District IX Report - 2009/12
Loss of Flying Sites
LOSS OF FLYING SITES is a primary concern of AMA as well as numerous local clubs. Crosswinds RC Club in Parker, Colorado, provided commentary about how they dealt with this potential problem. Club president Tim Kagele tells the tale:
“As you know, loss of RC flying sites around the country due to the encroachment of housing and commercial development is the one issue as communicated by AMA. Crosswinds RC Club, located east of the Town of Parker, Colorado, has been in the same location for more than 15 years.
When the club first relocated to our current site, there were no houses near us. However, a lot has changed over the years, and our flying site, leased from the state and part of the former Lowry AFB bombing range, now has more than a hundred homes just to the south of our field.
Rather than sit around and hope that our new neighbors don't complain about our site and try to close us down, the officers of Crosswinds RC decided to proactively engage our neighbors by inviting them out for a day of flying, food, and learning what our sport is all about.
We were able to connect with the president of the Homeowners Association, who offered his support and helped us advertise the event. We called it the Crosswinds RC Neighborhood Appreciation Day, and it was held on September 19, 2009.
I am sharing this information because this event had an overwhelming response by area residents who brought their families, many with small children, who all got to take a turn with club instructor pilots on the buddy box. We also had enthusiastic support throughout the day from our club members, and we plan to host this event again next year.
If any club in District IX would like more details on how we organized this event, we would be happy to share information with them. Just send me an email at [email protected].”
Omahawks Float Fly and TAG Event
I had the pleasure of visiting the Omahawks for one of the club's float flies at the Hawk Field facility in Omaha, Nebraska. Darrell Watts drove up for the event with Mark Smith to check out his Otter. See the picture of the airplane, and if you have a stomach for it, check out http://bit.ly/32Gqta to see the video of his entry into the pond.
E.J. Murphy, president of the Omahawks, gives us an update on the TAG (Take Off And Grow) event the club hosted:
“Just wanted to let you know, we had another TAG event. A group of Cub Scouts from Troop 114, in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, joined the Omahawks at Hawk Field.
I did an ‘Introduction to Flight Controls,’ and then each boy had an opportunity to get a couple of flights with an instructor. Fred Wilke and Ron Pacana were kind enough to help with manning the main transmitter. Brad Perkons and Dale Alva assisted each boy with the buddy box. Bob Wheeler helped me see to it that each Scout got his fair share of time on the sticks.
We have a couple more events planned, including a Girl Scout troop working on their ‘Try It’ badges.”
Colorado Report (Bruce Ream)
Bruce Ream, our associate vice president in Colorado, files this report:
“Not too many of us will ever fly a model that falls into the ‘Experimental’ category of model aircraft, but if you want to build and fly an airplane weighing more than 55 pounds and fly it at AMA events, it must be certified.
On August 26, 2009, I had the opportunity to witness and photograph this Giant Scale A-10 flown by Egil Wiegert at the Jefco Aeromodellers' field in Littleton, Colorado, to obtain certification.
Two certified inspectors came from Wichita, Kansas, to do the certification on the A-10. If you are interested, or are going to build one of these beasts, then go to the AMA website and look up the 29-page document AMA-520A, which gives you all the information on what is involved in getting approval for this kind of airplane and becoming an inspector.
Jerry Shumaker and John Newman were the two inspectors who made their way (I heard they got lost) to the site. What fine gentlemen and what experience and knowledge they bring to this process and to the hobby. Egil Wiegert is the pilot/owner and Jerry Farmer was the builder. Egil did the required two flights and two perfect landings.”
Till next time.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
