District IX - 2010/07

BRUCE REAM, the associate vice
president (AVP) from Colorado, and Jim
Tiller, AVP from South Dakota,
accompanied me to our last Executive
Council meeting in Muncie, Indiana. We had
a great opportunity to tour the facility and
attend two days of meetings with the council.
Both found the trip to be informative and
very enlightening. If you get the opportunity
to chat with Bruce or Jim in the near future,
pick their brain a little bit. I am sure they
now have some new and refreshing outlooks
about the very positive workings of the
Academy.
Club Corner: Mike Brink of Arvada
Associated Modelers brings us a great idea
about working with your local hobby store
to create interest and grow membership:
“Hobby Town USA owner Gary Kolm
and Justin Mueller, owner/manager, have
been staunch supporters of our club for
some time with club donations, club
activities, club newsletter advertising, and
several special sales for AMA members.
“Right in the middle of the aircraft
department of the store stands the popular
RealFlight Simulator. This display is very
popular with the customers and is almost
always in use. Gary and Justin have allowed
us to put one of our club information
pamphlet holders on the simulator.
“We use a six-part colored folder with all
of the pertinent information about our club
such as location of the field, time, date and
place of our meetings, training night
information, AMA information, and a lot of
other information requested by people over
several years by those that show an interest
in our hobby.
“What is the next project of help and
support from these guys? Gary and Justin
are planning to send all of their employees
to a training night at the field to learn handson
about flying.
“Most all of their employees are already
versatile in RC but only in cars, not planes.
Now that is what I call support! Does it
work? As of our last club meeting we had 14
new members. Although there is no way of
telling if that increase was due entirely to the
display, but you can be sure it does help!”
Remember, keep the sunscreen on to keep
the cancer off!
On one of my trips to my old home
state of Nebraska, I had the
opportunity to meet a fellow from
the Omahawks located in Omaha,
Nebraska, by the name of Joe Cole.
Joe was flying some very
interesting aircraft called autogyros.
In case you are not familiar with
such an animal, an autogyro, also
known as gyroplane, gyrocopter, or
rotaplane, is a type of rotocraft
which utilizes an unpowered rotor
in autorotation to develop lift, and
an engine-powered propeller,
similar to that of a fixed-wing
aircraft, to provide thrust.
Joe promotes and advertises
autogyro flying at air shows and
flying clubs. If you have questions
about autogyros, shoot Joe an email
at whirlybirdaviation@hot
mail.com, check out his blog at
www.rcgroups.com/forums/show
thread.php?t=1224813 or take in a
video of his maiden flight at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DFm
Brlun3g.
What a diverse hobby we have
chosen!
162 MODEL AVIATION
Jim Wallen
Vice President
7322 W. 82nd Way
Arvada CO 80003
Tel.: (303) 421-9061
www.amadistrict-ix.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Steve Culver, Omaha NE;
[email protected]
Zac Heskin, Garrison ND;
[email protected]
Fred Hildebrand, Casper WY;
[email protected]
Bruce Ream, Highlands Ranch
CO; [email protected]
Brenda Schuette, Auburn KS;
[email protected]
Mike Tallman, Wichita KS;
[email protected]
Jim Tiller, Rapid City SD;
[email protected]
Webmaster: Jim Shaw,
[email protected]
Contest Coordinator:
Mac Strader, Overland Park KS;
[email protected]
Frequency Coordinator:
Steve Mangles, Denver CO;
[email protected]
District IX Volunteers
District IX
Jim Wallen, District IX Vice President; [email protected]
Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming
Joe Cole with his
autogyro.
Close-up of Joe’s
autogyro.
The autogyro is
ready to cover.
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