Author: Jim Tiller
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/04
Page Numbers: 147

District IX—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming

Vice President

Jim Tiller

Heart of America Float Fly

Darrell Watts sent a note about the Heart of America Float Fly that will take place May 31 and June 1. This is probably the premier float-fly event in District IX. It is held in Paola, Kansas, roughly 20 minutes south of Kansas City. It is always well attended.

For more information, see the R/C Barnstormers website at www.rcbarnstormer.com.

Darrell plans to attend and wants to see his new Widgeon fly. He sent a picture and says the airplane has:

  • 10-foot wingspan
  • Weight: 54 pounds
  • Robart retracts
  • Powered by two Moki 210s

District IX Fun-Fly (Omaha area)

The District IX fun-fly will be in the Omaha, Nebraska, area this year. It will be hosted by the Western Flyers in Meade on Sunday, June 28.

This is a great event. There will be some low-key fun-fly contests, prizes, food, and plenty of good flying. The culmination of the event will be the passing of the District IX Traveling Trophy to the club whose team gathers the most points in the fun-fly events. Start putting your team together and practice so you can make a good showing in Omaha.

For further information, look on the Western Flyers' website or contact Jim Henley, president of the Western Flyers, at [email protected].

STEM Programs — Magnificent Mountain Men

Jerry Murphy sent information and pictures of recent educational programs his club, the Magnificent Mountain Men, has been doing in conjunction with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum in local schools. This is an ongoing activity these modelers do in the Colorado Springs area. Here are Jerry's comments:

"The photo of the kids sitting on the bleachers was taken last November at the Fort Carson Army Post's middle school. The students are working with the Guillow's rubber-powered models obtained from AMA.

"A second group was organized in January at the Colorado Springs Hillside Community Center with a group of 16 students working again with the Guillow's models. The picture of the kids standing on the champions' stage was taken at our field last May during our annual Kids' Day event. We gave each kid a simple rubber model and then helped them build and fly it."

I think the awards stage is a great idea. Well done, Magnificent Mountain Men.

Black Hills Hobby Expo — Rapid City

In Rapid City, South Dakota, three RC clubs represented our flying community at the Black Hills Hobby Expo. The gathering showcased 10 hobby groups and drew spectators from throughout the area.

The participating clubs were:

  • Northern Hills Flyers (Spearfish)
  • Rapid City Aces
  • Rapid City Propbusters

They staffed a booth with two flight simulators, a station for building FPG-9 foam-plate gliders, and indoor flying in the gymnasium. One highlight was a RealFlight simulator station featuring the RQ-9 Reaper. Reaper pilots fly at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and the simulator will be given to the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellsworth as a permanent hands-on display.

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