AMA News District X - 2009/03

MODEL AVIATION
ABOVE IS a picture of John Jockwood, one
of our District X associate vice presidents,
Dan Sozinho, and an RC blimp. When John
turned this in he said “I’m the one on the
right, not in the middle!” Dan Sozinho, on
the left, servs as his ground crew and is the
current president of the Fresno Radio
Modelers (FRM).
FRM is their club in Fresno, California,
and they fly the blimp at Fresno State men’s
basketball games in the SaveMart center.
The blimp has a Spektrum radio and drops
coupons for the crowd. They fly it before the
game and during halftime.
According to John, it’s a lot of fun to see
the great crowd reaction as it comes out and
flies over the court.
The First-to-Fly Fun-Fly and Chili Feed.
Modelers will come up with any reason
for a flying event and The Northern
California Radio Control Unlimited Flyers
are no different. A chili feed? Sure, why
not? A club’s first flight of the New Year?
You bet! Two reasons, one event!
I am not sure how many of these January
1 Chili feeds we have had but if I were to
guess I would say somewhere around 10.
The weather was foggy and cold early and
stayed cloudy
and cold
nearly all
day, but that
didn’t bother
the modelers.
This year’s
event started
with six
gallons of
homemade
chili, three
pans of corn
bread, and
much more
food.
As you can see, the fire was a nice place to
hang out. It was a fly, hang-out-by-the-fire,
eat-hot-chili kind of day … perfect!
Brian Waligorski flew this Wingo and it was
the first airplane to fly in 2009! The fog was
too low for most aircraft at this time of the
morning.
Tyler Armstrong is playing in the fog with his
Chip Hyde CAP X.
One couple stayed the night New Year’s
Eve at the field and sometime around 7:30
a.m. I showed up and took the fire barrel
over to the normal gathering place and
began to feed it wood to keep the masses
nice and warm.
Shortly after that another flier drove onto
club property followed by another and
another. I don’t know how many actually
attended but again, if I were to guess I
would say 50-60 easily. I do know all the
chili and cornbread was eaten and people
flew all day.
District X Vice President Jim Giffin and
his wife came out to say hello and members
from a few local clubs came as well. There
was a wide variety of airplanes: everything
from a tiny foamy helicopter to a 128.75-
inch electric B-36.
The event lasted long into the evening
and into dark for a few of the truly dedicated
(or is that crazy?), with everybody having a
great time no matter when they left.
Events and other gatherings like this are
great for a club. We have been talking about
this day ever since. Plan to attend your
club’s next event, no matter how cold it is,
you will enjoy it.
The fog had to lift before I would fly the
B-36, but when it did it flew beautifully.
Scratch-built by Rich Jennings and me, the
B-36 is powered by six Scorpion motors,
speed controllers, and Excalibur batteries
from Innovative Model Products.
—Mike Brown .
District X
Jim Giffin, District X Vice President; [email protected]
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
Jim Giffin
Vice President
Box 494688,
Redding CA 96049
Tel. (916) 760-8291
[email protected]
www.ama10.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA
(619) 427-6392
Darwin Barrie, Chandler AZ
(480) 946-8955
Mike Brown, Bella Vista CA
(530) 549-3005
Greg Clemensen, Las Vegas NV
(702) 870-6242
Wayne Hamada, Honolulu HI
(808) 521-7733
Marc Karpowich, Logan UT
(435) 752-3639
John Lockwood, Clovis CA
(559) 298-1606
Rick Maida, Morgan Hill CA
(408) 778-6885
Scott Malta, Merced CA
(209) 723-4202
Bill Malvey, Ladera Ranch CA
(949) 481-8624
Jerry Neuberger, Santee CA
(619) 258-4477
Bob Reynolds, Tucson AZ
(520) 296-8183
Jon Wilson, Ryde CA
(916) 776-2797
Frequency Coordinators
George Steiner, Sacramento CA
(916) 362-1962
Eloy Marez, Santa Ana CA
(714) 540-4935
District X Volunteers
163
Dave Armstrong with his
Top Flite Gold Edition
Corsair.
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