanes.
Introduced to the hobby by her mentor Art
Ellis, Sarah became a Wakefield flier. “I am
a passionate builder and an equally
passionate competitor,” she wrote. “I enjoy
the challenge of competition, my options,
my rival’s choices, protecting my planes,
and risking my planes.”
A member of the Brooklyn Skyscrapers,
Sarah has competed in a number of contests
from club-sponsored meets to international
FAI contests and the Nats. She earned a spot
on the United States Junior World FF
Championships Team that competed in
France in 2004.
Sarah plans to attend Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York,
and study mechanical engineering.
Congratulations and good luck, Sarah!
Tim Smith
Tim Smith is a graduate of Shelby
County High School in Shelbyville,
Kentucky.
The son of
Greg and
Mary Ann
Smith, Tim
graduated
with a 3.97
grade point
average. He
is the
recipient of a
$3,500 Grant
award and
plans to
attend
Eastern
Kentucky
University in Richmond, Kentucky, and
major in aviation.
Tim received his full-scale pilot’s
license and flies a Cessna 172 out of
Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky. In
addition to AMA membership, he is a
member the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association. He has been involved in
model aviation for eight years and with
model rocketry for more than 12 years.
“My father helped me become
interested in rocketry because he is a
science teacher and always shot model
rockets off for his classes,” Tim wrote.
“This sparked my interest. Ever since then,
I began to learn as much as I could about
this hobby and ended up giving the lecture
to his high school classes on rocketry and
Newton’s Law.”
Although he primarily flies RC sport
and aerobatic aircraft, Tim and his father
have built and flown two CL airplanes. The
airplane with which he made his first solo
flight was a Dynaflite Butterfly .20. His
second airplane was an ARF Tower Trainer
which helped increase his skills before
advancing to more aerobatic aircraft.
A Carl Goldberg Tiger 2 .40 was the
first kit he built by himself. He gave his
father a Tower Hobbies Voyager as a
birthday gift. “I aided and supervised his
construction since he is new to RC
aircraft,” he wrote. “I also made the
Voyager’s maiden flight and helped teach
my father how to fly this aircraft.”
Tim has held a variety of jobs including
that of house sitter, farm sitter, landscaper,
and farm hand, working on a number of
small and large farms in his rural
community, assisting with livestock and
agricultural duties as needed. He worked full
time as a lifeguard at a Baptist summer
camp.
A three-year member of the Marine
Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps (JROTC), Tim was a member of the
Honor Guard and was the platoon sergeant
and squad leader. He was the Cadet
Commanding Officer of Shelby County
High School’s JROTC for the 2004-2005
school year. Tim was a member of the
National Beta Club, an organization that
encourages involvement and community
service, and a member of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes.
Tim sings and plays bass guitar in a
family band named Legacy that has
recorded and marketed three CDs. He was
a member of the soccer team and attends a
martial arts school where he is studying tae
kwon do.
He is active in his church as a choir
musician, altar server, and Eucharistic and
Hospitality Minister. He has been involved
in Operation Christmas Child, collecting
and packing gifts to send to children in
third-world countries. Tim coordinated an
Adopt-a-Child project, purchasing and
giving Christmas gifts to underprivileged
children, and was a participant in the
Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program.
Tim wrote about how excited he was to
receive the Grant Scholarship. “… it is
associated with something I truly love and
enjoy. It is from an organization that has
for many years helped the modelers like me
who still get goose bumps when they see a
model rocket blast off or a radio-controlled
aircraft fly overhead.”
Congratulations, Tim, and we wish you
the best in your endeavors.
David Rigotti
David Rigotti, from Chesterland, Ohio,
is the recipient of a $750 Sig award. A
graduate of West Geauga High School in
Chesterland, David plans to study
entrepreneurship/business at the University
of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.
David’s interest in aeromodeling began
with the Science Olympiad. He became
interested in Indoor FF and that lead to his
building
F1Ds,
Limited
Pennyplanes,
Pennyplanes,
MiniSticks,
F1Ls, and
F1M
airplanes.
He has
attended
local
contests held
at the
Andrews
School for
Girls in Kirtland, Ohio, the Nats in
Johnson City, Tennessee, and the Spring
Fling held in Flint, Michigan. His success
in competition took him to the World
Team Trials at the Akron Air Dock in
Scholarships continued on page 151
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 147,148,149,150
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 147,148,149,150
March 2006 147
Announcements, news, and information from the
Academy of Model Aeronautics and the elected district representatives.
AMA News
NOMINATIONS for the office of Vice President in Districts II,
IV, VI, VIII, and X are due at the Headquarters of the Academy of
Model Aeronautics June 15, 2006. Any AMA Open member may
submit a nomination.
To be eligible to discharge the duties of AMA Vice President, a
nominee must be a Leader Member of the Academy and must
reside in the District.
(Nominees and nominators will be notified by HQ confirming
receipt of nomination.)
(If confirmation is not received within two weeks after you
have mailed your document, contact Mary Lou at (765) 287-1256,
ext. 201.)
A letter of acceptance and a résumé of professional
qualifications and model aviation experience from the nominee
must be on file at AMA Headquarters by June 30, 2006, 15 days
prior to the published meeting date.
Nominating Procedure Document
Relating to Article IX
Approved November 1, 2003
Candidate Guidelines
(a) No person may nominate him/herself for office.
(b) No person shall simultaneously hold two positions on the
Executive Council. In the event a person holding an office is
elected or selected to a second position on the Executive Council,
that person must choose which of the two positions he/she will
continue, such decision to be made within 48 hours of the
announcement of the selection, or else the person so affected will
be deemed to have selected to remain in the first office held.
(c) Incumbent is automatically placed on the ballot, provided
that he/she has been properly nominated and accepted, except that
a 3/4 vote against may withhold the incumbent’s name from the
ballot (see Bylaws, Article IX, Section 2).
(d) All nomination letters must be received at AMA
Headquarters thirty (30) days prior to the convening of the
Nominating Committee Annual Meeting. If received by electronic
mail or fax, it must be received by close of that business day at
AMA Headquarters, Muncie IN.
(e) Candidate must be a legal resident of the district in which
the election is being held; this does not apply to the office of
President or Executive Vice President.
(f) Candidate must be a current AMA member with Leader
Member status (other qualifications apply to the office of President
and Executive Vice President, Article IX, section 2).
(g) No person elected to and serving as an active member of the
Executive Council shall be paid for any regular column or article
in MA magazine. Exception may be made for such articles as the
coverage of special events provided prior arrangement was made
for said article. Articles and columns printed in the “AMA News”
section are not paid contributions. No paid columns may be
submitted after the individual has been placed on the ballot.
Candidate Acceptance:
(a) A letter of acceptance by the candidate must be on file at
AMA Headquarters fifteen (15) days prior to the meeting; if by
electronic mail or fax it must be received by close of that business
day at AMA Headquarters, Muncie IN.
(b) Along with a résumé of professional qualifications and
model aviation experience, your résumé should include, but not be
limited to, the following areas of consideration. (Note: all
candidates must have their campaign statement ready to be
delivered to AMA Headquarters no later than August 1.)
1. Management experience.
2. Financial background.
3. Insurance employment and/or expertise.
4. Legal background.
5. Technical background, including areas of aeronautics,
electronics (especially in radio frequency propagation and
usage), acoustics (as related to noise studies and analysis),
and other areas of engineering.
6. Aeromodeling background must be noted. The individual
will be required, if elected to national office, to deal with
questions related to all areas of aeromodeling and should
have a broad-based background.
(c) It is strongly recommended that these documents be mailed
certified, receipt requested.
District Vice President Nominations Due
SINCE 1970, the Academy of Model
Aeronautics has provided scholarships to
young men and women seeking to continue
their education in colleges and universities.
The primary awards are presented through
the Charles Hampson Grant scholarships.
In 2005, seven individuals received a
portion of the $41,500 Charles Hampson
Grant awards. These monies came from a
variety of sources including gifts,
memorials, and the AMA general fund.
The top winner of the Grant award also
receives an award provided by the Toledo
Weak Signals from monies generated from
the club’s annual trade show and
exposition. This year the Weak Signals
contributed $3,500.
An additional scholarship program
awarded funds this year. The Sig award, a
memorial in honor of the late Glenn
Sigafoose, is presented by Hazel Sig-
Hester and Sig Manufacturing Company.
Presented to one or more individuals, the
award is based upon financial need and
aeromodeling activity. In 2005, three
individuals were awarded scholarships
totaling $2,000.
This year, 27 applicants met the
established criteria and were considered by
the committee. Evaluated by a fourmember
committee, the applicants are
rated in several major areas including
grade average, test results, school and
community activities, and modeling
activities. High achievement in all of the
categories is important for the maximum
amount of scholarship awarded to an
individual.
Again this year, the committee members
were extremely close to one another in their
evaluations of the applications. Seven
awards were granted from Grant funds
2005 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship Recipients148 MODEL AVIATION
rather than the customary four or five
because of increased funding and two sets of
ties in the scores.
