District X Report - 2009/09

THERE ARE good events and good
places to fly, and once in a while you get
both at the same time. Associate Vice
President (AVP) Rick Maida traveled with
his wife Merriam to the Camp Far West
Seaplane event and sent in this report. The
float fly was hosted by the Associated
Modelers of Sacramento (California) this
past May 13-17.
“There was food, flying, fun, and lots of
sun, friendship, a raffle, and a big old lake all
for us. Wow, what a fantastic fly-in these
guys put on. Very relaxed and very
enjoyable. Hats off and a job well done to
John Sorenson and John Hainlen.
“This event has been going on since 1976.
It’s a hidden secret. The camping facilities
were great. There were lots of shade trees and
we had the whole area for just the pilots’
families and friends. Pretty cool.
“Total count for entries came to 39 pilots,
so if you have a plane swinging from the
garage rafters, slap a set of floats on it and
come join the fun next year. The date is
always the weekend before Memorial
weekend. It’s close to Roseville and Lincoln
or Rocklin, California.
“Until next time, Rick and Merriam
Maida.”
Here is another event report turned in by an
AMA AVP, this one by John Lockwood. The
report is on his Fresno Radio Modelers 2009
Memorial Day Fly-In.
“This story starts in late March or early
April of 2009 when I got a phone call from
Jim Giffin, the District X vice president. He
started the conversation with ‘I’ve got some
bad news.’ The West Coast IMAA
(International Miniature Aircraft Association)
Festival at Chowchilla had been canceled
because of an edict from the FAA. He then
asked me if I thought Fresno’s flying site was
sufficient to host such an event.
“I said that with a little work on the field,
I thought we could pull it off. He then
suggested that I have it sanctioned through
AMA so that we could draw more entries by
not restricting it to just IMAA members. I
agreed and immediately applied for an AMA
class ‘C’ sanction. Being a longtime IMAA
member, I patterned the event along IMAAsize
guidelines and started planning.
“The cooperation from the Fresno Radio
Modelers was phenomenal, to say the least. I
asked the club if we could buy 100 event Tshirts
and was told in no uncertain terms that
we would need 150. Several club members
got their bosses and friends to donate needed
things to use for the weekend. We got a water
wagon, a large electric sign, and eight 110-
gallon, lidded trash cans to use for the
weekend. We also had two six-passenger golf
carts to shuttle spectators in and out of the
parking lot.
“I can’t thank the club enough for making
this event a great success not only for us but
for the 55 giant plane modelers who chose to
come. We had a gentleman from Canada and
one from Sweden attend and fly. This truly
made this our first international event.
“I had six awards to hand out on Saturday
at a ceremony that turned into a ‘who’s who’
from AMA because the Fresno Radio
Modelers was being honored by AMA as the
very first club in District X to be a Gold
Leader Club for 10 years in a row.
“I gave out a ‘Best WW I’ award to
Quang Ngo for his beautiful Aerco DH-2 that
I own and was flying; a ‘Best WW II’ to
Frank Banks for his 114-inch P-38; a ‘Best
Civilian’ to Nigel Tarvin for his immaculate
Lockheed Vega; and ‘Best Military’ (post
WW II) to Mark Taylor for his F-100. The
‘Farthest Traveled’ award went to Goran
Girenander from Sweden (no contest!), and
‘Pilots’ Choice’ went to Mike Brown for his
beautiful B-36 (that I got to fly).
“In all, we had the best weather on a
Memorial Day weekend that we have had in a
long time. It’s usually the first weekend of
summer here in central California that goes
over 100°, but this year we were spared by
Mother Nature and the thermometer barely
topped 90 all four days.
“Thanks to Mike Brown for these great
pictures of the planes and people at the
event.”
John Vance lands his 50-pound-thrust jet
nicely.
District X VP Jim Giffin’s 1/2-scale Electric
Ultralight takes off.
Along with winning the Best Civilian trophy
for his immaculate Lockheed Vega, Nigel
Tarvin of Canada flew this unruly Cub. I
think Mike Brown attaching a tiny video
camera inside the fuselage had a little
something to do with it.
District X
Jim Giffin, District X Vice President; [email protected]
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
Jim Giffin
Vice President
Box 494688,
Redding CA 96049
Tel. (916) 760-8291
[email protected]
www.ama10.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA
(619) 427-6392
Darwin Barrie, Chandler AZ
(480) 946-8955
Mike Brown, Bella Vista CA
(530) 549-3005
Greg Clemensen, Las Vegas NV
(702) 870-6242
Wayne Hamada, Honolulu HI
(808) 521-7733
Marc Karpowich, Logan UT
(435) 232-1873
John Lockwood, Clovis CA
(559) 298-1606
Rick Maida, Morgan Hill CA
(408) 778-6885
Scott Malta, Merced CA
(209) 723-4202
Bill Malvey, Ladera Ranch CA
(949) 481-8624
Jerry Neuberger, Santee CA
(619) 258-4477
Bob Reynolds, Tucson AZ
(520) 296-8183
Jon Wilson, Ryde CA
(916) 776-2797
Frequency Coordinators
George Steiner, Sacramento CA
(916) 362-1962
Eloy Marez, Santa Ana CA
(714) 540-4935
District X Volunteers
172 MODEL AVIATION