AMA News District VIII - 2007/07
District Officer
- Jim Rice, District VIII Vice President
- Email: [email protected]
- States: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
Things have heated up! After record rains, we have had tornadoes across the area. Now the heat is building and so is the flying season.
The Austin Radio Control Association hosted its ninth annual Military Fly-In, and it was another unqualified success. A mix of World War I, World War II, and modern military aircraft fit well for the two-day April event. It looked strange to see a Fokker D.VII and an F-16 in the same sky, but both fliers had fun and other pilots and spectators appreciated their efforts.
As usual, Ken White did a great job organizing his volunteer force and ran another smooth fly-in. Once again, Raymond Cervantes of Fort Worth, Texas, captured the event in both still pictures and movies. He has them available for viewing on his site at www.teamrcpilot.com. These pictures of the event are a reflection of his efforts.
The 15th annual Spring Cup Free Flight event was held on Randolph Air Force Base’s auxiliary runway in Seguin, Texas. CD Faust Parker did another great job running the many rounds and 10 classes for the event. There were 23 pilots from Kansas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. They had great weather and great flying. I got to meet many of the competitors and was impressed by the high-tech aircraft and the high quality flying. I saw a two-minute max on a 1.5-second engine run by Henry Spence. It was a great thermal!
Bob Hanford from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, flies with the Tulsa Glue Dobbers. At the dinner on Saturday, Bob was awarded the Overall Grand Champion Award of the Texas Cup, adding that to a long list of flying accomplishments.
Volunteer Spotlight
As a new item in this column, I will occasionally put a short biography and picture of our district volunteers so we can all appreciate the people who help keep this organization running and on track.
Jim Marshall is our associate vice president for South Texas. He is a retired public school and university educator from Mission, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. An avid modeler for 60 years, Jim is an AMA Leader Member in the Scientific category. His personal interests run from small rubber-powered free flight, to control-line, to radio-control military warbirds—especially World War II German aircraft. He enjoys assisting new modelers and has been a competitor at several levels throughout the years. Jim is a member of numerous model and full-scale airplane organizations and volunteers in most of them. He is a certifiable airplane nut!
Volunteering can be hard work, but it’s generally more rewarding than frustrating. Try volunteering and thank those around you who do so. They are the fiber of our association and the reason we continue to thrive.
Have fun and fly safely. See you on the flightline!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
