Author: Lawrence Tougas
Edition: Model Aviation - 2013/02
Page Numbers: 149

District X — Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah

Lawrence Tougas, Vice President

Elections

The AMA’s annual elections have concluded. Congratulations to:

  • Mark Radcliff, District III Vice President (VP)
  • Eric Williams, District II VP

They stepped up when Bob Brown and Gary Fitch left their district positions to assume national offices. Mark and Eric now have the endorsement of their members, which will be no surprise to anyone who knows them. Bliss Teague, our District IV VP, will continue to serve with distinction.

I also look forward to working with our newest Executive Council members:

  • Randy Cameron, District VI
  • Mark Johnston, District VIII

Our organization always benefits from fresh faces and new ideas.

I want to thank all District X members who cast their votes for me. It’s been a long journey from the day in 2009 when I decided to run for office. That journey included the 2009 election decided by a 34-vote margin and the 2010 special election that installed me as your vice president. The first two years have been a joy, and I look forward to the next three.

Arizona Model Pilots Society (AMPS)

One of the most active Arizona RC clubs is the Arizona Model Pilots Society (AMPS). It has worked hard to earn the AMA’s Silver Leader Club award. The AMPS club was presented the award by Roger Willis, our District X Associate Vice President (AVP) for Northern Arizona. President Jim Mohan accepted the award on behalf of the members, who each received a Silver Leader Club pin to recognize their achievements.

AMPS was formed in 1980 by a group of Arizona Power Service employees and was initially sponsored by the company. Through a lot of hard work—and with some help from former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater—the AMPS flying site was developed and has been up and running for many years.

If your club has not started the Leader Club process, I can’t encourage you strongly enough to do so. The Leader Club program encourages groups to adopt the best practices the AMA has determined will help integrate your club into its community. Don’t delay—act today. Information and the application are available on the AMA’s website.

Lake McSwain Float Fly (Sept 21–23, 2012)

Rick Maida, District X AVP, and his wife, Merriam, sent a story and pictures from the 2012 Lake McSwain Float Fly held September 21–23, 2012, in Snelling, California.

Gary Wolz and the Turlock club offered three days of flying and a barbecue dinner for all on Saturday evening. The cooks were Dwight Cathcart and his boys. Dwight used to do all the cooking back in the days of the big Crows Landing International Miniature Aircraft Association fly-in.

The weather was slightly hot but made for pleasant evenings. This year, the rangers and the Turlock club worked things out so that night flying was possible—pretty cool. Denny Baker happened to have his Sig Rascal on floats with a whole bunch of lights, and yours truly got the stick honors.

Pilot attendance was up from last year. The gang from Ventura came up for its ninth year in a row and went home with a bunch of raffle prizes. The raffle was a big success.

I can’t wait for next year’s event.

Submissions

If you’re reading this and asking yourself, “Why don’t we ever show up in the District X column?” my response is: send in a write-up and pictures and you’ll likely see it before you know it. If you have any questions about submissions, please drop me a line.

Until next month, I wish you nothing but happy landings.

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.