The students’ planned majors include
electrical engineering, aerospace
engineering, mechanical engineering,
biomedical science, aviation, and
entrepreneurship/small business.
Information regarding applications may
be obtained from Jack Frost at AMA
Headquarters or visit the AMA Education
Web site at www.buildandfly.com.
Ross Howard
Ross Howard from Georgetown,
Indiana, is the recipient of a $9,000 Grant
scholarship and received $3,500 from the
Weak Signals scholarship fund. A 2005
graduate of Floyd Central High School,
Ross, a straight-A student in all four years
of high school, tied for top ranking in his
class of nearly 350.
The son of Beverly and Dennis Parr and
Ron and Joanne Howard, Ross is attending
Purdue
University in
Lafayette,
Indiana, and
plans to
study
electrical
engineering.
He was a
member of
the wrestling
team in high
school, a
member of
the student
council, and
a member of the school’s chapter of the
National Honor Society. Ross participated
in Student Renaissance, marching band,
and the French, Chess, and Web Page
Clubs.
A member of St. Marks United Church
of Christ, Ross is a Boy Scout and attained
the rank of Eagle Scout during his junior
year in high school. His Eagle Scout
project was to clear a large plot of land
near the Providence House for Children
which provides group homes and services
for children in foster care. On the cleared
land, benches which Ross built himself
were installed, providing a peaceful setting
for parents visiting their children at the
facility.
Ross spent a number of hours working
with veterans’ programs, other community
projects, and many school-service
activities. He has tutored students in math
and has mowed and maintained several
neighborhood lawns since 2000.
Encouraged by his father, he began
modeling when he was 8, starting with
plastic models then a CL Cox PT-19
trainer. With his father, Ross went to a
local field and flew a solid balsa CL model
with a .35 Testors engine. “Later I learned
that it was the same model that dad taught
his high school model airplane club to fly
with back in the ’70s,” Ross wrote.
A Dave Brown simulator helped Ross
learn to fly RC and he has also learned to
build and fly FF models.
Ross has been an AMA member for
eight years. He and his father worked as a
judge and a runner/scribe at the Mint Julep
Scale Contest in Kentucky, and the pair
worked three summers at the AMA Grand
Event when it was held at AMA
Headquarters in Muncie, Indiana. “While
dad worked as a buddy-box instructor,”
Ross explained, “I flight-prepped the
students by telling them what the controls
did and what to expect as they flew.”
“Dad has instilled in me a love of
aviation and modeling, and I look forward
to doing the same for my children.”
Congratulations, Ross! AMA wishes
you the best in your chosen career.
Matthew Liechty
Matthew Liechty, from Edgewood,
Kentucky, plans to major in aerospace
engineering at the University of Arizona.
The son of Eric and Debbie Liechty,
Matthew is the recipient of an $8,000
Grant scholarship.
Matthew joined AMA in 2001. “My
brother Eli got me started in the hobby,”
he wrote. “My brother began flying
remote-controlled airplanes when I was
still in elementary school.” A member of
the Flying Cardinals of Northern
Kentucky, Matthew explained that “I
myself was more interested in helicopters.
They were a very rare sight at our club, but
when I saw one fly inverted the first time, I
knew I had to get one.”
Forced to fly on his own because no
other
helicopter
pilots were
in the club,
Matt learned
quickly and
without
much
damage to
his first
aircraft, a
Raptor 30 he
received on
his 14th
birthday. He
has since
become a
proficient flier and is generally considered
the best helicopter pilot in his club. He is
often asked to help teach aspiring pilots
get started in helicopters.
Not solely interested in helicopters,
Matthew has helped Eli build several
airplanes, including a scratch-built flying
carpet which he helped design. “Last year I
designed and built a small RC hovercraft
from spare parts,” Matthew wrote.
Matthew regularly attends events such
as the International Radio Controlled
Helicopter Association (IRCHA)
Jamboree, the Nats in Muncie, Indiana,
and even attended the Tournament of
Champions in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his
brother. “I aspire to eventually be able to
compete in these types of prestigious
events myself,” he wrote.
Matthew attended Dixie Heights High
School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and was
ranked third in his class of 274. A member
of the National Honor Society, he was
elected to represent his school in the state
Honor Society convention and served as the
convention’s emcee. Matthew was a fouryear
member of the student council and
senior class vice president. He was chosen
for the Governor’s Scholars Program, a
prestigious course that allows select highschool
students to attend a five-week session
at a Kentucky college campus to encourage
academic growth and leadership.
Active in sports, he was team captain of
the cross country team and qualified for
the state meet. In track and field, Matthew
was a conference champion, placed third in
the regional meet, seventh in state
competition, and was named the team’s
most valuable player.
Matthew was active in his church youth
group and served as a mentor to
elementary students. He was a volunteer at
Saint Rita’s School for the Deaf his junior
and senior years in high school, initiating
and leading the volunteer effort his senior
year. He has been a volunteer at Christ
Hospital and served as a judge in the
elementary science fair.
Congratulations and good luck at the
University of Arizona, Matthew!
Steven Vande Lune
Steven Vande Lune was the 2005 class
valedictorian at Kokomo High School in
Kokomo, Indiana, and received a $7,250
Grant award. The son of Douglas and
Mary Vande Lune, Steven’s plans are to
attend Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, and
major in mechanical engineering with an
emphasis in aeronautics.
Steven has been interested in
aeromodeling since he was a young boy.
Beginning with simple stick-and-tissue
models, his
interest
intensified
when he
became
involved in
the Science
Olympiad’s
Wright Stuff
competition
in seventh
and eighth
grade. He
experimented with several modifications
of Midwest’s Right Flyer and in his
freshman year of high school built a wind
tunnel to test various airfoil shapes for his
science fair project.March 2006 149
With a used Hobby Lobby Telemaster as
a trainer, Steven became involved in RC,
joined the Kokomo Blue Angels, and
became a member of AMA. In the five years
since, Steven’s hangar has grown to include
a GWS Pico Cub and Mustang, and a Sig
Four Star 40 and Fazer, all of which are kit
built. A newer purchase has been the indoor
electric micro helicopter.
As an active member of the Kokomo
Blue Angels, Steven participates in the
club’s annual mall show and fly-in, helping
to set up and tear down the equipment and
gear. He also assisted his former science
teacher with an after-school flight program
called the Middle School Flight Lab where
he set up several RC aircraft and aided with
instruction.
Steven is a member of the National
Honor Society, a K-Club Varsity letterman,
and a member of the Spanish club. He was
on the varsity swim team throughout high
school and was the National Interscholastic
Swimming Coaches Association’s state top
16 and an Indiana High School Athletic
Association state finalist.
He was a member of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes, the Grace United
Methodist Youth Group, the Oakbrook
Student Ministries, and the Children of the
American Revolution. Some of his other
activities have included planting trees and
other community beautification projects.
He has worked as a lifeguard summers
for the Kokomo Parks and Recreation
Department and is a United States Soccer
Federation-certified referee. Steven has
worked in that capacity in various
community programs since he was 12 years
old.
“While in college, I plan to stay active in
modeling,” Steven wrote. “I have already
found that there are two RC clubs nearby.”
AMA wishes you well, Steven, and
congratulations!
Zechariah Spychalla
Zechariah “Zach” Spychalla, son of Leo
and Beth Spychalla, is the recipient of a
$6,250 Grant scholarship and a $1,000 Sig
award. Zach plans to attend Marquette
University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and
major in biomedical science. He hopes to
attend medical school.
Zach graduated from Watertown High
School in
Watertown,
Wisconsin,
with a 3.986
grade-point
average. In
school he
was an
active band
member,
playing
soprano,
alto, and
tenor
saxophone in
several
school and church bands and ensembles.
He qualified for state competition in the
District Solo and Ensemble Festival in
2004.
Zach is held in high regard by his
fellow students, teachers, and school
administrators. His guidance counselor,
Jon Sterling, wrote, “While his grades
have always been exemplary, Zach strives
more to learn what’s happening in class as
opposed to worrying about the As.”
A member of the National Honor
Society, Zach served as the group’s
treasurer his senior year. He was a member
of the school’s math team and was the
team captain his senior year.
Zach’s work experience includes
employment as a subcontractor for
Spychalla Aircraft LLC building plugs and
molds from which parts are made and sold
to the modeling community.
An avid modeler, Zach has been
involved in the hobby since he was 6 years
old. He has been an AMA member since
1994. A former member of the Lakeland
RC Club, Zach is a current member of the
Beaver Area Radio Flyers in Beaver Dam,
Wisconsin. He learned to fly on a Kadet
trainer with his father when he was 6. The
first airplane he built was a Big Stik.
“With some glue and three engines later,
this Big Stik is still flying,” wrote Zach.
When Zach was 10, he acquired a 1/6-
scale Pica T-28 and shortly after he began
construction on his 1/5-scale Stuka. Being
an inexperienced scale builder,
construction went slowly but with help
from his father in the wing design, he
completed it in 2001. Zach has since built
many Combat, aerobatic, and glow aircraft,
and has completed a Balsa USA Fokker
D.VII and a Yellow Aircraft Mk XIV
Spitfire.
