March 2009 156
WINGS ACROSS America 2008 (WAA-
08) is a project involving pilots in the lower
48 states. The goal is to fly an electric park
flyer in all the states. The model will cover
approximately 14,000 miles. The unique
aspect of this project is that the airplane must
be personally handed over to the next pilot to
form another link in the national chain.
Frank Geisler, the event coordinator,
mentioned the following District III clubs are
signed up to participate: the Clarksburg
Model Aviation Club, Columbus Aero RC
Club, Frederick Model Aircraft Club, Flying
Hawks R/C Club, Greater Pittsburgh ARCS,
Hill Hoppers Flying Club, Jackson County
Aeromodelers Club, Keystone Clippers,
Model Aircraft Recreation Society, Oil Creek
Flyers, Thermal G Eagles R/C Club,
Princeton Area Radio Kontrol Society, Prop
Floppers, Ross Ohio Radio Kontrol Society,
and the Willard R/C Fun Flyers.
Jack Graham reported on the Thermal G
Eagles Club of Erie, Pennsylvania, and its
experience with Wings Across America.
Flight 72 was on November 30, 2008. Our
first choice was to fly outside but the snow
was deep and the field was closed for the
winter. The County Vo-tech School parking
lot was the venue but 20 and 30 mph winds
terminated that plan.
A little brain storming came up with
utilizing the Golf Dome. “We got to the
Dome at noon and I went in and explained
the RC flight in all 50 States of America,”
wrote Jack. “The Dome had a youth football
program coming in at 3 p.m. that afternoon
and the golf driving range was closing at 2.
Wow, a window of opportunity presented
itself.”
The staff at Family First Sports Parks was
great. The playing surface of the facility is 50
x 75 yards and roughly 80 feet in height. The
pilots included Jack Graham, Dale Edinger,
Jay Raydo, Cliff Bendig, and Greg Rubin.
The Thermal G Eagles participants.
The WAA-08 airplane was flown in the
Pittsburgh area, at the Pine Community Park
on December 13, 2008, under less-thanfavorable
wind and temperature conditions.
The pilots were Dave Walker, Ataç Türkay,
Aydin
Türkay, and
Terry
Wisniewski.
Aydin is 8
years old, and
the other
pilots are not
eager to
declare their
ages!
The flights
went rather
smoothly,
given that the
maximum
wind gust
was more
than 15 mph.
The flying
site is rather historical. It used to be a farm
that Dr. Jonas Salk, who developed the polio
vaccine, used to keep his research animals
while he was at the University of Pittsburgh.
By late December, the model had
progressed into West Virginia. Two members
of the Jackson County Aeromodelers and the
Academy of Model Aeronautics, Chuck
Westfall and Scott Donat, wrote themselves
into the record books by participating in the
Wings Across America.
On Saturday, November 22, 2008, the
Jackson County Aeromodelers held its annual
Thanksgiving/Christmas party. The theme for
this year’s event was to honor the youth and
new members who are currently buddy
boxing. Club president Chuck Westfall
invited Mark Radcliff, AMA District III
associate vice president, to be the guest
speaker. Mark presented a slide show of his
travels with the US F3A flying teams in
which he participated between 1975 and
1981.
Mark began flying at an early age and was
inspired by his father and the top RC pilots at
the time such as Phil Kraft, Don Lowe, Miles
Reed, and Dave Brown. Through hard work
and goal setting he was eventually on four
USA Aerobatics Teams.
Mark traveled in 1975 to Bern,
Switzerland, and toured Europe. In 1977 he
competed in Springfield, Ohio, and in 1979 in
Johannesburg, South Africa, where he placed
third in the world. In 1981 he was on the
team that went to Acapulco, Mexico. The US
team won first place all four times Mark
competed.
Mark showed slides of various TOC
events in Las Vegas, which included meeting
several celebrities such as singers Roy Clark
and Robert Goulet, and four-time Indy 500
winner Al Unser Sr. Mark’s presentation
illustrated that with something as simple as
model airplanes one can travel the world and
make many new friends.
Mark concluded, “Model aviation has
been very good to me and I hope I have been
and will continue to be good for model
aviation.”
At the conclusion the presentation, the
club had a great time with a gift exchange for
the children and adults in attendance.
Mark Radcliff displays his F3A model utilized
in the World Championships competition.
District III
Bob Brown, District III Vice President; [email protected]
Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia
Bob Brown
Vice President
35 Sanford St.
Bradford PA 16701
Tel.: (814) 368-7655
www.amadistrictiii.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Randy Adams, Fairfield
OH; (513) 858-3154;
[email protected]
Mike Barbee, Delaware OH; (740)
362-5545; [email protected]
Jeff Black, New Oxford PA; (717)
965-5634; [email protected]
Dave Brown, Hamilton OH; (513)
738-1560; dbrown@
dbproducts.com
David H. Ellis, Cross Lanes WV;
(304) 776-1408;
[email protected]
Nelson Gould, Macungie PA; (610)
395-9159; [email protected]
Dan Luchaco, Sayre PA;
(570) 888-1856;
[email protected]
Jim Martin, Franklin OH;
(937) 260-0143;
[email protected]
Mark Radcliff, Saint Marys WV;
(304) 684-2133;
[email protected]
Leo Rodriguez, New Stanton PA;
(724) 925-0159;
[email protected]
Matthew Turowski, Drums PA;
(570) 788-0661;
[email protected]
Joseph S. Vislay, Monclova OH
(419) 878-8843;
[email protected]
Frequency Coordinator:
Ron Morgan, Scotland PA;
(717) 264-7425;
[email protected]
District III Volunteers
Ataç Türkay and 8-year-old
Aydin Türkay.
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Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/03
Page Numbers: 156
