District VIII
I traveled to Greenville, South Carolina, but never got out to the Joe Nall. I spent two days in a conference room with Rich Hanson and his work group in a face-to-face discussion with the FAA.
We made real progress on the standards for model aircraft, but some sticky issues remain. I am told the FAA people's visit to the event went well. They have a better appreciation of our flying operations, and their participation in the general membership meeting that evening was well received.
The publication date for the Notice of Proposed Rule Making has slipped to the last quarter of 2011; late in the year we should see what the rule says and have a better understanding of what the standards need to cover.
Warbirds Over Oklahoma
I left South Carolina for the great state of Oklahoma to spend time with my 93-year-old mother and my sisters. While I was there, I attended the Warbirds Over Oklahoma event, which was ably CD'd by Steve Keesey, the Oklahoma safety coordinator, with assistance from Bill Holland, our associate vice president in Oklahoma.
It was terribly windy and unseasonably cold, but more than 45 pilots braved the conditions and entered the event. The heavy-metal guys seemed to have little trouble, but the World War I aircraft were generally grounded while I was there.
Grant Stephens' beautiful WACO was selected Best of Show. This paint job on Grant's WACO rivals any I have seen!
The spectators enjoyed some great flying, but perhaps the most exciting show was by Michael Deloney, whose turbine-powered Eurofighter jet was a real showstopper. He had no problem with the grass runway or the high winds.
Appointments and Thanks
I have appointed Randy Brown from Kemah, Texas, as the new District Safety Coordinator. Randy has several stints as a club officer, is an AMA Leader Member, is a Large Model Aircraft Inspector, attends dozens of events every year, and is an active CD. He is a private pilot and is the transportation coordinator for a nationally franchised corporation. Randy is a good RC pilot too!
I was sorry that David Oates had to step down, but work and life, which are often synonymous, sometimes win out over volunteering with AMA. If you run into either of these fine gentlemen, you know the drill: shake their hands firmly, look them in the eye, and tell them thanks for helping our organization from the ground up!
Have fun and fly safely. See you on the flightline.
Contact
Jim Rice, District VIII Vice President [email protected]
- Arkansas
- Louisiana
- New Mexico
- Oklahoma
- Texas
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