Zach’s competition experience is
notable. He has competed in the Mint
Julep Scale Meet, the AMA Nats, and the
U.S. Scalemasters, placing well in the
competitions and receiving “Best of”
awards for various accomplishments.
Zach enjoys nearly every aspect of RC
including Giant Scale, aerobatics, and
Combat aircraft. “Recently, I have also
greatly enjoyed electrics. I have had
electric jets, warbirds, and 3-D airplanes.
To sum it up, I do just about anything in
radio control airplanes and enjoy every
minute of it,” he wrote.
Zach, AMA wishes you good luck and
hopes you enjoy every minute of school as
well!
Dallas Parker
Dallas Parker, from Northridge,
California, is the recipient of a $4,000
Grant scholarship and the beneficiary of
the $2,230 proceeds of a raffle held at the
2005 AMA Convention. The son of Jim
and Cathy Parker, Dallas had a 4.15 gradepoint
average at Advantage Preparatory
Schools in Santa Clarita, California.
He attended honors classes at College
of the Canyons his junior and senior years
of high school and earned transferable
college credits in engineering math and
chemistry. Dallas volunteered for informal
tutoring, helping fellow students with
chemistry and calculus.
Dallas played soccer and volleyball in
high school and received the
Sportsmanship award and was team
captain one
year in
volleyball.
He played
baseball for
11 years in
Little
League and
was chosen
for the All
Star team
eight of
those years
and made
two
tournament
teams. He was recognized as a member of
the Home Run Club in his league.
In 2004, Dallas went on a mission trip
to East Berlin, Germany, with his high
school church youth group. The group
assisted in relocating a church, painting the
home of someone in need, and helping
with local sports camps.
Dallas built his first model, a P-30, at
age 7. He progressed to hand-launched
gliders and was flying his father’s Towline
Gliders, bunting gliders, and then highperformance
F1A models by the time he
was 11 years old.
Selected as the Junior Assistant Team
Manager for the 1999 Junior FF World
Championships in Israel, Dallas had the
opportunity to fly as a guest at the
competition. Subsequently he represented
the United States on the Junior FF teams in
2000 and 2002. He placed the highest of
the U.S. Nordic team at the 2000
competition in the Czech Republic and in
2002 he was part of the Nordic team
receiving the Silver Medal in Slovakia.
Dallas holds the Senior F1A record.
Since he was 11 years old, Dallas has
competed in several contests per year. “I
especially remember the 2002 Southwest
Regionals contest,” he wrote, “where I
maxed out in F1A, F1H, and Outdoor
Hand-Launched Glider.” In another
accomplishment, Dallas was appointed the
second alternate for the 2006 Open FF
Team.
Other contests Dallas has regularly
competed in include Max Men, SCAT
Annual, Big Al’s, the FF Champs,
Livotto’s, the Southwest FAI Challenge,
the Sierra Cup, and the Patterson contest.
His participation in international
competition includes one contest in Poitou,
France, and two World Cup
Championships in the Czech Republic and
Hungary.
Dallas is a member of the National Free
Flight Society and the Southern California150 MODEL AVIATION
Aeronautics Team. He plans to attend
California State University Northridge, and
eventually hopes to transfer to Cal Poly
Tech and major in mechanical or electrical
engineering. Good luck in your chosen
field, Dallas!
Sarah Radziunas
Sarah Radziunas from Northford,
Connecticut, is the recipient of a $3,500
Grant scholarship and an additional $250
Sig award. A graduate of North Branford
High School, Sarah was in the National
Honor Society, a member of the lacrosse
team, and a four-year member of the
school’s fencing team. She was selected to
represent her school in the Connecticut State
Fencing Tournament.
Sarah was an active member in several
clubs including Pangea, a humanitarian
organization,
and Priority
One, a
community
service
organization.
She has cocoached
a
middleschool
girls’
basketball
team for a
number of
years in
summer and
winter
leagues.
Since age 11, Sarah has worked as an
apprentice at the Eli Whitney Museum in
Hamden, Connecticut. The museum
produces hands-on learning projects for area
school children and Sarah has designed or
redesigned a number of the projects in the
museum’s catalog.
Now, as a chief designer at the museum,
Sarah is responsible for teaching the area
youth and supervising apprentices. “My
work varies from coordinating a birthday
party for 20 elementary school kids to
designing a project for the summer program
or local school program” she wrote.
In the museum’s summer program, Sarah
is the resident airplane instructor. “Whether
it be an AMA Cub, an Airhare, a catapult
glider, a P-30, or an A1,” she wrote, “if a
camper wants to build it and fly it, I am
there teaching.”
Sarah is an active member of the Wilbur
and Orville Wright Society where she first
began building and flying model airplanes.
Introduced to the hobby by her mentor Art
Ellis, Sarah became a Wakefield flier. “I am
a passionate builder and an equally
passionate competitor,” she wrote. “I enjoy
the challenge of competition, my options,
my rival’s choices, protecting my planes,
and risking my planes.”
A member of the Brooklyn Skyscrapers,
Sarah has competed in a number of contests
from club-sponsored meets to international
FAI contests and the Nats. She earned a spot
on the United States Junior World FF
Championships Team that competed in
France in 2004.
Sarah plans to attend Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York,
and study mechanical engineering.
Congratulations and good luck, Sarah!
Tim Smith
Tim Smith is a graduate of Shelby
County High School in Shelbyville,
Kentucky.
The son of
Greg and
Mary Ann
Smith, Tim
graduated
with a 3.97
grade point
average. He
is the
recipient of a
$3,500 Grant
award and
plans to
attend
Eastern
Kentucky
University in Richmond, Kentucky, and
major in aviation.
Tim received his full-scale pilot’s
license and flies a Cessna 172 out of
Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky. In
addition to AMA membership, he is a
member the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association. He has been involved in
model aviation for eight years and with
model rocketry for more than 12 years.
“My father helped me become
interested in rocketry because he is a
science teacher and always shot model
rockets off for his classes,” Tim wrote.
“This sparked my interest. Ever since then,
I began to learn as much as I could about
this hobby and ended up giving the lecture
to his high school classes on rocketry and
Newton’s Law.”
Although he primarily flies RC sport
and aerobatic aircraft, Tim and his father
have built and flown two CL airplanes. The
airplane with which he made his first solo
flight was a Dynaflite Butterfly .20. His
second airplane was an ARF Tower Trainer
which helped increase his skills before
advancing to more aerobatic aircraft.
A Carl Goldberg Tiger 2 .40 was the
first kit he built by himself. He gave his
father a Tower Hobbies Voyager as a
birthday gift. “I aided and supervised his
construction since he is new to RC
aircraft,” he wrote. “I also made the
Voyager’s maiden flight and helped teach
my father how to fly this aircraft.”
Tim has held a variety of jobs including
that of house sitter, farm sitter, landscaper,
and farm hand, working on a number of
small and large farms in his rural
community, assisting with livestock and
agricultural duties as needed. He worked full
time as a lifeguard at a Baptist summer
camp.
A three-year member of the Marine
Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps (JROTC), Tim was a member of the
Honor Guard and was the platoon sergeant
and squad leader. He was the Cadet
Commanding Officer of Shelby County
High School’s JROTC for the 2004-2005
school year. Tim was a member of the
National Beta Club, an organization that
encourages involvement and community
service, and a member of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes.
Tim sings and plays bass guitar in a
family band named Legacy that has
recorded and marketed three CDs. He was
a member of the soccer team and attends a
martial arts school where he is studying tae
kwon do.
He is active in his church as a choir
musician, altar server, and Eucharistic and
Hospitality Minister. He has been involved
in Operation Christmas Child, collecting
and packing gifts to send to children in
third-world countries. Tim coordinated an
Adopt-a-Child project, purchasing and
giving Christmas gifts to underprivileged
children, and was a participant in the
Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program.
Tim wrote about how excited he was to
receive the Grant Scholarship. “… it is
associated with something I truly love and
enjoy. It is from an organization that has
for many years helped the modelers like me
who still get goose bumps when they see a
model rocket blast off or a radio-controlled
aircraft fly overhead.”
Congratulations, Tim, and we wish you
the best in your endeavors.
David Rigotti
David Rigotti, from Chesterland, Ohio,
is the recipient of a $750 Sig award. A
graduate of West Geauga High School in
Chesterland, David plans to study
entrepreneurship/business at the University
of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.
David’s interest in aeromodeling began
with the Science Olympiad. He became
interested in Indoor FF and that lead to his
building
F1Ds,
Limited
Pennyplanes,
Pennyplanes,
MiniSticks,
F1Ls, and
F1M
airplanes.
He has
attended
local
contests held
at the
Andrews
School for
Girls in Kirtland, Ohio, the Nats in
Johnson City, Tennessee, and the Spring
Fling held in Flint, Michigan. His success
in competition took him to the World
Team Trials at the Akron Air Dock in
Scholarships continued on page 151
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 147,148,149,150
March 2006 147
Announcements, news, and information from the
Academy of Model Aeronautics and the elected district representatives.
