District II Report - 2008/04
Millis Model Aircraft Club — Milford Demonstration Day (2007)
JIM MCCOY, newsletter editor and webmaster for the Millis Model Aircraft Club (MMAC), provided the following report on this year’s model air show in Milford, Massachusetts.
I have attended this event in the past and can tell you that it represents the best partnering between an AMA club and officials from the Department of Parks and Recreation. Talk about exposure — this event is less than a mile from the center of town.
The weather was far from the picture-perfect fall day we had last year, but the 2007 Demonstration Day at Plains Park in Milford was no less successful.
When members started to arrive around 7:30 a.m. to begin setting up, the skies were overcast but there was no rain and the wind was quite calm. This changed rapidly over the next hour as the American flag on the other side of the runway began whipping wildly and a damp, cold mist began to settle over the field.
All weather reports indicated that things should improve over the course of the morning, so we all kept the faith and were rewarded by the worst being over by 9:30 a.m. Conditions gradually got better to the point that the wind was practically nonexistent by noon and the sun peeked out by 1:30 p.m.
Even with the questionable weather early in the day, we were very pleasantly surprised by the large number of interested folks who came out to see some flying. Families and individuals of all ages were excited to see the large array of models we had assembled along the flightline. I personally had several conversations with spectators who asked questions of all sorts. Many mentioned that they had attended last year’s event and were looking forward to seeing our models again.
Other than open flying offered to members and guests, we offered up John Holcomb’s swing-dance flying routine and a highly competitive tethered balloon bust event that had John, Bill Lloyd, and Mike Mauricio battling to an exciting three-way tie. Brad Kaye and his daughter, Jade, orchestrated the ever-popular "flying lawnmower" routine while Scott Annis handled the PA system.
Several members and guest pilots showed off a little by performing aerobatic routines with both fixed-wing craft as well as helicopters. The extreme example was guest Chane Spendlove (from Wrentham’s Lazy Loopers club) performing crowd-pleasing 3-D maneuvers with his 48% gas-powered Edge — complete with tons of smoke and lots of hovering.
At noontime, we switched gears to offer the audience a chance to take the sticks themselves. After a short ground school session, people who wanted to give it a try were treated to buddy-box time provided by MMAC instructors John Holcomb and Bill Lloyd, assisted by several club members.
Students ranged from 7 to 70, with several women stepping up to the flight line as well. Although both John and Bill looked exhausted after the training sessions, they both spoke very positively about the experience.
Thanks to our raffle prize donors we were well stocked with prizes for both the audience and club members alike:
- Bob Rice at Hobby USA in Ashland
- Joe Candela at Mendon’s Creative Hobbies
- Andy Argenio at Brands Hobby of North Providence
Bill Lloyd was the lucky winner of the pilot’s raffle, earning him a 40-size Corsair ARF, which he was very happy to squeeze into his car for the ride home along with all the equipment he brought for the day. The 50-50 raffle netted over $100 with the club’s proceeds going to the Milford Youth Center.
A special "tip of the wing" goes to:
- Scott Annis, Brad Kaye, and Bill O’Donnell and their families for their time and effort putting together the day’s program — especially for making sure that the raffle and radio impound ran smoothly.
- John Holcomb and Bill Lloyd for offering their planes and thumbs for the flight training.
- Mickey Callahan, Charles Anamateros, and others for helping out.
Bill Costello once again served as event CD (contest director).
Although the day got off to a questionable start, the event accomplished exactly what was intended by offering the community a chance to see what our hobby is all about while having fun in the process.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
