District V Report - 2005/04
I attended my first Executive Council meeting at AMA Headquarters in Muncie, Indiana. While there, I met AMA’s new Executive Director, Don Koranda. I was very impressed with him — he has a tremendous background in the operations of an association such as AMA. I hope you read his article in the back of the February issue of MA. If not, go and check it out! Don brings many new ideas and a great vision to AMA. I am thrilled to be working with him to improve AMA services to each member and grow our numbers. Don is working on many changes and goals for each department of AMA. It will be an exciting ride.
Along with Don, I met the other two new EC members: Andy Argenio and Mark Smith. They have great ideas and a desire to work for AMA. I came away with a feeling that AMA has a bright future ahead indeed!
I am naming new AVPs for our district and I have several slots yet to fill. I hope to have them all filled by the time you read this, but if you are interested in serving as an AVP or know someone who might be interested, please contact me via E-mail at [email protected].
Pensacola Aerotow 2005
I was able to attend the annual Pensacola Aerotow 2005 held at Coastal Airport February 4–6. Each year Tony Fiorentino hosts this event.
The Pensacola Aerotow is a unique event in that scale airplanes are towed to soaring altitude by giant-scale "tugs." Several models are 1/2-scale with a 20-foot-plus wingspan, and they weigh as much as 50 pounds. It is amazing to see these models climb out at a 30° angle in the tow. Our host, Tony Fiorentino, flew his 40% Swift S-1.
Notable participants and aircraft:
- Howard Keller — flew his KAA Sailplane.
- Stan Troxel — flew one of Tony’s giant Grob 103s.
- David Hobie (Australia) — recent F3J Hand Tow World Champion, came to try his hand as well.
- Steve Rojecki and Asher Carmichael — shared "tug" duty during the week to keep airplanes in the air.
- Asher Carmichael and Rusty Rood — reliable club members who help run this event each year. Rusty flew his 40% ASW 15 with a 19-foot wingspan.
It was a relaxing event and the spectators snapped many pictures of the giant airplanes.
Until next time...
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
