AMA News: District II-2007/04

LAST MONTH’S COLUMN featured a
report on the 2006 Northeast Electric Aircraft
Technology (NEAT) Fair held each fall in
Downsville, New York.
There has traditionally been another part
of the weekend that in the past hasn’t
received the attention given to the flying
activities that take place during the days of
NEAT. For the last several years the Boston
Micronauts have hosted an indoor flying
event for micro-sized models during the
NEAT Fair weekend. The event is held only
10 minutes away from the NEAT Fair flying
site in the Downsville High School gym.
This year a couple of dozen pilots flew
models with wingspans that measured in
inches instead of feet, and weighed grams
instead of ounces or pounds. The number of
spectators attending this event filled all of the
bleachers and several dozen more people
were standing along the walls of the gym.
Most of the pilots came from the East
Coast but there were some who traveled
across the country to fly in this event. There
were also those who came from overseas to
demonstrate some of their latest creations.
Petter Muren came from Norway to fly
his micro-size, electric-powered RC
helicopters. While it wasn’t ready to be
demonstrated this year, Peter is working on a
micro helicopter that weighs only 1 gram!
Rumor was that his Micro Mosquito RC
Helicopter will soon be sold at Radio Shack
stores in the United States.
Peter Muren from Norway hovers his Micro
Mosquito micro helicopter. This micro
helicopter will be available at Radio Shack in
the United States.
The index finger pointing at the micro
helicopter on the right will give you some idea
of the size of this RC model helicopter.
Jean-Marie
Piednoir from
France flew his
micro flying
wing, the
Variante. This
unique model
used a JMP
combo receiver,
a Kokam 145
mAh Li-Poly
cell, and an
M20-based
KP00 with
gearbox. CD
Gordon Johnson
presented the
annual Boston Micronauts Excellence in
Micronautics Award for 2006 to Jean-Marie
during the evening.
Plans for the 2007 edition of the NEAT
Fair are already in the works. If you intend to
make the trip to Downsville next September,
consider visiting this indoor micro event. I
don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
During the halftime program at the Boston
Micronauts fly-in, CD Gordon Johnson was
kind enough to allow me a few minutes to
present the AMA Distinguished Service
Award to longtime AMA member Ray
Juschkus.
Ray has
been a
member for
more than 50
years.
In
addition to
having a
very
successful
modeling
career, he
has written
for several
major
modeling
publications
in the country. As many of you who in our
district know, Ray has served as an associate
vice president (AVP) for several District II
vice presidents dating back to John Grigg’s
first term.
Ray has always been an excellent
representative for us in this district and has
recently completed 25 years serving as an
AVP. Congratulations Ray and thank you.
AMA plans to introduce several new
programs in 2007 to help our clubs reach out
to potential new modelers in their
communities. Many of you have already read
about our flagship program called Take off
And Grow (TAG).
This program is designed as an intensive
one-day introduction to model aviation that
includes a brief ground school, an orientation
session on a computer simulator, then on to a
hands-on flight experience under the
supervision of an AMA Intro Pilot instructor.
AMA has also released a Quick-Start
Guide to RC Modeling on CD written by Bob
Aberle. This is an ideal piece to hand to a
potential new modeler because it is designed
to answer many of the first-time questions
most new modelers have.
By the time you read this column we will
have released other programs that we believe
our clubs will find interesting. For more
information you can visit the AMA Web site
at www.modelaircraft.org. Notices will also
be placed in future issues of MA and the AMA
Insider.
After reading about any of these new
programs, if you have any questions, or
would like additional information, contact me
by any of the methods in our column header
and I’d be happy to help you out.
See you next time.
Joe Malinchak flew this
6.5-inch-span, 3.8 gram
Japanese Zero. The model
is capable of flights lasting
more than six minutes.
Ray Jushkus (R) receives the
AMA Distinguished Service
Award for 25 years of
dedicated service as an AMA
District II AVP.
Joe Malinchak flew this
6.5-inch-span, 3.8 gram
Japanese Zero. The model
is capable of flights lasting
more than six minutes.