AMA News District VIII - 2010/04
Opening
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.
AMA Expo
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.
Executive Council meeting
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.
Tejas R/C Association winter fly-in
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.
On Saturday morning, the wind chill was roughly 30°F. 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 had 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 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. 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.
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.
AMA Forum
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.modelaircraft.org/forums/default.aspx.
In memoriam
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.
Closing
Have fun and fly safely. See you on the flightline.
District VIII
Jim Rice, District VIII Vice President Email: [email protected]
States:
- Arkansas
- Louisiana
- New Mexico
- Oklahoma
- Texas
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
