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 at their home field and to pitch in and volunteer their time and effort to make sure that those who come to participate have an enjoyable time.
The Paradise RC Flyers held the 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.
When the dust settled, the winners were:
- FAI: Dave Lockhart
- Masters: Steve Miller
- Advanced: Scott Smith
- Intermediate: Frank Gioffredo
- Sportsman: Bill Markewicz
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.
Somerset Signal Senders — Second Annual Electric Fun-Fly
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 pilots' 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 sight to see and truly ingenious. Way to go, guys!
“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.
“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 Aeromodellers (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.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