AMA News
NOMINATIONS for the office of Vice President in Districts II,
IV, VI, VIII, and X are due at the Headquarters of the Academy of
Model Aeronautics June 15, 2006. Any AMA Open member may
submit a nomination.
To be eligible to discharge the duties of AMA Vice President, a
nominee must be a Leader Member of the Academy and must
reside in the District.
(Nominees and nominators will be notified by HQ confirming
receipt of nomination.)
(If confirmation is not received within two weeks after you
have mailed your document, contact Mary Lou at (765) 287-1256,
ext. 201.)
A letter of acceptance and a résumé of professional
qualifications and model aviation experience from the nominee
must be on file at AMA Headquarters by June 30, 2006, 15 days
prior to the published meeting date.
Nominating Procedure Document
Relating to Article IX
Approved November 1, 2003
Candidate Guidelines
(a) No person may nominate him/herself for office.
(b) No person shall simultaneously hold two positions on the
Executive Council. In the event a person holding an office is
elected or selected to a second position on the Executive Council,
that person must choose which of the two positions he/she will
continue, such decision to be made within 48 hours of the
announcement of the selection, or else the person so affected will
be deemed to have selected to remain in the first office held.
(c) Incumbent is automatically placed on the ballot, provided
that he/she has been properly nominated and accepted, except that
a 3/4 vote against may withhold the incumbent’s name from the
ballot (see Bylaws, Article IX, Section 2).
(d) All nomination letters must be received at AMA
Headquarters thirty (30) days prior to the convening of the
Nominating Committee Annual Meeting. If received by electronic
mail or fax, it must be received by close of that business day at
AMA Headquarters, Muncie IN.
(e) Candidate must be a legal resident of the district in which
the election is being held; this does not apply to the office of
President or Executive Vice President.
(f) Candidate must be a current AMA member with Leader
Member status (other qualifications apply to the office of President
and Executive Vice President, Article IX, section 2).
(g) No person elected to and serving as an active member of the
Executive Council shall be paid for any regular column or article
in MA magazine. Exception may be made for such articles as the
coverage of special events provided prior arrangement was made
for said article. Articles and columns printed in the “AMA News”
section are not paid contributions. No paid columns may be
submitted after the individual has been placed on the ballot.
Candidate Acceptance:
(a) A letter of acceptance by the candidate must be on file at
AMA Headquarters fifteen (15) days prior to the meeting; if by
electronic mail or fax it must be received by close of that business
day at AMA Headquarters, Muncie IN.
(b) Along with a résumé of professional qualifications and
model aviation experience, your résumé should include, but not be
limited to, the following areas of consideration. (Note: all
candidates must have their campaign statement ready to be
delivered to AMA Headquarters no later than August 1.)
1. Management experience.
2. Financial background.
3. Insurance employment and/or expertise.
4. Legal background.
5. Technical background, including areas of aeronautics,
electronics (especially in radio frequency propagation and
usage), acoustics (as related to noise studies and analysis),
and other areas of engineering.
6. Aeromodeling background must be noted. The individual
will be required, if elected to national office, to deal with
questions related to all areas of aeromodeling and should
have a broad-based background.
(c) It is strongly recommended that these documents be mailed
certified, receipt requested.
District Vice President Nominations Due
SINCE 1970, the Academy of Model
Aeronautics has provided scholarships to
young men and women seeking to continue
their education in colleges and universities.
The primary awards are presented through
the Charles Hampson Grant scholarships.
In 2005, seven individuals received a
portion of the $41,500 Charles Hampson
Grant awards. These monies came from a
variety of sources including gifts,
memorials, and the AMA general fund.
The top winner of the Grant award also
receives an award provided by the Toledo
Weak Signals from monies generated from
the club’s annual trade show and
exposition. This year the Weak Signals
contributed $3,500.
An additional scholarship program
awarded funds this year. The Sig award, a
memorial in honor of the late Glenn
Sigafoose, is presented by Hazel Sig-
Hester and Sig Manufacturing Company.
Presented to one or more individuals, the
award is based upon financial need and
aeromodeling activity. In 2005, three
individuals were awarded scholarships
totaling $2,000.
This year, 27 applicants met the
established criteria and were considered by
the committee. Evaluated by a fourmember
committee, the applicants are
rated in several major areas including
grade average, test results, school and
community activities, and modeling
activities. High achievement in all of the
categories is important for the maximum
amount of scholarship awarded to an
individual.
Again this year, the committee members
were extremely close to one another in their
evaluations of the applications. Seven
awards were granted from Grant funds
2005 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship Recipients148 MODEL AVIATION
rather than the customary four or five
because of increased funding and two sets of
ties in the scores.
The students’ planned majors include
electrical engineering, aerospace
engineering, mechanical engineering,
biomedical science, aviation, and
entrepreneurship/small business.
Information regarding applications may
be obtained from Jack Frost at AMA
Headquarters or visit the AMA Education
Web site at www.buildandfly.com.
Ross Howard
Ross Howard from Georgetown,
Indiana, is the recipient of a $9,000 Grant
scholarship and received $3,500 from the
Weak Signals scholarship fund. A 2005
graduate of Floyd Central High School,
Ross, a straight-A student in all four years
of high school, tied for top ranking in his
class of nearly 350.
The son of Beverly and Dennis Parr and
Ron and Joanne Howard, Ross is attending
Purdue
University in
Lafayette,
Indiana, and
plans to
study
electrical
engineering.
He was a
member of
the wrestling
team in high
school, a
member of
the student
council, and
a member of the school’s chapter of the
National Honor Society. Ross participated
in Student Renaissance, marching band,
and the French, Chess, and Web Page
Clubs.
A member of St. Marks United Church
of Christ, Ross is a Boy Scout and attained
the rank of Eagle Scout during his junior
year in high school. His Eagle Scout
project was to clear a large plot of land
near the Providence House for Children
which provides group homes and services
for children in foster care. On the cleared
land, benches which Ross built himself
were installed, providing a peaceful setting
for parents visiting their children at the
facility.
Ross spent a number of hours working
with veterans’ programs, other community
projects, and many school-service
activities. He has tutored students in math
and has mowed and maintained several
neighborhood lawns since 2000.
Encouraged by his father, he began
modeling when he was 8, starting with
plastic models then a CL Cox PT-19
trainer. With his father, Ross went to a
local field and flew a solid balsa CL model
with a .35 Testors engine. “Later I learned
that it was the same model that dad taught
his high school model airplane club to fly
with back in the ’70s,” Ross wrote.
A Dave Brown simulator helped Ross
learn to fly RC and he has also learned to
build and fly FF models.
Ross has been an AMA member for
eight years. He and his father worked as a
judge and a runner/scribe at the Mint Julep
Scale Contest in Kentucky, and the pair
worked three summers at the AMA Grand
Event when it was held at AMA
Headquarters in Muncie, Indiana. “While
dad worked as a buddy-box instructor,”
Ross explained, “I flight-prepped the
students by telling them what the controls
did and what to expect as they flew.”
“Dad has instilled in me a love of
aviation and modeling, and I look forward
to doing the same for my children.”
Congratulations, Ross! AMA wishes
you the best in your chosen career.
Matthew Liechty
Matthew Liechty, from Edgewood,
Kentucky, plans to major in aerospace
engineering at the University of Arizona.
The son of Eric and Debbie Liechty,
Matthew is the recipient of an $8,000
Grant scholarship.
Matthew joined AMA in 2001. “My
brother Eli got me started in the hobby,”
he wrote. “My brother began flying
remote-controlled airplanes when I was
still in elementary school.” A member of
the Flying Cardinals of Northern
Kentucky, Matthew explained that “I
myself was more interested in helicopters.
They were a very rare sight at our club, but
when I saw one fly inverted the first time, I
knew I had to get one.”
Forced to fly on his own because no
other
helicopter
pilots were
in the club,
Matt learned
quickly and
without
much
damage to
his first
aircraft, a
Raptor 30 he
received on
his 14th
birthday. He
has since
become a
proficient flier and is generally considered
the best helicopter pilot in his club. He is
often asked to help teach aspiring pilots
get started in helicopters.
Not solely interested in helicopters,
Matthew has helped Eli build several
airplanes, including a scratch-built flying
carpet which he helped design. “Last year I
designed and built a small RC hovercraft
from spare parts,” Matthew wrote.
Matthew regularly attends events such
as the International Radio Controlled
Helicopter Association (IRCHA)
Jamboree, the Nats in Muncie, Indiana,
and even attended the Tournament of
Champions in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his
brother. “I aspire to eventually be able to
compete in these types of prestigious
events myself,” he wrote.
Matthew attended Dixie Heights High
School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and was
ranked third in his class of 274. A member
of the National Honor Society, he was
elected to represent his school in the state
Honor Society convention and served as the
convention’s emcee. Matthew was a fouryear
member of the student council and
senior class vice president. He was chosen
for the Governor’s Scholars Program, a
prestigious course that allows select highschool
students to attend a five-week session
at a Kentucky college campus to encourage
academic growth and leadership.
Active in sports, he was team captain of
the cross country team and qualified for
the state meet. In track and field, Matthew
was a conference champion, placed third in
the regional meet, seventh in state
competition, and was named the team’s
most valuable player.
