District V — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands
Contact
- Jose Soto
- Vice President
- Email: [email protected]
- Address: 1930 Deanna Dr., Apopka, FL 32703
- Tel.: (407) 409-4795
- Website: www.amadistrict-v.org
Hello District V!
In model aviation, as well as full-scale aviation, we have fun-fly events. This weekend I went to the Flying Gators Annual Fall Fly-In, held in Archer, Florida. These pilots, most of them involved in aeronautics or long-time modelers, have a ball flying ultralight and light aircraft in nearly the same manner that we fly our models. They had a spot-landing event, a deadstick landing event, and a bomb drop. The similarities between those flying full-scale and those flying models are closer than you might think. Some of these machines are homemade, plans-built, or scratch-built—much like their model counterparts. These pilots talk airplane—the language of love for all things flying!
I met up with good friend Steve Wolf, owner of Wolf Aircraft, which manufactures models such as the Wolf Samson and Wolf Pitts. Steve put on an aerobatic display for us in his wife's gorgeous Pitts Special.
Scott Garrett, a longtime modeler and pilot, was flying his Buccaneer in spectacular fashion, and many of the other pilots also put on a show.
Arnold Holmes, an airframe and powerplant mechanic, president of his EAA chapter, modeler, and father extraordinaire, was there with his son, Kodi, who was flying a micro foamie Beast and doing a fantastic job of it. As I see it, this young man is the future of not only model aviation, which he already enjoys, but also full-scale aviation. He is keeping the torch lit for the future of aviation!
By the time you read this, the end of the year will be close—another flying year will be gone, but a new, better flying year awaits us on the other side of midnight! We will be sponsoring a few more events this upcoming year, and if you were at our Airfest in Georgia, you know what I mean. Get ready for it!
If you have not been to the AMA website, I urge you to do so. There is a ton of information that many of you need regarding your field, safety at new fields, events, the Nats, insurance, and many other topics. Use it—it is your website!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
