Executive Vice President
Mark Smith; [email protected]
Hi folks! It’s been a busy month since I last wrote, so let me catch you up on some exciting things I’ve been working on.
2009 Annual Weak Signals R/C Expo — Toledo
Yes, it’s something many of us must do each year! I asked several attendees why they travel hundreds of miles (good friend and modeling icon Reeves Lippincott came from Alaska!) and the universal answer was, “to visit with my friends.”
In addition to seeing all the latest and greatest innovations from the manufacturers, you have the opportunity to meet many of your AMA Executive Council (EC) and key AMA staff members. Our president and several EC members, all volunteers, spend countless hours in front of our booth answering questions and giving advice.
Next year, please be sure to drop by and let us personally thank you for supporting this great hobby of ours.
Southeast Electric Flight Festival (SEFF) and NCFFA Championships
May is an extremely busy month for President Dave Mathewson and me, so we decided to divide and conquer the many events of the month. Dave agreed to attend Top Gun while I had the great pleasure of attending SEFF in Americus, Georgia. Event Director Jeff Meyers extended warm southern hospitality to AMA Executive Director Jim Cherry and me.
Here’s an oxymoron for you: the event was action-packed and laid back! There were four flightlines with continuous flying going on, but as a participant all you needed to do was check in with the people running each flightline, step up to the pilot’s station, and have fun.
Recognition
I want to recognize some outstanding folks who make this event successful. Jim drove from Muncie, Indiana, with a couple of flying buddies, pulling his trailer. He brought several items to give away, including AMA applications. I was blown away by how many youth we signed up during the weekend, and many of our members stopped by to express their appreciation that we had a presence at SEFF.
As many of you know, I was deeply involved as an officer and competitor with the NCFFA, an AMA Special Interest Group. While munching on a burger, two competitors and friends, Joe “Trey” Hooton and David Grantham, sat down on the picnic bench to chat. I asked Trey to drop me a line about the upcoming NCFFA event.
NCFFA Championships — Details (from Joe “Trey” Hooton)
The NCFFA will be holding its Championships in historic Andersonville, Georgia, at the Hodges Hobbies flying site on August 8–9, 2009. This flying site is a premier location with a full hobby shop on site and the most hospitable host and contest director you could ask for, Mac Hodges.
Continuing the traditions of years past, we will have four classes of fun-fly events:
- Masters Unlimited
- Masters Fun-Fly
- Sportsman Unlimited
- Sportsman Fun-Fly
The Unlimited Class performs timed rolling and looping combinations with spot touch-and-gos. The Fun-Fly Class will do some similar tasks along with events that include an element of luck. The Sportsman events mirror those classes but with a lesser degree of difficulty to encourage new pilots to join in.
Also included in this year’s event is a Magic Class. Airplanes must be limited to any Model Tech Magic aircraft, including the original Magic, Magic v2.0, Simply Magic, and Magic Extra. This class is for laid-back fun and will not include trophies, but will still offer merchandise prizes. I have found in past events that if you do not own a Magic, fellow pilots are willing to let you fly theirs, which promotes further fellowship.
Visit the NCFFA website at www.ncffafunfly.org for event listings and rules information. Come join in and try your thumbs out!
That’s it for this month. Have fun and keep in touch!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
