184 MODEL AVIATION
THE PAST few months have been quite
interesting. I attended the Weak Signals show
in Toledo and spent some time with District
VII members discussing various issues.
Two major issues included what to do
about keeping a flying site and what
programs were available for getting
youngsters involved in aeromodeling. The
latter I found to be interesting since MA has
had articles explaining some of the programs.
My first impression was that the
individual who asked the question did not
read the whole magazine. Then I thought
about how many AMA members actually
read the district vice presidents’ columns and
I don’t know how the number could be
tabulated.
District VII has its own Web site that was
set up for the purpose of being able to
communicate information to the district
members in a quicker way than having to
wait for MA, which has a publishing leadtime
of three months.
The purpose of our columns is to show
what clubs are doing to answer the first two
questions of this column. I doubt if anyone
realizes the time and energy that is required
to write the columns and put all the
information together into a magazine. That’s
where the staff at AMA comes into play to
make it all work and come out as well as it
does. The bottom line is if you want to be
informed, spend some time reading MA and
check out www.amadistrictvii.org.
Another issue that was addressed was in
regards to internal problems within a club. I
have been asked to intervene in some of these
matters. As representatives of AMA, district
officers are not a police agency. We do not
make a decision to discipline a club member.
That type of action is strictly a club issue and
the officers and members have to decide how
to deal with the problem.
That is the purpose of a set of club
bylaws. As district officers, we can offer
advice as to how other clubs have handled a
similar situation, but the final answer is with
the club.
Jack Cottington
sent in this
picture of a recent
visitor to the field
from which he
flies. Would this
be considered
Free Flight or
come under the
classification of
soaring?
Hmmmm.
Dennis Goodrich, editor for the Central Iowa
Aeromodelers, sent in this picture of the
club’s flying site after some spring rains and
just before the field was scheduled for the
opening of the 2007 season. Normally the site
is used for land-based models but this looks
as though floatplanes might be the order of
the day.
Guy Barber, former District VII associate
vice president, forwarded this next report
about the Kalkaska Area Model Pilots
Society (K.A.M.P.S.) club. This is what I’ve
been talking about with clubs getting
involved with kids.
Brad Barber, K.A.M.P.S. member, and
Doug Madsen and Tom Johnson, Scout
leaders of Troop 629 put this together. This
was the first time that any of the Scouts
actually built something, let alone a model
airplane. There were parents and Scouts who
were proud of the accomplishment.
The bottom line of this story is that the
troop will now start building a trainer aircraft
to be used to teach the Scouts about flying
RC aircraft. The pictures tell it better than
words.
Brad Barber, Doug Madsen, Tom Johnson
and Troop 629.
Happy K.A.M.P.ers!
Boy Scouts and the AMA. What a
combination!
There they go!
There are no excuses for a club not to get
involved. If we want our hobby/sport to
continue we all have to get with the program,
not “let George do it.” There are groups of
youngsters all over—Boy Scouts, 4-H, and
Civil Air Patrol to name a few. The
K.A.M.P.S. club got involved and so can you.
Prove me wrong if you can.
Till next time, get involved, fly safely, have
fun, and introduce a youngster to our
hobby/sport. C.A.V.U.
District VII
Bill Oberdieck, District VII Vice President; [email protected]
Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Bill Oberdieck
Vice President
Box 1076,
Southgate MI 48195
Tel.: (734) 283-4813
Fax: (734) 283-0650
www.amadistrictvii.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Larry Brannan, Grand
Rapids MI; (616) 956-6012;
[email protected]
Ed Bucki, Rockwood MI;
(734) 379-4054; thebuckster@
sbcglobal.net
Bud Gorman, Knife River MN;
[email protected]
Don Held, Elmira MI;
(231) 584-2662; [email protected]
Tom Pierce, St. Clair MI; (810)
367-6450; tom_pierce_48079@
yahoo.com
Mark E. Robotti, North
Lindstrom MN; 76214.1624@
compuserve.com
Tom Ryan, Milwaukee WI;
(414) 881-0070; tomcat@
execpc.com
Frequency Coordinators
West: Al Schwartz, Roseville
MN; (651) 633-2286
East: Pete Waters, Northville MI;
(248) 486-4800
Flying Site Coordinator
Joe Beshar, [email protected]
Webmaster
Ed Kincer, [email protected]
District VII Volunteers
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/07
Page Numbers: 184