Matthew was active in his church youth
group and served as a mentor to
elementary students. He was a volunteer at
Saint Rita’s School for the Deaf his junior
and senior years in high school, initiating
and leading the volunteer effort his senior
year. He has been a volunteer at Christ
Hospital and served as a judge in the
elementary science fair.
Congratulations and good luck at the
University of Arizona, Matthew!
Steven Vande Lune
Steven Vande Lune was the 2005 class
valedictorian at Kokomo High School in
Kokomo, Indiana, and received a $7,250
Grant award. The son of Douglas and
Mary Vande Lune, Steven’s plans are to
attend Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, and
major in mechanical engineering with an
emphasis in aeronautics.
Steven has been interested in
aeromodeling since he was a young boy.
Beginning with simple stick-and-tissue
models, his
interest
intensified
when he
became
involved in
the Science
Olympiad’s
Wright Stuff
competition
in seventh
and eighth
grade. He
experimented with several modifications
of Midwest’s Right Flyer and in his
freshman year of high school built a wind
tunnel to test various airfoil shapes for his
science fair project.March 2006 149
With a used Hobby Lobby Telemaster as
a trainer, Steven became involved in RC,
joined the Kokomo Blue Angels, and
became a member of AMA. In the five years
since, Steven’s hangar has grown to include
a GWS Pico Cub and Mustang, and a Sig
Four Star 40 and Fazer, all of which are kit
built. A newer purchase has been the indoor
electric micro helicopter.
As an active member of the Kokomo
Blue Angels, Steven participates in the
club’s annual mall show and fly-in, helping
to set up and tear down the equipment and
gear. He also assisted his former science
teacher with an after-school flight program
called the Middle School Flight Lab where
he set up several RC aircraft and aided with
instruction.
Steven is a member of the National
Honor Society, a K-Club Varsity letterman,
and a member of the Spanish club. He was
on the varsity swim team throughout high
school and was the National Interscholastic
Swimming Coaches Association’s state top
16 and an Indiana High School Athletic
Association state finalist.
He was a member of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes, the Grace United
Methodist Youth Group, the Oakbrook
Student Ministries, and the Children of the
American Revolution. Some of his other
activities have included planting trees and
other community beautification projects.
He has worked as a lifeguard summers
for the Kokomo Parks and Recreation
Department and is a United States Soccer
Federation-certified referee. Steven has
worked in that capacity in various
community programs since he was 12 years
old.
“While in college, I plan to stay active in
modeling,” Steven wrote. “I have already
found that there are two RC clubs nearby.”
AMA wishes you well, Steven, and
congratulations!
Zechariah Spychalla
Zechariah “Zach” Spychalla, son of Leo
and Beth Spychalla, is the recipient of a
$6,250 Grant scholarship and a $1,000 Sig
award. Zach plans to attend Marquette
University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and
major in biomedical science. He hopes to
attend medical school.
Zach graduated from Watertown High
School in
Watertown,
Wisconsin,
with a 3.986
grade-point
average. In
school he
was an
active band
member,
playing
soprano,
alto, and
tenor
saxophone in
several
school and church bands and ensembles.
He qualified for state competition in the
District Solo and Ensemble Festival in
2004.
Zach is held in high regard by his
fellow students, teachers, and school
administrators. His guidance counselor,
Jon Sterling, wrote, “While his grades
have always been exemplary, Zach strives
more to learn what’s happening in class as
opposed to worrying about the As.”
A member of the National Honor
Society, Zach served as the group’s
treasurer his senior year. He was a member
of the school’s math team and was the
team captain his senior year.
Zach’s work experience includes
employment as a subcontractor for
Spychalla Aircraft LLC building plugs and
molds from which parts are made and sold
to the modeling community.
An avid modeler, Zach has been
involved in the hobby since he was 6 years
old. He has been an AMA member since
1994. A former member of the Lakeland
RC Club, Zach is a current member of the
Beaver Area Radio Flyers in Beaver Dam,
Wisconsin. He learned to fly on a Kadet
trainer with his father when he was 6. The
first airplane he built was a Big Stik.
“With some glue and three engines later,
this Big Stik is still flying,” wrote Zach.
When Zach was 10, he acquired a 1/6-
scale Pica T-28 and shortly after he began
construction on his 1/5-scale Stuka. Being
an inexperienced scale builder,
construction went slowly but with help
from his father in the wing design, he
completed it in 2001. Zach has since built
many Combat, aerobatic, and glow aircraft,
and has completed a Balsa USA Fokker
D.VII and a Yellow Aircraft Mk XIV
Spitfire.
Zach’s competition experience is
notable. He has competed in the Mint
Julep Scale Meet, the AMA Nats, and the
U.S. Scalemasters, placing well in the
competitions and receiving “Best of”
awards for various accomplishments.
Zach enjoys nearly every aspect of RC
including Giant Scale, aerobatics, and
Combat aircraft. “Recently, I have also
greatly enjoyed electrics. I have had
electric jets, warbirds, and 3-D airplanes.
To sum it up, I do just about anything in
radio control airplanes and enjoy every
minute of it,” he wrote.
Zach, AMA wishes you good luck and
hopes you enjoy every minute of school as
well!
Dallas Parker
Dallas Parker, from Northridge,
California, is the recipient of a $4,000
Grant scholarship and the beneficiary of
the $2,230 proceeds of a raffle held at the
2005 AMA Convention. The son of Jim
and Cathy Parker, Dallas had a 4.15 gradepoint
average at Advantage Preparatory
Schools in Santa Clarita, California.
He attended honors classes at College
of the Canyons his junior and senior years
of high school and earned transferable
college credits in engineering math and
chemistry. Dallas volunteered for informal
tutoring, helping fellow students with
chemistry and calculus.
Dallas played soccer and volleyball in
high school and received the
Sportsmanship award and was team
captain one
year in
volleyball.
He played
baseball for
11 years in
Little
League and
was chosen
for the All
Star team
eight of
those years
and made
two
tournament
teams. He was recognized as a member of
the Home Run Club in his league.
In 2004, Dallas went on a mission trip
to East Berlin, Germany, with his high
school church youth group. The group
assisted in relocating a church, painting the
home of someone in need, and helping
with local sports camps.
Dallas built his first model, a P-30, at
age 7. He progressed to hand-launched
gliders and was flying his father’s Towline
Gliders, bunting gliders, and then highperformance
F1A models by the time he
was 11 years old.
Selected as the Junior Assistant Team
Manager for the 1999 Junior FF World
Championships in Israel, Dallas had the
opportunity to fly as a guest at the
competition. Subsequently he represented
the United States on the Junior FF teams in
2000 and 2002. He placed the highest of
the U.S. Nordic team at the 2000
competition in the Czech Republic and in
2002 he was part of the Nordic team
receiving the Silver Medal in Slovakia.
Dallas holds the Senior F1A record.
Since he was 11 years old, Dallas has
competed in several contests per year. “I
especially remember the 2002 Southwest
Regionals contest,” he wrote, “where I
maxed out in F1A, F1H, and Outdoor
Hand-Launched Glider.” In another
accomplishment, Dallas was appointed the
second alternate for the 2006 Open FF
Team.
Other contests Dallas has regularly
competed in include Max Men, SCAT
Annual, Big Al’s, the FF Champs,
Livotto’s, the Southwest FAI Challenge,
the Sierra Cup, and the Patterson contest.
His participation in international
competition includes one contest in Poitou,
France, and two World Cup
Championships in the Czech Republic and
Hungary.
Dallas is a member of the National Free
Flight Society and the Southern California150 MODEL AVIATION
Aeronautics Team. He plans to attend
California State University Northridge, and
eventually hopes to transfer to Cal Poly
Tech and major in mechanical or electrical
engineering. Good luck in your chosen
field, Dallas!
Sarah Radziunas
Sarah Radziunas from Northford,
Connecticut, is the recipient of a $3,500
Grant scholarship and an additional $250
Sig award. A graduate of North Branford
High School, Sarah was in the National
Honor Society, a member of the lacrosse
team, and a four-year member of the
school’s fencing team. She was selected to
represent her school in the Connecticut State
Fencing Tournament.
Sarah was an active member in several
clubs including Pangea, a humanitarian
organization,
and Priority
One, a
community
service
organization.
She has cocoached
a
middleschool
girls’
basketball
team for a
number of
years in
summer and
winter
leagues.
Since age 11, Sarah has worked as an
apprentice at the Eli Whitney Museum in
Hamden, Connecticut. The museum
produces hands-on learning projects for area
school children and Sarah has designed or
redesigned a number of the projects in the
museum’s catalog.
Now, as a chief designer at the museum,
Sarah is responsible for teaching the area
youth and supervising apprentices. “My
work varies from coordinating a birthday
party for 20 elementary school kids to
designing a project for the summer program
or local school program” she wrote.
In the museum’s summer program, Sarah
is the resident airplane instructor. “Whether
it be an AMA Cub, an Airhare, a catapult
glider, a P-30, or an A1,” she wrote, “if a
camper wants to build it and fly it, I am
there teaching.”
