AMA News

174 MODEL AVIATION
DOING MORE THAN TALK: Staying
in contact with Waste Management Inc.
headquartered in Houston, Texas, for the
last five years and keeping them abreast of
the EPA/AMA Superfund Projects and
modeling developments for the use of
landfills for model flying sites is proving
to be fruitful. Waste Management has
always been understanding and
cooperative toward our needs.
After the April 26, 2006, opening of the
successful EPA Superfund flying site in
Fridley, Minnesota, Jack Dowden, Waste
Management Director of Closed Landfills
Midwest Group, recognized the need for
flying sites and reviewed his area of
responsibility for possible flying sites. He
sent me the following letter copy listing
the property sites he feels could be
appropriate.
Jack offers these closed landfill sites as
available. Their appropriateness must be
addressed by interested clubs. Any club
that may be interested in one of these sites
should visit it to make sure that it is
appropriate then contact Jack in his
Chicago office at (630) 572-2465 to
coordinate the use of the site for your club.
I would appreciate being kept advised of
the action taken and progress.
Jack indicated a number of sites in the
Midwest that have the space and
topographic configurations that are
potentially suitable for model aeronautics
use. The locations include the following:
• Oregon, Wisconsin: south-central
Wisconsin, 15 miles south of
Madison.
• Bellevue, Wisconsin: northeast
Wisconsin, 8 miles southeast of Green
Bay.
• Raymond, Wisconsin: southeast
Wisconsin, 12 miles south of
Milwaukee.
• Muskego, Wisconsin: southeast
Wisconsin, 18 miles southwest of
Milwaukee (there are high-voltage
power lines that bisect this site).
• Minonk, Illinois: central Illinois, 30
miles north of Bloomington.
• South Elgin, Illinois: northeast
Illinois, 35 miles west of downtown
Chicago.
• Plainfield, Illinois: northeast Illinois,
28 miles southwest of downtown
Chicago.
• Madison, Illinois: southwest Illinois,
15 miles east of downtown Saint
Louis, Missouri.
• Wheeler, Indiana: northwest Indiana,
25 miles southeast of downtown
Chicago.
• Fort Wayne, Indiana: northeast
Indiana, 7 miles east of downtown
Fort Wayne.
• Ossian, Indiana: northeast Indiana, 15
miles south of downtown Fort Wayne.
• Topeka, Kansas: eastern Kansas, 5
miles south of Topeka.
• Furley, Kansas: central Kansas, 15
miles north of Wichita.
Jack wrote that all of these sites are
currently underutilized and he would
welcome the opportunity to talk to clubs
about possible partnerships. Please call
him to discuss any of these sites or pass on
his contact information to your local club
representatives.
Mike Simi reports that the Alameda
Hornets Squadron now calls the old
Alameda Naval Station home. There has
been a long history of attempts to get on
this site and now it is a reality through the
support of the EPA Superfund partnership
program.
The club has use of 1,300 feet of the
old 8,000-foot-long runway and the old
seaplane lagoon for float flying, making
this site an enviable flying facility. Mike
worked with the regional EPA manager
and wrote the following:
“In October 2005, I started to think
about having an alternative to the problem
of high winds at an old, established flying
club in the summer months. Having grown
up in Alameda and knowing of the closing
of the NAS Alameda I thought it would be
a perfect fit.
“In January 2006, I began inquiries at
the City of Alameda planning board. After
a few conversations I was finally put in
touch with the property management group
that works for the city.
“The initial response was positive
regarding the access and use of an old
8,000-foot runway but money talks and the
current lessees held the line against us.
“A few other locations were considered
but we finally came to an agreement with
Mike Hampen, property manager, Nanette
Banks, the financial planner, and Andrew
Thomas, the city planner supervisor.
“The memo of understanding between
the EPA and the AMA has served us well
and still does in negotiations with the City
of Alameda and its property managers. As
the subject of our requests for use of
contaminated lagoons and old Navy
taxiways arises, we at Alameda Hornet
Squadron are bolstered in our arguments
by the fact that EPA/AMA cooperation and
our consideration of the environmental
issues plays an important part in assuring
the City of Alameda that AMA and our
new club are on the leading edge of
cleanup, reuse, and protection of these old
and deserted government lands.
“The selected area is a huge piece of
concrete taxiway, approximately 1,300
feet, in front of the old NAS passenger
terminal which is now the NAS museum,
Flying Site Assistance Joe Beshar | [email protected]
AMA News
Announcements, news, and information from the
Academy of Model Aeronautics and the elected district representatives.
Joe Beshar, Coordinator
Eastern Region
Districts I - VII
198 Merritt Dr.
Oradell NJ 07649
Tel.: (201) 261-1281
Fax: (201) 261-0223
E-mail: [email protected]
Wes De Cou, Coordinator
Western Region
Districts VIII - XI
202 W. Desert Flower Ln.
Phoenix AZ 85045
Voice: (480) 460-9466
Cell: (480) 296-9515
Fax: (480) 460-9434
E-mail: [email protected]
Need help getting or keeping a flying
site? We’d be happy to help. Contact
AMA’s Flying Site Coordinators at the
following addresses.
Finding—Preserving—Maintaining
Jack Dowden of Waste Management Inc. offers these closed landfill sites as available.
Flying Site Assistance continued on page 186