District VIII-2011/09

142 MODEL AVIATION
AS I WRITE THIS, I am leaving in less
than two weeks to enjoy AMA’s 75th
Anniversary Celebration in Muncie, Indiana.
It should be a great time, sharing modeling
activities and stories with modelers for four
straight days.
I received this note from Rick Frysinger in
Austin, Texas:
“A great day indeed! Hill Country
AeroModelers held an auction with 100% of
the proceeds going to Fisher House. We
raised $2,000 so Fisher House-Fort Hood
and Fisher House-Brook Army Medical
Center will each get a $1,000 check next
week.
“The Hill Country AeroModelers has a
lot of veterans and we had great member
support in attendance, auction bidding, and
airplane/flight-gear donation as auction
items! This is just a great deed. Fisher
House is such a wonderful organization
taking care of America’s military families.
We are proud that we could help. I just had
to share the good news!”
The World Championships for FF F1A,
F1B, and F1C were held in Embalse,
Cordoba, Argentina. Faust Parker, who is an
active competitor in F1C, a CD, and a great
ambassador of the sport in District VIII, was
on the US team. He is from Houston and he
led the team in points helping to earn the
Silver medal for the US.
The American F1B team took the Bronze
medal in its category. What an honor to
represent your country in international
competition and then to win a medal. It is
just super.
Faust with his beautiful airplane … too bad
you can’t see it in color!
Faust is nearly ready to launch!
Jack Matlock and I traveled to Fort Worth,
Texas, for the Thunderbirds’ Old Farts Four-
Stroke Rally. It is held the middle
Wednesday of June every year. I guess that
is when old farts have time to fly.
It has been going on for years and I have
tried to go for the last six or eight years, but
somehow I was always sidetracked. The
only restriction is that you must use a fourstroke
engine. You can really be any age to
fly in it (or we might have been run off as
too young to compete!). There were 24
pilots flying all kinds of aircraft and we had
a great time.
I held roughly an hour-long town hall
meeting to discuss FAA issues and any other
items of interest to attendees. It was a lively
session and I think we all enjoyed it.
Woody Lake was the CD and he did a
super job!
Woody received the Making a Difference
award and seems excited about it!
I was glad I attended because without me
their event may have been considered
incomplete. You see, they had an award for
the best biplane and I had the only one there.
Without me their awards ceremony would
have been lacking. Glad I could be of
assistance.
Thanks to Joe Jopling for making sure
Jack and I had lunch. What a great
sandwich.
The Thunderbirds have a beautiful site
right on the lake, but will be relocating in
the next few months. The Corps of
Engineers is moving them to a different part
of the lake and has built new runways,
pavilions, and parking for them. Wish we all
had that kind of support.
I am writing this in June when it seems half
of the country is on fire and the other half is
flooding. I know modelers take care of
modelers and this may be another time to
demonstrate that bonding. Hope all members
were spared!
Have fun and fly safely. See you on the
flightline.
District VIII
Jim Rice, District VIII Vice President; [email protected]
Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
Jim Rice
Vice President
4810 El Gusto San
Antonio TX 78233
Tel.: (210) 213-0299
www.AMA-Dist-8.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Jack Hogan, Chandler TX;
(903) 849-4193 (Evenings)
Bill Holland, Edmond OK;
(405) 562-1327
Mark S. Johnston, Albuquerque
NM; (505) 823-0158
Jim D. Marshall, Alton TX;
(956) 984-9474
Jon Martin, Rayne LA;
(337) 783-2759
Jack Matlock, Live Oak TX;
(210) 413-4846
Randy Ritch, Magnolia TX;
(281) 701-3121
Doug Staines, Belton TX;
(254) 780-3512
Ron Stanfield, Maumelle AR;
(501) 851-1697
Cliff Town, Dumas TX;
(806) 935-3063; town_cliff@
hotmail.com
Pat Willcox, Kingwood TX;
(281) 358-1750
Frequency Coordinator
Gene Kent, Tomball TX;
(281) 255-4805
Safety Coordinator
Randy Brown, Kemah TX; (713)
515-5552; randybbrown@
earthlink.net
AMA Display Coordinator
David Johns, Deer Park TX;
(281) 476-4820
RC Contest Coordinator
Douglas E. Powell, Wichita Falls
TX; (940) 691-8348;
[email protected]
CL/FF Contest Coordinator
Bill Lee, Chandler TX;
(903) 852-5599; [email protected]
District VIII Volunteers
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