AMA News District VIII - 2010/04

IT IS THE LAST day of January as I write
this, and I have been gone every weekend this
month. It seems that you would get a break
from travel during the winter, but ’taint so.
The AMA Expo in Ontario, California, was
a great success. Superb speakers and some
new vendors, coupled with good
organizational efforts, made it the best I have
seen in my four trips!
Thanks to Jim Cherry and the staff for
their preparation and execution. Lora
Knowlton did a great job as the event
coordinator for a second year and Jeff Nance
revamped the speakers with his Marketing
crew and provided a new look to the event.
Muncie weather adjusted for four days in
January to let the out-of-towners enjoy some
above-freezing weather when we attended the
Executive Council meeting. Soon after we
departed, temperatures dove back into the
teens and twenties. Thanks for sparing us,
Muncie!
We had excellent discussions about
education programs and were visited by two
members of the FAA for the meeting. A day
and a half just isn’t enough to do all I would
like to do, but the EC members that have to
take vacation to attend probably are not
willing to give another day. We sure get a lot
of mileage out of our volunteers.
Jack Matlock, Shorty, and I traveled to
Weslaco, Texas, for the Tejas R/C
Association’s winter fly-in. I would say that
the cold snap, coupled with steady winds
above 15 miles per hour, caused less than
chamber-of-commerce weather.
People were in attendance from Canada,
New York, Minnesota, and many other colder
climes, as well as people such as Cliff Towne
from Dumas in the Panhandle of Texas who
also came to South Texas to avoid the cold.
Look how people bundled up for registration.
On Saturday morning, the wind chill was
roughly 30°. Jack and Shorty decided to sit in
my van and stay warm while I caught up on
some visiting.
Soon Jack reported a problem to me. I left
the keys to run the van if needed, and when
Jack got out, Shorty jumped on the door to
see where he was going and triggered the
locks. We were locked out and we were much
colder than Shorty.
I tried to get him to retrigger the lock but
he just jumped at the window and played. He
was much happier with that game than I was.
It looked like he had an evil grin on his face,
too. Seventy dollars later we were able to get
our airplanes out and put them together for
some flying.
Approximately 40 pilots put on great
flying performances for a crowd of at least
250 spectators. Club president Javier Pruneda
said they had four television station spots,
several radio interviews, and a couple of
newspaper articles and they had sent club
members to RV sites that specialize in
“Winter Texans,” and stuffed their boxes
with flyers about the show.
A television station was onsite during the
flying to capture video for a news program.
The Tejas R/C Association’s ad campaign
really worked.
Some of the crowd viewing the noontime
lineup.
Gary Dye did a good job as CD and
Randy Hammond of Angleton, Texas, put on
a super 3-D demo as well, so I presented both
with Making a Difference (MAD) awards.
MAD presentations for Gary Dye (above) and
Randy Hammond (below).
The AMA Forum is growing and provides a
great place for members to exchange
information and get answers to questions.
You should check it out at www.modelair
craft.org/forums/default.aspx.
I was saddened to hear of the passing of
District X Vice President Jim Giffin. He was
on the council only a short time but was
passionate about the AMA and modeling. We
will miss his wisdom. My condolences to his
family and friends.
Have fun and fly safely. See you on the
flightline.
District VIII
Jim Rice, District VIII Vice President; [email protected]
Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
Jim Rice
Vice President
118 E. Wright Blvd.,
Universal City TX 78148
Tel.: (210) 213-0299
(evenings)
www.AMA-Dist-8.org
Associate Vice Presidents
Lester L. Barry, Bethany OK;
(405) 789-5373
Pete Boudreaux, Franklin LA;
(337) 836-5478
Jack Hogan, Chandler TX;
(903) 849-4193 (Evenings)
Mark S. Johnston, Albuquerque
NM; (505) 823-0158
Jim D. Marshall, Mission TX;
(956) 585-6446
Douglas E. Powell, Wichita Falls
TX; (940) 691-8348
Randy Ritch, Magnolia TX;
(281) 701-3121
Doug Staines, Belton TX;
(254) 780-3512
Ron Stanfield, Maumelle AR;
(501) 851-1697
Pat Willcox, Kingwood TX;
(281) 358-1750
Frequency Coordinator
Gene Kent, Tomball TX;
(281) 255-4805
Safety Coordinator
David Oates, Texarkana TX;
(903) 826-7919; davidoates@
sherrodservices.com
AMA Display Coordinator
David Johns, Deer Park TX;
(281) 476-4820
RC Contest Coordinator
Douglas E. Powell, Wichita Falls
TX; (940) 691-8348;
[email protected]
CL/FF Contest Coordinator
Bill Lee, Chandler TX;
(903) 852-5599; [email protected]
District VIII Volunteers
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