District II Report - 2003/02

152
ASSOCIATE Vice President (AVP) Jim
Lewis was again out in 2002 in the
northernmost part of District II. As the flying
season began, Jim found himself at the
LeRay Recycled Flyers’ Spring Fun-Fly.
LeRay Recycled Flyers prepare for an early
spring flight.
The LeRay field is located on a closed
landfill near Watertown NY. The club has
established a close working relationship with
the town, which has helped with several
improvements at the site. Situated adjacent to
Fort Drum there’s also the bonus of watching
the occasional full scale military exercises
taking place.
August 10, 2002, Jim swung by the
Booneville Balsa Busters annual Fun-Fly in
Booneville NY. The club field is actually the
backyard of member Dave Bowerman who
was the event’s Contest Director (CD).
Dave helped form the Balsa Busters
several years ago. Only in its third year, this
fun-fly has grown into one of the more
popular events in the area.
Flightline at the Booneville Balsa Busters
Fun-Fly.
The next day, August 11, Jim made the trip
to Tupper Lake NY for the annual Thunder
Over Tupper Lake Fly-In. Tom Bickford is
the CD for this fly-in that draws participants
from all over Northern New York and
surrounding states.
Working with several Tupper Lake civic
groups, the fly-in does an excellent job of
promoting model aviation in the area and
draws several hundred spectators annually.
Spectators get a close look at some of the
models at Thunder Over Tupper Lake.
AVP Ernie Nikodem is pretty much a
fixture at most events that take place in the
westernmost part of the district. July 13-14,
2002, Ernie stopped by the Wing and Rotor
RC’s Fly Over Niagara RC Airshow. The
event was held at Niagara Falls Reservoir
State Park and drew 38 pilots each day.
As an incentive to participate, prizes were
awarded by raffle each hour, the food was
free, and the club charged no entry fee.
Don Kmack with his Hangar 9 Advance.
Hard to see but Don is wearing the hat and
shirt he won for first place in the bombdrop
event.
Ernie visited the Annual Empire State
Indoor Free Flight Championships in Orchard
Park NY. This is the fifth year for this event,
which is held in arguably one of the best
Indoor venues in the district, the indoor
practice facility of the NFL Buffalo Bills.
Besides several AMA events, the contest
also focuses heavily on youth activities and
Science Olympiad flying. The contest draws
modelers from several places outside District
II including Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio,
and Canada.
Kenny Smith, age 11, with his Butterfly at
the Empire State Championships. Kenny
has been flying for three years.
A new addition this year was the evening
time set aside for Indoor RC flying. Rumor is
there is talk of doing this again next year.
You Indoor RC guys keep your eye out for
this. You’ll never find a better Indoor facility
in which to fly.
District II icon Don Steeb from Rochester
NY with his Limited Pennyplane.
Have you visited the AMA Web site
(www.modelaircraft.org) lately? There have
been several improvements added.
The latest is the addition of a Members
Only section that includes access to an
archive of Model Aviation dating back to
1975. More features will be added to this
area in the future.
There’s now a searchable database for
finding hobby shops in a specific area. If
you haven’t visited in a while, stop by and
take a look. I think you’ll be pleased.
While I’m on the subject of the Internet, let
me take a second here to talk about E-mail
and some of these “Internet newsgroups” in
which some of us participate.
Occasionally I’ll hear from someone
who sent me an E-mail and didn’t get a
reply. I always reply to every E-mail that
needs an answer. If you send me something
that needs a response and don’t hear back
from me, assume I didn’t get it and try
again.
The Internet can be a great tool for
researching a product, getting help with a
project, or even talking to modelers with
interests similar to yours.
Newsgroups and discussion forums are
becoming a popular place to look for
answers. The problem is, ask a question and
you’ll get several different answers, some
right, many wrong.
If you have a question involving
anything to do with AMA, ask me. If I
don’t have the answer, I’ll get one for you.
See you next time ...
District II Report
Note: For a listing of all district volunteer
workers, please consult a previous issue of
Model Aviation.
New Jersey/ New York/
Europe
Dave
Mathewson
Vice President
7271 State Fair Blvd.,
Baldwinsville NY 13027
Tel.: (315) 727-4275
Fax: (315) 635-1039
E-mail:
[email protected]
Web page: http://www.amadistrictii.org
feb03.qxd 11.20.02 1:35 pm Page 152