Author: Mark Smith
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/02
Page Numbers: 181

District IX

Contact

  • Mark Smith, District IX Vice President

[email protected]

Coverage area

  • Colorado
  • Kansas
  • Nebraska
  • North Dakota
  • South Dakota
  • Wyoming

Brrr! I hope your winter projects are coming along nicely. I just painted my first airplane — a 1/4-scale Balsa USA EAA biplane. With much coaching from my “painter mentors,” I hope it turns out decent and you’ll get to see it fly this summer!

Last year, my first visit to a District IX event was the annual Jefco Auction in Colorado. We hosted a District IX meeting and enjoyed light refreshments at the auction to recognize my predecessor, Russ Miller, and present several other awards. AMA’s president, Dave Brown, presided over the award ceremony.

This year we will host another District IX meeting on Saturday evening, February 3, at a nearby hotel. We will present a few awards and have an open question-and-answer session at which I hope to answer any of your questions about AMA.

Steve Mangels, our frequency coordinator and member of Jefco, sent me the following information about the event. I sincerely hope you will be able to attend so that I can shake your hand and give you a cool AMA pin!

Jefco RC Auction (February 3–4, 2006)

“The annual Jefco RC Auction will be held in Denver, Colorado, on February 3–4, 2006. This yearly event boasts more than $75,000 worth of RC merchandise going across the block during the two-day event, making it one of the largest auctions in the country.

Although primarily aircraft related, you will also see a large selection of helicopters, cars, and boats. You will find more than a thousand new and used items including engines, radios, accessories, and tools.

From giant scale to park flyers, from RTFs and ARFs to balsa kits, you will never see a larger variety of hobby items in one place at one time—until next year!

For more information:

Steve is not kidding about the huge number of airplanes up for auction at the Jefco event.

Fifth Annual Central Wyoming Fly-In (Casper, Wyoming)

Craig Bastian sent in the following report from the great state of Wyoming:

“The Casper Airmodelers’ Fifth Annual Central Wyoming Fly-In in Casper, Wyoming, is now history. There were 30 registered pilots with out-of-town fliers coming from all around the state and one pilot from South Dakota.

The most spectacular flying of the weekend came from a 16-year-old from Thermopolis, Wyoming, Keith Carothers. Keith flew several times demonstrating his talents with many 3-D maneuvers along with more traditional aerobatics.

For the weekend there were many prizes awarded with the first set of drawings on Saturday for the ladies. On Sunday all the registered pilots were in the drawing for numerous prizes that were given away.

For those of you who may not know what it takes to pull off an event of this nature, I can tell you from behind the scenes, it is much more work than one can imagine. The planning actually began in February of this year with some final preparations still being finished the night before this all took place. My hat is off to Wyoming’s first female CD, my wife Shannon.”

The International — Minot Aircraft Modelers Fun-Fly (Minot, North Dakota)

Last spring I received a warm invitation to attend The International, held in Minot, North Dakota. At the time, I had no idea how quickly my weekends would fill up and was unable to attend. However, 2006 will be different — I have already marked my calendar so I won’t miss the August 26–27 event!

Ron Klusmann sent in the following report on the fun I missed:

“Greetings from Minot, North Dakota, home of the Minot Aircraft Modelers flying club. On August 27–28, 2005, our club hosted The International Minot Aircraft Modelers’ 25th annual fun-fly. We have two 600-foot grass runways and free RV parking with power for 30 units. Breakfast is provided Saturday and Sunday mornings and we offer a Saturday evening meal.

We hosted a potluck supper Friday evening for those who arrived early. This year we had 57 registered pilots: 11 were from three Canadian provinces and 46 United States pilots came from three states.

The weather was pleasant with temperatures in the 70s and wind 15–20 mph.

The highlight of the fun-fly was Russ Gohl’s jet.”

Thanks, Ron. I hope many modelers will be able to join us next summer in Minot!

That's it for this month. Until next month, have fun and keep in touch!

Mark

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.