District X—Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
- Lawrence Tougas, Vice President
- Email: [email protected]
- Address: 1827 Santa Monica St., Fairfield, CA 94533
- Tel.: (303) 421-9061
- Website: www.ama10.org
Roger Willis sent a recap of the Central Arizona Control Line Club’s (CACLC) fantastic weekend of control-line competition, October 29–30, at the Avondale flying site. Fliers from as far away as Illinois competed in 19 events. The fun contest was CDed by Jeff Hanauer.
In the Speed circle, George Brown flew his Fox Leader. Ted Kraver started things off in Navy Carrier with his pre–World War II Loening M-81, followed by a field that included the current Navy Carrier world champion, Pete Mazur, who had a new WWII Grumman Bearcat. Check out the picture gallery on the District X website.
I want to introduce two new associate vice presidents (AVPs): Mike Lee and Forrest Barton. Mike and Forrest have provided some background on themselves. Please see the district website for additional pictures and information.
Mike Lee
I’m Mike Lee and I am a longtime AMA member who joined in 1977 as a member of the COBRAS club of Council Bluffs, Iowa. My flying career started in grade school with free-flight (FF) models (yes, I’m the kid who tossed paper planes across the classroom!), and by age 9 I had graduated to control-line models. I flew my first successful RC model at age 14. By 1978 I was flying Pattern, attended the 1979 Nats in Lincoln, Nebraska, and went on to become a Masters-class FAI pilot by 1984.
In 1980 I began writing for Model Airplane News, the first of several notable publications. In 1985 I began writing MAN’s Pattern column, and my work has appeared in nearly every major hobby publication.
I am an AMA Leader Member, a contest director (CD), and the president of the Inland Soaring Society RC club in Riverside, California. My main area of interest is sailplanes, with plenty of involvement with electrics, gas, and nitro.
I will be responsible for the Inland Empire area of Southern California, and I have interest in locating and securing flying sites. I think that modelers continue to thrive and grow in numbers because of the explosion in RTF models and RC systems.
I reside in Redlands, California, with my wife, Kathy, and son Skyler. I am a contributing editor for Fly RC and am heavily involved in Thermal Duration and F3J class sailplane competition. I have a good understanding of what our needs are as modelers and hope to make a contribution to the modeling community.
Forrest Barton
My name is Forrest Barton and I am honored to serve as your Northern California AVP. I am an avid modeler who was introduced as a boy to aviation by my father. I have dabbled in nearly every facet of the sport.
As a kid I was involved with sport flying and was introduced to competition with the Society of Antique Modelers. As I got older I spent time with sailplanes and flew control-line with my father. I worked in the retail side of the hobby while in school, and I dabbled with helicopters. My knowledge of aviation led me to a job in full-scale aviation.
Throughout the years, I have enjoyed scale flying and float flying. My current focus is giant scale, turbine aircraft, and slope soaring. I have been a member of many local and regional clubs, organizations, and SIGs, serving as an officer in various capacities with several groups.
I am a field representative for a couple of manufacturers. I am married to my wonderful wife, Shannon, and we have a two-year-old son, Daniel, who is already interested in flying.
I look forward to passing my passion for aviation on to my son as it was passed on to me by my father. As your AVP, I also look forward to meeting you around Northern California, hearing about your interests in modeling, and sharing this passion for aviation with you.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