Sarah is an active member of the Wilbur
and Orville Wright Society where she first
began building and flying model airplanes.
Introduced to the hobby by her mentor Art
Ellis, Sarah became a Wakefield flier. “I am
a passionate builder and an equally
passionate competitor,” she wrote. “I enjoy
the challenge of competition, my options,
my rival’s choices, protecting my planes,
and risking my planes.”
A member of the Brooklyn Skyscrapers,
Sarah has competed in a number of contests
from club-sponsored meets to international
FAI contests and the Nats. She earned a spot
on the United States Junior World FF
Championships Team that competed in
France in 2004.
Sarah plans to attend Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York,
and study mechanical engineering.
Congratulations and good luck, Sarah!
Tim Smith
Tim Smith is a graduate of Shelby
County High School in Shelbyville,
Kentucky.
The son of
Greg and
Mary Ann
Smith, Tim
graduated
with a 3.97
grade point
average. He
is the
recipient of a
$3,500 Grant
award and
plans to
attend
Eastern
Kentucky
University in Richmond, Kentucky, and
major in aviation.
Tim received his full-scale pilot’s
license and flies a Cessna 172 out of
Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky. In
addition to AMA membership, he is a
member the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association. He has been involved in
model aviation for eight years and with
model rocketry for more than 12 years.
“My father helped me become
interested in rocketry because he is a
science teacher and always shot model
rockets off for his classes,” Tim wrote.
“This sparked my interest. Ever since then,
I began to learn as much as I could about
this hobby and ended up giving the lecture
to his high school classes on rocketry and
Newton’s Law.”
Although he primarily flies RC sport
and aerobatic aircraft, Tim and his father
have built and flown two CL airplanes. The
airplane with which he made his first solo
flight was a Dynaflite Butterfly .20. His
second airplane was an ARF Tower Trainer
which helped increase his skills before
advancing to more aerobatic aircraft.
A Carl Goldberg Tiger 2 .40 was the
first kit he built by himself. He gave his
father a Tower Hobbies Voyager as a
birthday gift. “I aided and supervised his
construction since he is new to RC
aircraft,” he wrote. “I also made the
Voyager’s maiden flight and helped teach
my father how to fly this aircraft.”
Tim has held a variety of jobs including
that of house sitter, farm sitter, landscaper,
and farm hand, working on a number of
small and large farms in his rural
community, assisting with livestock and
agricultural duties as needed. He worked full
time as a lifeguard at a Baptist summer
camp.
A three-year member of the Marine
Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps (JROTC), Tim was a member of the
Honor Guard and was the platoon sergeant
and squad leader. He was the Cadet
Commanding Officer of Shelby County
High School’s JROTC for the 2004-2005
school year. Tim was a member of the
National Beta Club, an organization that
encourages involvement and community
service, and a member of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes.
Tim sings and plays bass guitar in a
family band named Legacy that has
recorded and marketed three CDs. He was
a member of the soccer team and attends a
martial arts school where he is studying tae
kwon do.
He is active in his church as a choir
musician, altar server, and Eucharistic and
Hospitality Minister. He has been involved
in Operation Christmas Child, collecting
and packing gifts to send to children in
third-world countries. Tim coordinated an
Adopt-a-Child project, purchasing and
giving Christmas gifts to underprivileged
children, and was a participant in the
Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program.
Tim wrote about how excited he was to
receive the Grant Scholarship. “… it is
associated with something I truly love and
enjoy. It is from an organization that has
for many years helped the modelers like me
who still get goose bumps when they see a
model rocket blast off or a radio-controlled
aircraft fly overhead.”
Congratulations, Tim, and we wish you
the best in your endeavors.
David Rigotti
David Rigotti, from Chesterland, Ohio,
is the recipient of a $750 Sig award. A
graduate of West Geauga High School in
Chesterland, David plans to study
entrepreneurship/business at the University
of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.
David’s interest in aeromodeling began
with the Science Olympiad. He became
interested in Indoor FF and that lead to his
building
F1Ds,
Limited
Pennyplanes,
Pennyplanes,
MiniSticks,
F1Ls, and
F1M
airplanes.
He has
attended
local
contests held
at the
Andrews
School for
Girls in Kirtland, Ohio, the Nats in
Johnson City, Tennessee, and the Spring
Fling held in Flint, Michigan. His success
in competition took him to the World
Team Trials at the Akron Air Dock in
Scholarships continued on page 151
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 147,148,149,150
March 2006 147
Announcements, news, and information from the
Academy of Model Aeronautics and the elected district representatives.
AMA News
NOMINATIONS for the office of Vice President in Districts II,
IV, VI, VIII, and X are due at the Headquarters of the Academy of
Model Aeronautics June 15, 2006. Any AMA Open member may
submit a nomination.
To be eligible to discharge the duties of AMA Vice President, a
nominee must be a Leader Member of the Academy and must
reside in the District.
(Nominees and nominators will be notified by HQ confirming
receipt of nomination.)
(If confirmation is not received within two weeks after you
have mailed your document, contact Mary Lou at (765) 287-1256,
ext. 201.)
A letter of acceptance and a résumé of professional
qualifications and model aviation experience from the nominee
must be on file at AMA Headquarters by June 30, 2006, 15 days
prior to the published meeting date.
Nominating Procedure Document
Relating to Article IX
Approved November 1, 2003
Candidate Guidelines
(a) No person may nominate him/herself for office.
(b) No person shall simultaneously hold two positions on the
Executive Council. In the event a person holding an office is
elected or selected to a second position on the Executive Council,
that person must choose which of the two positions he/she will
continue, such decision to be made within 48 hours of the
announcement of the selection, or else the person so affected will
be deemed to have selected to remain in the first office held.
(c) Incumbent is automatically placed on the ballot, provided
that he/she has been properly nominated and accepted, except that
a 3/4 vote against may withhold the incumbent’s name from the
ballot (see Bylaws, Article IX, Section 2).
(d) All nomination letters must be received at AMA
Headquarters thirty (30) days prior to the convening of the
Nominating Committee Annual Meeting. If received by electronic
mail or fax, it must be received by close of that business day at
AMA Headquarters, Muncie IN.
(e) Candidate must be a legal resident of the district in which
the election is being held; this does not apply to the office of
President or Executive Vice President.
(f) Candidate must be a current AMA member with Leader
Member status (other qualifications apply to the office of President
and Executive Vice President, Article IX, section 2).
(g) No person elected to and serving as an active member of the
Executive Council shall be paid for any regular column or article
in MA magazine. Exception may be made for such articles as the
coverage of special events provided prior arrangement was made
for said article. Articles and columns printed in the “AMA News”
section are not paid contributions. No paid columns may be
submitted after the individual has been placed on the ballot.
Candidate Acceptance:
(a) A letter of acceptance by the candidate must be on file at
AMA Headquarters fifteen (15) days prior to the meeting; if by
electronic mail or fax it must be received by close of that business
day at AMA Headquarters, Muncie IN.
(b) Along with a résumé of professional qualifications and
model aviation experience, your résumé should include, but not be
limited to, the following areas of consideration. (Note: all
candidates must have their campaign statement ready to be
delivered to AMA Headquarters no later than August 1.)
1. Management experience.
2. Financial background.
3. Insurance employment and/or expertise.
4. Legal background.
5. Technical background, including areas of aeronautics,
electronics (especially in radio frequency propagation and
usage), acoustics (as related to noise studies and analysis),
and other areas of engineering.
6. Aeromodeling background must be noted. The individual
will be required, if elected to national office, to deal with
questions related to all areas of aeromodeling and should
have a broad-based background.
(c) It is strongly recommended that these documents be mailed
certified, receipt requested.
District Vice President Nominations Due
SINCE 1970, the Academy of Model
Aeronautics has provided scholarships to
young men and women seeking to continue
their education in colleges and universities.
The primary awards are presented through
the Charles Hampson Grant scholarships.
In 2005, seven individuals received a
portion of the $41,500 Charles Hampson
Grant awards. These monies came from a
variety of sources including gifts,
memorials, and the AMA general fund.
The top winner of the Grant award also
receives an award provided by the Toledo
Weak Signals from monies generated from
the club’s annual trade show and
exposition. This year the Weak Signals
contributed $3,500.
An additional scholarship program
awarded funds this year. The Sig award, a
memorial in honor of the late Glenn
Sigafoose, is presented by Hazel Sig-
Hester and Sig Manufacturing Company.
Presented to one or more individuals, the
award is based upon financial need and
aeromodeling activity. In 2005, three
individuals were awarded scholarships
totaling $2,000.
This year, 27 applicants met the
established criteria and were considered by
the committee. Evaluated by a fourmember
committee, the applicants are
rated in several major areas including
grade average, test results, school and
community activities, and modeling
activities. High achievement in all of the
categories is important for the maximum
amount of scholarship awarded to an
individual.
Again this year, the committee members
were extremely close to one another in their
evaluations of the applications. Seven
awards were granted from Grant funds
2005 Charles Hampson Grant Scholarship Recipients148 MODEL AVIATION
rather than the customary four or five
because of increased funding and two sets of
ties in the scores.
