154 MODEL AVIATION
District II
Dave Mathewson, District II Vice President; [email protected]
New Jersey, New York, Europe
MUCH WORK goes into putting on a club
event. Whether it’s a fun-fly, rally, or a
competition event, it takes the willingness of
club members to give up a weekend of flying
at their home field and to pitch in and
volunteer their time and effort to make sure
that those who come to participate in the
event have an enjoyable time.
The Paradise RC Flyers held its first of what
is hoped to be an annual Radio Controlled
Precision Aerobatics (RC Pattern) contest this
past August. Paradise is a relatively new club
that was organized in 2001.
That first year was spent building a new
flying field and getting established. Since
then the club has run an annual fun-fly every
spring. Jim Quinn acted as CD for this
inaugural contest and had the help of a
majority of the club’s members.
Since there are relatively few Pattern
contests in the northeast, those who fly the
discipline tend to travel to support new events
and this was no exception. Contestants came
from New York, New Jersey, the New
England area, and Canada.
Masters Class pilot Joe Lachowski came from
Bridgewater NJ to fly in Paradise RC’s first
Pattern contest. That’s AMA’s Sport Aviator
editor Frank Granelli on the left.
When the dust settled, Dave Lockhart
took the top spot in FAI class, Steve Miller
won Masters, Scott Smith took honors in
Advanced, Frank Gioffredo won in
Intermediate, and Bill Markewicz was the
winner in Sportsman.
For those of you thinking about giving
Pattern a try, this would be an excellent first
contest to attend. Watch for it in 2006.
The members of Paradise RC went out of
their way to make sure every contestant had
an enjoyable experience.
This same weekend I spent a day with the
Somerset Signal Senders (SSS) at the club’s
second annual Electric Fun-Fly. Marc Julius
was kind enough to write the following:
“We had an excellent turnout for our
Electric Fun-Fly, which was held on August
20, a day that started out overcast, but turned
out to be quite nice. We registered just shy of
30 pilots for the day and probably had twice
as many spectators.
“The club provided coffee and donuts for
the pilots during the pilot’s meeting and
during the day club members cooked up a
storm on the grill. Len Ferenchak and Tony
Rossi staffed the grill and did a superb job.
We owe a big thank-you to the wives and
girlfriends of club members who pitched in
and ran the food court.
“Among our guests for the day was Dave
Mathewson, the AMA District II vice
president. Dave and his wife Ginger joined us
for a day of flying and then were our guests at
dinner that night at a local restaurant. We all
enjoyed the food and company.
“One of the highlights of the day was SSS
member Sal LoSardo flying a sailing ship kite
off the back of his electric airplane. With
some assistance from his ground crew (Rich
Negran), Sal had several successful flights. It
was quite a site to see and truly ingenious.
Way to go, guys!
Sal LoSardo prepares to launch his electricpowered
model with a sailing ship kite in tow.
“Several spectators brought their children
with them and they got to fly under the
watchful eye (and more watchful thumbs) of
Marc Vigod. Several expressed interest in the
hobby and were delighted to find a willing
instructor.
Marc Vigod gives some instruction to a
potential new modeler. The look on this
young boy’s face is priceless. That’s Marc’s
son Austin in the middle watching.
“Tony, our resident instructor, spent a lot
of time explaining the hobby and how to get
started, etc. Several of those spectators found
their way to our club meeting, which is good
because they are the future of the hobby.
It’s always nice to see new people jump in
and we should all do our part in welcoming
them. Remember, we were each ‘the new
person’ at the field once.
“I want to thank all of the club members
who participated and helped make this a great
success. Our 2006 E-fly will be on Sunday,
August 20. Hope to see everyone there.”
This issue of MA should hit your mailboxes
shortly before the annual Westchester Radio
Aeromodelers (WRAM) Show in White
Plains, New York. If you’re going to the
show, swing by the AMA booth and say hi.
See you next time.
Associate Vice Presidents:
Roy A. Brown, USAE AFCENT
CMR 460 BOX 585 APO AE
07903; [email protected]
Sal Calvagna, Holbrook NY;
(631) 737-6327; ncalvagn@
suffolk.lib.ny.us
Gary Fitch, Franklinville NY;
(716) 676-2498;
[email protected]
Ray Juschkus, St. James NY;
(631) 862-5589;
[email protected]
Eric Henderson, Marlton NJ;
(856) 988-9184;
[email protected]
Jim Lewis, Ogdenburg NY;
(315) 393-2580
Tom Murray, Basking Ridge NJ;
(908) 766-5656;
[email protected]
Ernie Nikodem, Lockport NY;
(716) 434-8350;
[email protected]
Bill Poythress, Saugerties NY;
(914) 246-8850
Adam Sattler, Latham NY;
(518) 783-8929;
[email protected]
Peter Seiffert, Baldwinsville
NY; (315) 635-6370;
[email protected].
Alexander Szemere, Kendall
Park NJ; (732) 821-5641;
[email protected]
Frequency Coordinator:
Dan Williams, Liverpool NY;
(315) 652-7740;
[email protected].
Webmaster: Doug Crawford,
Oswego NY; webmaster@
amadistrictii.org. D
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Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/03
Page Numbers: 154