District XI Report - 2009/10
IMAA Alaska Float-Fly — Wasilla, June 27–28, 2009
Report by Greg McCullough
The International Miniature Aircraft Association (IMAA) Alaska Float-Fly was June 27–28, 2009, in Wasilla, Alaska. Greg McCullough reported on the event.
Ah, summer in Alaska! I read in MA of a float-fly to be held in Wasilla, about 260 miles from my home. I was thinking of traveling in Alaska this year to see some model flying and this was just the right distance from home for an easy trip.
I called to confirm the dates with the CD and president of the IMAA here in Alaska, Gary Rude. During our conversation, I found out that the float-fly was to be held at Gene Birky's home, an acquaintance of mine whom I had not seen since 1983.
The Wasilla area is spread out, and I was not that familiar with all the outlying areas, so a call to Gene when we got close allowed him to talk us to his house.
We crossed a grass bush-plane landing strip and on the other side was Gene standing in the roadway, flagging us down. He not only had a place for our RV to park, he also had figured out how to turn it around in the small confines of his front yard.
Fliers had been arriving before we got there and roughly 25 were in attendance. Gene had made a small campground in his front yard and nice gravel roads down to the lake. He had a wonderful covered shelter and barbecue grill, and there were plenty of covered areas for those occasional rain squalls that grow in south-central Alaska.
Gene introduced me to his fellow IMAA members, including Don Pintar. Don had his Canadair water bomber there that was published in Model Airplane News. I met Gary Rude, the IMAA president and CD for this event. We had a nice chat while I gave him my information for sign-in.
I was introduced to Paul Kriner of Anchorage, who brought a Great Planes J-3 Cub. His O.S. .91 engine was more than enough for the Cub and Paul put on a very smooth flight demo.
I met Bill Resinger of Palmer, Alaska. Bill was flying a North Star that he had finished building this year. It was powered with an O.S. .46 SF. Once in the air it flew like a rocket, but unless there was a pretty good chop on the water it usually took several tries to get it airborne. Bill flew great!
Justin Johnson of Chugiak, Alaska, was probably the youngest flier there, flying a Hangar 9 Super Stick that he had owned only a week or two. Not only that, but this was his first time flying on floats—you would have thought he'd been flying floats all his life!
I ran into Kip Absher. Kip and Gene were working on an all-foam floatplane called a Wingo. It is kitted in Germany and designed to be backpacked into remote lakes.
I observed a young man flying what appeared to be a Schneider Cup racer. I eventually got over to talk to him and found he was Scott Dowd of Anchorage. I knew Scott when he was only eight years old. He had purchased a Schneider Sport .60 on Craig's List. It was a nice-looking airplane—and could it fly!
Harvey Manson of Anchorage was there, too, with his Ultra Stick .60–.90 and a Mariner seaplane.
Parked next to my RV was Charles Tetreault of Peters Creek, Alaska. Charles was putting together a Hobby Lobby Seawind in his motorhome. It was coming together nicely and I'm sure he'll have it ready for next year's fly-in.
Lars Gleitsmann of Anchorage showed up late, but it's never too late to fly. Lars had a rebuilt Bud Nosen Aeronca Champ in his van. He said he bought it wrecked in Germany, rebuilt it, and installed floats of his own design. No sedate takeoffs and landings for Lars—just turn and burn!
The IMAA in Alaska is having another float-fly in August. You can count on me being there. Great guys, great airplanes, and a fantastic host—what could be better? I'd better bring some extra money again. Gene sold me a Great Planes 1/3-scale Pitts Special; I wonder what I'll bring home next?
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
