The Southeast International Miniature Aerobatic Club (IMAC) Regionals were held in Dalzell, South Carolina, November 6-9, 2014. They were sponsored by the Lexington Aircraft Radio Kontrol Society. CD Steven Sides was assisted by Charles Youngblood, who also wrote a software program that helped keep the event running smoothly.
The 34 pilots came from four states and ranged in age from 10 to 78-year-old Don Martin. Charles said, “This is a contest where the top 10 pilots from the IMAC Southeast Region are invited to compete against others to see who the best really is. The Southeast Regional trophies for the top three in each class are also awarded.”
Winners in Unlimited were David Moser (1), Wayne Matthews (2), and Kevin Wilson (3). In Advanced were John Snider (1), Primo Rivera (2), and Jerry Hailey (3). Intermediate winners were Connor Barnes (1), Charles Youngblood (2), and Steve Sides (3).
In Sportsman, the top three finishers were Allan Anderson (1), Evan Turner (2), and Don Gentry (3). In the Basic class were Matthew Tickel (1), Joseph Thibodeau (2), and Joshua McCreary (3).
On November 8, 2014, the York County Flyers hosted its Fallen Eagle Electric Fly-In and I was privileged to attend. The club pays the cost of hosting the event and the money raised goes to Hospice and Community Care. It is great to see a club giving back to its community and having fun at the same time.
The event was fun, but a lot of hard work was done beforehand by hard-working members and they should be saluted for their effort. CD Bob Russell went out of his way to make everyone feel welcome, while making sure the fly-in ran smoothly and safely. The 50 pilots and roughly 40 spectators were well fed by Brent Good’s brisket and barbecue.
Three contests included limbo, speed, and combat. It’s amazing that during combat, midairs almost never happen, but when you have your pride and joy in the air … oh well.
The club is located on a closed county landfill with a large covered area for the pilots to get their airplanes ready for flight or just relax. This was the first year that the club sought out corporate and local business sponsors and the members were successful.
Allison Mallard, representing Hospice and Community Care, was present most of the day enjoying the fun and helping draw the winning raffle tickets. The prizes were too many to list, but two unique ones had to do with full-scale flying. Quoting from the club’s event flyer, they were a flight with Pat Hartness in the Triple Tree Stearman and a glider flight at Bermuda High Soaring.
This was the York County Flyers’s most successful event to date and there were smiles all around as Allison Mallard was presented a check for $1,959 for Hospice and Community Care. If you enjoy flying, eating, and helping people, look for the 2015 event.
Thanks to Chris Brown for letting me use his photo of the check presentation.
This year looks to be an interesting year with the explosion of multirotors and the ease of flying them. District V is as strong as ever.
I just finished at the January Executive Council meeting, held at the AMA Expo in Ontario, California. If you have never been to the Expo, held January 9-11 this year, it is a great show that offers indoor flying, hundreds of vendors, and the main stage always has something going on.
This year, the AMA had the opportunity to award the Wounded Warrior Project with a check for $100,000 as a result of the National Model Aviation Day fundraisers that were held nationwide. To make it even better, a single club from District V brought in the biggest donation—it was just shy of $11,000.
We are grateful for all of the clubs and members who participated and we are looking forward to see what this year will bring.
One lucky flying fan won a ride in a P-51 Mustang. Everyone who came into the Expo got a free ticket and on Saturday at 12:30, we drew the lucky winner. You never know what surprises we have in store for our members!
