District VIII
The Weak Signals
Toledo Show was good once again with many new products and much trading and buying on the floor and in the swap-meet area.
I attended my first Safety Committee meeting on Monday after the show and can say I am proud to serve with this group of diversely talented folks. I consider the members professional and thoughtful.
Thanks to Bob Underwood and AMA’s Ilona Maine for organizing a lengthy agenda and managing to get us through it in reasonable time.
River City RC Club Spring Float Fly
The River City RC Club’s spring float fly was held at Martinez Lake outside of San Antonio. The dam had just been rebuilt and, in the process, the entire field and shoreline was improved.
Rick Carlo was instrumental in rebuilding the ramp as well as other field maintenance work. Rick did everything right for the event except order calm winds. More than 30 pilots enjoyed each other’s company while many eventful flights were conducted. A number of airplanes are built specifically for this event and people travel great distances to attend. Too bad the weatherman didn’t cooperate.
Executive Council and Flying Site Grants
The Executive Council met in April and conducted much business on a long Saturday. Among the items approved were the 2008 Flying Site Grant Awards.
Congratulations to the following District VIII clubs on their awards:
- Golden Triangle RC Club, Grand Prairie, Texas
- Tejas RC Association, Rio Grande Valley, South Texas
- Jetero RC Club, Huffman, Texas
- Angelo RC, San Angelo, Texas
AMA awarded $33,009.40 to clubs this year. Get your plans together next year and apply for a grant for your club project. If approved, AMA might fund up to 10% of your project!
South Plains Electric Flyers Annual Fly-In
South Plains Electric Flyers of Plainview, Texas, had its third Annual Fly-In on April 26–27. The CD of record, Jim Belyeu, passed away three weeks before the event, but he had already made arrangements for a young man to take the reins.
When Reegan May turned 19 in February, Jim and a couple of other area leaders endorsed and requested expediting of his application. I approved his CD status in March and Reegan ran his first event as a licensed CD in place of Jim.
I attended the event and presented an award to Trisha Belyeu in memory of her husband, a personal friend of mine, who was a hard-working and dedicated modeler and volunteer for many years. Trisha gave heartfelt thanks to everyone present for the joy they had given her husband, and she received many hugs.
Reegan conducted a professional pilots’ meeting and kept the event running smoothly. The club even conducted a two-class Pattern competition. Congratulations to this young man and his club for conducting a professional and enjoyable event.
Have fun and fly safely! See you on the flightline.
Jim.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
