District II - 2006/12

December 2006 177
The AMA Executive Council and the AMA staff have been working together for the last
several months on ideas that will help promote model aviation to the general public as a
recreational, family-oriented activity. These new programs, which we hope to launch at the
beginning of 2007, will mostly involve partnering with our members and clubs to accomplish
our goal.
The focus of much of what we’re trying to accomplish is to simply promote model aviation
in our local communities. The obvious link to those communities is you. While we intend to
provide some incentive for our members and clubs to participate, we hope that you will want to
become involved as a way to increase awareness among our
friends and neighbors of the hobby and sport we all enjoy.
Virtually all of our associate vice presidents (AVPs) in
District II are active in their areas attending your events.
Space restrictions don’t allow
for reports on every one of
these events to end up in this
column.
During the next several
months I’ll try to run a couple
of pictures in each column that
our AVPs send me. These
pictures were sent by AVP
Ernie Nikodem and were taken
at the Flying Knights Scale
Rally in Hamburg, New York,
on August 5 and 6.
District II
Dave Mathewson, District II Vice President; [email protected]
New Jersey, New York, Europe
TIM PEASE reported on a new event his
club hosted earlier this year.
“The Hawks R/C Junior Aviators and
Oswego Valley Modelaires, in cooperation
with the New York State Office of Parks,
Recreation and Historic Preservation,
Central Region, hosted the first Fort Ontario
R/C Fly-in on July 30, 2006. The fort sits
atop a grassy bluff at the mouth of the
Oswego River with nothing between it and
Canada but air.
“The required permit was signed four
weeks before the event so there wasn’t much
time to plan and there was no way we could
have put on a four-hour air show with only
our small club. We wanted as many pilots as
we could get to fill up those four hours to
entertain the public. We sent out numerous
E-mails and flyers to all the Central New
York clubs requesting pilots. What we found
out was that many pilots wanted to come but
were already committed to other events.
“It was starting to look as though the first
Fort Ontario R/C Fly-in was going to be on
thin side until Pat Moschiano and members
of the Finger Lakes Air Pirates (FLAPS)
along with Dave Playfair and several pilots
from the Rochester Aero Modelers Society
(RAMS) stepped in to bail us out.
“We had a flightline full of aircraft and
the air was busy with many different types of
aircraft to wow the many spectators. The
people expressed their approval with rounds
of applause after many flights.
“The top four crowd
pleasers, in no particular
order, were an Aeromaster with smoke, a
World War II reenactment with the military
aircraft, Dave’s helicopter flying, and last
but certainly not least, was the flying
lawnmower. From the gasps of the spectators
I don’t believe most of them had the slightest
idea the mower was going to actually fly.
“The Hawks R/C Junior Aviators, a
group of modelers dedicated to teaching R/C
flight to local youth, brought the program’s
LT-40 trainers. The trainers with buddy
boxes were in use the entire time taking
youngsters up to fly on this absolutely
beautiful day.
“We want to thank Pat and the rest of the
Finger Lakes Air Pirates for their support
during the fly-in. The RAMS members—
well what can you say about them? They
made the show. We can’t thank you enough.
Word through the grapevine from the RAMS
club is ‘just wait until next year.’
“Fred Ashby of the Hawks took
hundreds of photos of the event and
of this awesome location posted on
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/
ph/fred082869/my_photos. Thanks
also to the Fort Ontario employees
who provided us with the huge tents,
barriers, and electricity.
“The employees have expressed
that they would like us to come back
next year again during Harborfest
and mentioned that we could use the
facilities more often if we wished—
and we do!
“We’re already planning an RC
youth day in the spring.”
See you next time.
Dave Mathewson
7271 State Fair Blvd.,
Baldwinsville NY 13027;
Tel.: (315) 727-4275; Fax:
(315) 635-1039
www.amadistrictiii.org
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;
(845) 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 i s t r i c t I I V o l u n t e e r s . RAMS member Dave
Playfair (L) puts his
helicopter through its
paces to the delight of
the spectators.
Tom Pattore of East
Aurora, New York, with his
122-inch-wingspan PT-19.
Dave Reid of Phelps, New
York, with his 117-inchwingspan,
self-designed Kinner
Sportster. Powered by a
Cheeta 42 gas engine, the
model weighs 26 pounds.
Crowd participation
through buddy-box
flying is always a popular
activity. The Hawks’
event was no exception.