The students’ planned majors include
electrical engineering, aerospace
engineering, mechanical engineering,
biomedical science, aviation, and
entrepreneurship/small business.
Information regarding applications may
be obtained from Jack Frost at AMA
Headquarters or visit the AMA Education
Web site at www.buildandfly.com.
Ross Howard
Ross Howard from Georgetown,
Indiana, is the recipient of a $9,000 Grant
scholarship and received $3,500 from the
Weak Signals scholarship fund. A 2005
graduate of Floyd Central High School,
Ross, a straight-A student in all four years
of high school, tied for top ranking in his
class of nearly 350.
The son of Beverly and Dennis Parr and
Ron and Joanne Howard, Ross is attending
Purdue
University in
Lafayette,
Indiana, and
plans to
study
electrical
engineering.
He was a
member of
the wrestling
team in high
school, a
member of
the student
council, and
a member of the school’s chapter of the
National Honor Society. Ross participated
in Student Renaissance, marching band,
and the French, Chess, and Web Page
Clubs.
A member of St. Marks United Church
of Christ, Ross is a Boy Scout and attained
the rank of Eagle Scout during his junior
year in high school. His Eagle Scout
project was to clear a large plot of land
near the Providence House for Children
which provides group homes and services
for children in foster care. On the cleared
land, benches which Ross built himself
were installed, providing a peaceful setting
for parents visiting their children at the
facility.
Ross spent a number of hours working
with veterans’ programs, other community
projects, and many school-service
activities. He has tutored students in math
and has mowed and maintained several
neighborhood lawns since 2000.
Encouraged by his father, he began
modeling when he was 8, starting with
plastic models then a CL Cox PT-19
trainer. With his father, Ross went to a
local field and flew a solid balsa CL model
with a .35 Testors engine. “Later I learned
that it was the same model that dad taught
his high school model airplane club to fly
with back in the ’70s,” Ross wrote.
A Dave Brown simulator helped Ross
learn to fly RC and he has also learned to
build and fly FF models.
Ross has been an AMA member for
eight years. He and his father worked as a
judge and a runner/scribe at the Mint Julep
Scale Contest in Kentucky, and the pair
worked three summers at the AMA Grand
Event when it was held at AMA
Headquarters in Muncie, Indiana. “While
dad worked as a buddy-box instructor,”
Ross explained, “I flight-prepped the
students by telling them what the controls
did and what to expect as they flew.”
“Dad has instilled in me a love of
aviation and modeling, and I look forward
to doing the same for my children.”
Congratulations, Ross! AMA wishes
you the best in your chosen career.
Matthew Liechty
Matthew Liechty, from Edgewood,
Kentucky, plans to major in aerospace
engineering at the University of Arizona.
The son of Eric and Debbie Liechty,
Matthew is the recipient of an $8,000
Grant scholarship.
Matthew joined AMA in 2001. “My
brother Eli got me started in the hobby,”
he wrote. “My brother began flying
remote-controlled airplanes when I was
still in elementary school.” A member of
the Flying Cardinals of Northern
Kentucky, Matthew explained that “I
myself was more interested in helicopters.
They were a very rare sight at our club, but
when I saw one fly inverted the first time, I
knew I had to get one.”
Forced to fly on his own because no
other
helicopter
pilots were
in the club,
Matt learned
quickly and
without
much
damage to
his first
aircraft, a
Raptor 30 he
received on
his 14th
birthday. He
has since
become a
proficient flier and is generally considered
the best helicopter pilot in his club. He is
often asked to help teach aspiring pilots
get started in helicopters.
Not solely interested in helicopters,
Matthew has helped Eli build several
airplanes, including a scratch-built flying
carpet which he helped design. “Last year I
designed and built a small RC hovercraft
from spare parts,” Matthew wrote.
Matthew regularly attends events such
as the International Radio Controlled
Helicopter Association (IRCHA)
Jamboree, the Nats in Muncie, Indiana,
and even attended the Tournament of
Champions in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his
brother. “I aspire to eventually be able to
compete in these types of prestigious
events myself,” he wrote.
Matthew attended Dixie Heights High
School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, and was
ranked third in his class of 274. A member
of the National Honor Society, he was
elected to represent his school in the state
Honor Society convention and served as the
convention’s emcee. Matthew was a fouryear
member of the student council and
senior class vice president. He was chosen
for the Governor’s Scholars Program, a
prestigious course that allows select highschool
students to attend a five-week session
at a Kentucky college campus to encourage
academic growth and leadership.
Active in sports, he was team captain of
the cross country team and qualified for
the state meet. In track and field, Matthew
was a conference champion, placed third in
the regional meet, seventh in state
competition, and was named the team’s
most valuable player.
Matthew was active in his church youth
group and served as a mentor to
elementary students. He was a volunteer at
Saint Rita’s School for the Deaf his junior
and senior years in high school, initiating
and leading the volunteer effort his senior
year. He has been a volunteer at Christ
Hospital and served as a judge in the
elementary science fair.
Congratulations and good luck at the
University of Arizona, Matthew!
Steven Vande Lune
Steven Vande Lune was the 2005 class
valedictorian at Kokomo High School in
Kokomo, Indiana, and received a $7,250
Grant award. The son of Douglas and
Mary Vande Lune, Steven’s plans are to
attend Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, and
major in mechanical engineering with an
emphasis in aeronautics.
Steven has been interested in
aeromodeling since he was a young boy.
Beginning with simple stick-and-tissue
models, his
interest
intensified
when he
became
involved in
the Science
Olympiad’s
Wright Stuff
competition
in seventh
and eighth
grade. He
experimented with several modifications
of Midwest’s Right Flyer and in his
freshman year of high school built a wind
tunnel to test various airfoil shapes for his
science fair project.March 2006 149
With a used Hobby Lobby Telemaster as
a trainer, Steven became involved in RC,
joined the Kokomo Blue Angels, and
became a member of AMA. In the five years
since, Steven’s hangar has grown to include
a GWS Pico Cub and Mustang, and a Sig
Four Star 40 and Fazer, all of which are kit
built. A newer purchase has been the indoor
electric micro helicopter.
As an active member of the Kokomo
Blue Angels, Steven participates in the
club’s annual mall show and fly-in, helping
to set up and tear down the equipment and
gear. He also assisted his former science
teacher with an after-school flight program
called the Middle School Flight Lab where
he set up several RC aircraft and aided with
instruction.
Steven is a member of the National
Honor Society, a K-Club Varsity letterman,
and a member of the Spanish club. He was
on the varsity swim team throughout high
school and was the National Interscholastic
Swimming Coaches Association’s state top
16 and an Indiana High School Athletic
Association state finalist.
He was a member of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes, the Grace United
Methodist Youth Group, the Oakbrook
Student Ministries, and the Children of the
American Revolution. Some of his other
activities have included planting trees and
other community beautification projects.
He has worked as a lifeguard summers
for the Kokomo Parks and Recreation
Department and is a United States Soccer
Federation-certified referee. Steven has
worked in that capacity in various
community programs since he was 12 years
old.
“While in college, I plan to stay active in
modeling,” Steven wrote. “I have already
found that there are two RC clubs nearby.”
AMA wishes you well, Steven, and
congratulations!
Zechariah Spychalla
Zechariah “Zach” Spychalla, son of Leo
and Beth Spychalla, is the recipient of a
$6,250 Grant scholarship and a $1,000 Sig
award. Zach plans to attend Marquette
University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and
major in biomedical science. He hopes to
attend medical school.
Zach graduated from Watertown High
School in
Watertown,
Wisconsin,
with a 3.986
grade-point
average. In
school he
was an
active band
member,
playing
soprano,
alto, and
tenor
saxophone in
several
school and church bands and ensembles.
He qualified for state competition in the
District Solo and Ensemble Festival in
2004.
Zach is held in high regard by his
fellow students, teachers, and school
administrators. His guidance counselor,
Jon Sterling, wrote, “While his grades
have always been exemplary, Zach strives
more to learn what’s happening in class as
opposed to worrying about the As.”
A member of the National Honor
Society, Zach served as the group’s
treasurer his senior year. He was a member
of the school’s math team and was the
team captain his senior year.
Zach’s work experience includes
employment as a subcontractor for
Spychalla Aircraft LLC building plugs and
molds from which parts are made and sold
to the modeling community.
An avid modeler, Zach has been
involved in the hobby since he was 6 years
old. He has been an AMA member since
1994. A former member of the Lakeland
RC Club, Zach is a current member of the
Beaver Area Radio Flyers in Beaver Dam,
Wisconsin. He learned to fly on a Kadet
trainer with his father when he was 6. The
first airplane he built was a Big Stik.
“With some glue and three engines later,
this Big Stik is still flying,” wrote Zach.
When Zach was 10, he acquired a 1/6-
scale Pica T-28 and shortly after he began
construction on his 1/5-scale Stuka. Being
an inexperienced scale builder,
construction went slowly but with help
from his father in the wing design, he
completed it in 2001. Zach has since built
many Combat, aerobatic, and glow aircraft,
and has completed a Balsa USA Fokker
D.VII and a Yellow Aircraft Mk XIV
Spitfire.
