District X Report-2004/12

166
The First Weedwacker Aero Squadron of
Santee, California, held its fun-fly on July
17, 2004. It turned out to be one of the
best fun-fly turnouts the Weedwackers
have ever had.
BILL KOSENSKI of the Gold Country
Flyers in Northern California submitted this
information about his club’s participation in
a school-sponsored project.
The Gold Country Flyers RC club of
Amador County participated in the Amador
High School Kids College held in March
2004. Seventy children attended the clubsponsored
class to learn about model
airplane building, flying, and careers in
aviation.
Pictured are Syd Sydenham (L), Melvin
Francis, Scott Backen, Dick Beldon, Bob
Pynenburg, and Bill Kosenski.
After the kit-building session, RC
operation, and engine demonstrations were
completed, all of the kids were given hand
gliders to fly on the football field. Several
members of the Gold Country Flyers helped
build the gliders so each student was able to
take one home.
Students from Amador High School flew
their gliders on the football field.
Dick Beldon demonstrates RC with his
Typhoon 2.
The following report was submitted by
newsletter editor Fred Hesse of the Harbor
Soaring Society of Costa Mesa, California.
The report includes an account by Chris
Adamczyk, father of Casey Adamczyk who
is a member of the 2004 US F3J Junior
Team (RC Glider).
“I have been flying with the Harbor
Soaring Society for 9 or 10 years. My son
Casey expressed an interest in coming to the
field with me when he was eight. He will be
15 on May 14 so, as you can see, he has been
flying longer than some of our members. We
both have had a lot of help from other
members throughout the years and we’ve
met many other modelers in contests from
Visalia to Poway, and Phoenix to Colorado.
“Roughly two years ago at a fun-fly
contest in Laguna Niguel, Larry Jolly asked if
Casey would be interested in going to
Colorado to try out for the USA F3J team.
Without much thought, we agreed and our
adventure began. At that stage Casey had
transitioned from his Sapphire to a Graphite
and we were having fun. We then found out
that our Graphite was not the right type of
airplane for the launching technique and the
task required.
“We now have two Zeniths for light air
and one Starlite for heavy air, since the
ultimate task is to return to the field after you
have gone all out to get the time part of the
task completed. We practice as much as we
can along with school and youth-group
activities.
“We like to launch on a high start as it
saves taxing the winch, especially if we are
doing landing practice when we only want
one-to-two minutes of air time. It’s also fun
to thermal out from a 50-foot launch. We
practice flying 10- and 15-minute flights to
push the envelope and build Casey’s
concentration. Hand launch is very important.
It’s fun and you get to read the air better.
Generally you are flying close to yourself so
your control inputs are easy to read and you
learn more from your mistakes.”
Since this report, Casey has gone on to
qualify for the F3J Junior Team which
ultimately took second place at the World
Championships in Canada. More photos and
details can be found on the Harbor Soaring
Society’s Web site at www.1hss.org.
The Harbor Soaring Society is particularly
proud of club member Casey Adamczyk
who competed his way onto the United
States’ F3J Junior team, which won
second place at the 2004 F3J World
Championships in Canada. Pictured is the
team receiving its trophies. The front row
includes Casey Adamczyk (L), Paul
Griebenow, and Joe Newcomb.
“I am Crystal Wilson/Morgan, a member
of the Channel Islands Condors, in
Camarillo, California, and the first female to
enter in the JR-SCAT aerobatic competition.
I’ve been flying for approximately five years
with different types of aircraft and have a
Goldberg Ultimate 10-300 with an O.S. 1.20
Surpass II engine with pump.
“I am happy to report that our JR SCAT
event, August 28-29, went well. We did
have a midair collision on Saturday which
sent two of the pilots home a day early. All
in all, I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I
wasn’t able to fly in the event as planned as
my Goldberg Ultimate crashed two days
before the event during practice. Instead, I
enjoyed working as one of the scribes, and
seeing the various performance flights. I
hope to participate in next year’s contest.
“I’m not doing very well financially and
need help obtaining a great aircraft for this
series. But, it’s making me more interested
each day in being able to fly RC aircraft with
precision and consistency. I’m semihomeless
and under employed working part-time, but I
still fly because it is my passion.”
Thanks Crystal and best wishes in your
RC aerobatic endeavors. And thanks to all
for the great submissions to this month’s
column.
Till next time ... Keep ’em safe and Keep
’em fly’n.
Associate Vice Presidents
Darwin Barrie Scottsdale AZ (480) 946-8955
Don Goeschl Lancaster CA (661) 940-6066
Don Gulihur Santee CA (619) 449-8397
Marc Karpowich Logan UT (435) 752-3639
Dave Pinjuv Las Vegas NV (702) 656-1772
Frequency Coordinators
Eloy Marez Santa Ana CA (714) 540-4935
(See last month’s column for additional AVPs and
Coordinators)
Arizona / California / Hawaii /
Guam / Nevada / Utah
Richard Hanson
Vice President
PO Box 3312
Scottsdale AZ 85271
Voice/Fax: (888) 899-3548
E-mail: [email protected]
District X Web page:
Web site: www.ama10.org
District X Report