AMA News District IX - 2009/02
Congratulations, Mark Smith!
In case you have not already heard, Mark has been elected AMA’s new executive vice president under the revised bylaws. Mark will be working closely with our president, Dave Mathewson, to address the challenges facing our organization.
Mark’s focus in his new position, as outlined in his election campaign, will be to:
- stimulate membership growth
- grow the number of Leader Clubs
- assist with securing flying sites
- support youth education of model aviation
- push for term limits on the Executive Committee to ensure the longevity of a healthy AMA
We all wish Mark the best in his new position and will offer him our strongest support.
New District IX Vice President
Mark has held the position of District IX vice president (VP) since 2005. With his election to the new position, he has selected me, Jim Wallen, to fill out his term as District IX VP until full elections in the fall of 2009. I have worked closely with Mark the last few years as his associate vice president (AVP) for the state of Colorado. He is a tough act to follow, but Mark has already pointed us down a positive path that will make my job easier.
Personal goals
I have established a few personal goals that are of major importance to me:
- Be responsive to all in our district and maintain an inclusive atmosphere.
- Work to bring our membership and the AMA organization closer together.
- Help AMA better understand the membership and make members aware of benefits available from the national organization.
- Work to make our organization healthy through financial integrity and stabilization of membership.
- Provide our AVPs in District IX the tools required to assist in meeting our common goals; these men and women are the basic element to improve communications with the local clubs.
Activities around the district
Mark was kind enough to provide me with some interesting activity from around the district. The first article is from Lora Knowlton at Jefco Aeromod'lers in Colorado.
#### Jefco Aeromod'lers — Emily Howell Warner Look who I met today at the Colorado Aviation Historical Society’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Lakewood Country Club. Emily was there as a past inductee. What an honor to have met her!
Emily Howell Warner, born 1939 and inducted in 2002, is a Denver native. Emily took her first airplane flight as a teenager and came away from that experience with a passion to fly and become an airplane pilot. In 1973, 67 years after the Wright Flyer made aviation history, and 15 years after her first plane flight, Warner also made aviation history by becoming the first woman hired as a pilot by a major US airline: Frontier. Three years later she earned her captain’s wings, the first woman to do so.
Today, with more than 21,000 flight hours (more than any other woman pilot in the world), Warner is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aircrew Program Manager, assigned to United Airlines’ Boeing 737 fleet. She is also the FAA representative for United’s Flight Safety Action Program.
She opened the door for thousands of women pilots and has been a personal mentor and role model to many. Along the way she won almost every aviation award given, including the Amelia Earhart Award as the Outstanding Woman in US Aviation. She was the featured speaker for the United Nations Kickoff Dinner for International Women’s Year. In 1983 she was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame and is a 2001 inductee into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. Her uniform now hangs in the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum.
#### Propbusters — 50th Anniversary (Rapid City, South Dakota) Jim Tiller, South Dakota AVP, reports that the Propbusters celebrated the club’s 50th year in Rapid City, South Dakota.
On Monday, September 15, District IX VP Mark Smith presented an award to the Propbusters commemorating 50 years as an AMA club. Several Propbuster members were on hand to receive the award, including the club president, Doc McGuigan, and one of the original founding members, Lowell Hamilton.
Several other club members were in attendance, including:
- Bob Olson
- Ken Corrin
- Jim Kammert
- Ray Jarvi (one of the Propbuster old-timers)
We have noted the history of the club in the newsletter this year and this event made it official. The club probably goes back about 60 years, but we have newsletters going back 50. Several “lies” about the good old days continued throughout the afternoon.
Contact and submissions
I want to thank you in advance for helping me in my new position. Feel free to contact me with comments or suggestions on any subject you feel is important. If you have any special event you would like to publicize in MA, write something up and send it to me. Pictures are nice as well.
We will chat again next month.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