Zach’s competition experience is
notable. He has competed in the Mint
Julep Scale Meet, the AMA Nats, and the
U.S. Scalemasters, placing well in the
competitions and receiving “Best of”
awards for various accomplishments.
Zach enjoys nearly every aspect of RC
including Giant Scale, aerobatics, and
Combat aircraft. “Recently, I have also
greatly enjoyed electrics. I have had
electric jets, warbirds, and 3-D airplanes.
To sum it up, I do just about anything in
radio control airplanes and enjoy every
minute of it,” he wrote.
Zach, AMA wishes you good luck and
hopes you enjoy every minute of school as
well!
Dallas Parker
Dallas Parker, from Northridge,
California, is the recipient of a $4,000
Grant scholarship and the beneficiary of
the $2,230 proceeds of a raffle held at the
2005 AMA Convention. The son of Jim
and Cathy Parker, Dallas had a 4.15 gradepoint
average at Advantage Preparatory
Schools in Santa Clarita, California.
He attended honors classes at College
of the Canyons his junior and senior years
of high school and earned transferable
college credits in engineering math and
chemistry. Dallas volunteered for informal
tutoring, helping fellow students with
chemistry and calculus.
Dallas played soccer and volleyball in
high school and received the
Sportsmanship award and was team
captain one
year in
volleyball.
He played
baseball for
11 years in
Little
League and
was chosen
for the All
Star team
eight of
those years
and made
two
tournament
teams. He was recognized as a member of
the Home Run Club in his league.
In 2004, Dallas went on a mission trip
to East Berlin, Germany, with his high
school church youth group. The group
assisted in relocating a church, painting the
home of someone in need, and helping
with local sports camps.
Dallas built his first model, a P-30, at
age 7. He progressed to hand-launched
gliders and was flying his father’s Towline
Gliders, bunting gliders, and then highperformance
F1A models by the time he
was 11 years old.
Selected as the Junior Assistant Team
Manager for the 1999 Junior FF World
Championships in Israel, Dallas had the
opportunity to fly as a guest at the
competition. Subsequently he represented
the United States on the Junior FF teams in
2000 and 2002. He placed the highest of
the U.S. Nordic team at the 2000
competition in the Czech Republic and in
2002 he was part of the Nordic team
receiving the Silver Medal in Slovakia.
Dallas holds the Senior F1A record.
Since he was 11 years old, Dallas has
competed in several contests per year. “I
especially remember the 2002 Southwest
Regionals contest,” he wrote, “where I
maxed out in F1A, F1H, and Outdoor
Hand-Launched Glider.” In another
accomplishment, Dallas was appointed the
second alternate for the 2006 Open FF
Team.
Other contests Dallas has regularly
competed in include Max Men, SCAT
Annual, Big Al’s, the FF Champs,
Livotto’s, the Southwest FAI Challenge,
the Sierra Cup, and the Patterson contest.
His participation in international
competition includes one contest in Poitou,
France, and two World Cup
Championships in the Czech Republic and
Hungary.
Dallas is a member of the National Free
Flight Society and the Southern California150 MODEL AVIATION
Aeronautics Team. He plans to attend
California State University Northridge, and
eventually hopes to transfer to Cal Poly
Tech and major in mechanical or electrical
engineering. Good luck in your chosen
field, Dallas!
Sarah Radziunas
Sarah Radziunas from Northford,
Connecticut, is the recipient of a $3,500
Grant scholarship and an additional $250
Sig award. A graduate of North Branford
High School, Sarah was in the National
Honor Society, a member of the lacrosse
team, and a four-year member of the
school’s fencing team. She was selected to
represent her school in the Connecticut State
Fencing Tournament.
Sarah was an active member in several
clubs including Pangea, a humanitarian
organization,
and Priority
One, a
community
service
organization.
She has cocoached
a
middleschool
girls’
basketball
team for a
number of
years in
summer and
winter
leagues.
Since age 11, Sarah has worked as an
apprentice at the Eli Whitney Museum in
Hamden, Connecticut. The museum
produces hands-on learning projects for area
school children and Sarah has designed or
redesigned a number of the projects in the
museum’s catalog.
Now, as a chief designer at the museum,
Sarah is responsible for teaching the area
youth and supervising apprentices. “My
work varies from coordinating a birthday
party for 20 elementary school kids to
designing a project for the summer program
or local school program” she wrote.
In the museum’s summer program, Sarah
is the resident airplane instructor. “Whether
it be an AMA Cub, an Airhare, a catapult
glider, a P-30, or an A1,” she wrote, “if a
camper wants to build it and fly it, I am
there teaching.”
Sarah is an active member of the Wilbur
and Orville Wright Society where she first
began building and flying model airplanes.
Introduced to the hobby by her mentor Art
Ellis, Sarah became a Wakefield flier. “I am
a passionate builder and an equally
passionate competitor,” she wrote. “I enjoy
the challenge of competition, my options,
my rival’s choices, protecting my planes,
and risking my planes.”
A member of the Brooklyn Skyscrapers,
Sarah has competed in a number of contests
from club-sponsored meets to international
FAI contests and the Nats. She earned a spot
on the United States Junior World FF
Championships Team that competed in
France in 2004.
Sarah plans to attend Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York,
and study mechanical engineering.
Congratulations and good luck, Sarah!
Tim Smith
Tim Smith is a graduate of Shelby
County High School in Shelbyville,
Kentucky.
The son of
Greg and
Mary Ann
Smith, Tim
graduated
with a 3.97
grade point
average. He
is the
recipient of a
$3,500 Grant
award and
plans to
attend
Eastern
Kentucky
University in Richmond, Kentucky, and
major in aviation.
Tim received his full-scale pilot’s
license and flies a Cessna 172 out of
Bowman Field in Louisville, Kentucky. In
addition to AMA membership, he is a
member the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association. He has been involved in
model aviation for eight years and with
model rocketry for more than 12 years.
“My father helped me become
interested in rocketry because he is a
science teacher and always shot model
rockets off for his classes,” Tim wrote.
“This sparked my interest. Ever since then,
I began to learn as much as I could about
this hobby and ended up giving the lecture
to his high school classes on rocketry and
Newton’s Law.”
Although he primarily flies RC sport
and aerobatic aircraft, Tim and his father
have built and flown two CL airplanes. The
airplane with which he made his first solo
flight was a Dynaflite Butterfly .20. His
second airplane was an ARF Tower Trainer
which helped increase his skills before
advancing to more aerobatic aircraft.
A Carl Goldberg Tiger 2 .40 was the
first kit he built by himself. He gave his
father a Tower Hobbies Voyager as a
birthday gift. “I aided and supervised his
construction since he is new to RC
aircraft,” he wrote. “I also made the
Voyager’s maiden flight and helped teach
my father how to fly this aircraft.”
Tim has held a variety of jobs including
that of house sitter, farm sitter, landscaper,
and farm hand, working on a number of
small and large farms in his rural
community, assisting with livestock and
agricultural duties as needed. He worked full
time as a lifeguard at a Baptist summer
camp.
A three-year member of the Marine
Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps (JROTC), Tim was a member of the
Honor Guard and was the platoon sergeant
and squad leader. He was the Cadet
Commanding Officer of Shelby County
High School’s JROTC for the 2004-2005
school year. Tim was a member of the
National Beta Club, an organization that
encourages involvement and community
service, and a member of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes.
Tim sings and plays bass guitar in a
family band named Legacy that has
recorded and marketed three CDs. He was
a member of the soccer team and attends a
martial arts school where he is studying tae
kwon do.
He is active in his church as a choir
musician, altar server, and Eucharistic and
Hospitality Minister. He has been involved
in Operation Christmas Child, collecting
and packing gifts to send to children in
third-world countries. Tim coordinated an
Adopt-a-Child project, purchasing and
giving Christmas gifts to underprivileged
children, and was a participant in the
Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program.
Tim wrote about how excited he was to
receive the Grant Scholarship. “… it is
associated with something I truly love and
enjoy. It is from an organization that has
for many years helped the modelers like me
who still get goose bumps when they see a
model rocket blast off or a radio-controlled
aircraft fly overhead.”
Congratulations, Tim, and we wish you
the best in your endeavors.
David Rigotti
David Rigotti, from Chesterland, Ohio,
is the recipient of a $750 Sig award. A
graduate of West Geauga High School in
Chesterland, David plans to study
entrepreneurship/business at the University
of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.
David’s interest in aeromodeling began
with the Science Olympiad. He became
interested in Indoor FF and that lead to his
building
F1Ds,
Limited
Pennyplanes,
Pennyplanes,
MiniSticks,
F1Ls, and
F1M
airplanes.
He has
attended
local
contests held
at the
Andrews
School for
Girls in Kirtland, Ohio, the Nats in
Johnson City, Tennessee, and the Spring
Fling held in Flint, Michigan. His success
in competition took him to the World
Team Trials at the Akron Air Dock in
Scholarships continued on page 151