District XI—Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington
cbower@whidbey.com
6075 S. Coles Rd., Langley WA 98260
Tel.: (360) 632-9211; www.amadistrict-xi.org
What a hot and dry summer this has been! On my trip to the July Executive Council meeting at AMA Headquarters in Muncie, Indiana, I found the rain we have been missing in District XI. It was in Muncie!
I visited the RC Scale Nats flying site, which was held on a big paved space. There was lots of flying between thunderstorms.
Every five years, the Executive Council is tasked with doing strategic long-range planning. Recognizing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the AMA is the center of planning for the future. I think our local clubs can benefit from this kind of exercise.
We all need to be proactive in the health of our hobby. This is a good start to address the needs of our clubs and improving our community relations. What are your club’s strengths, weaknesses, threats, and what are your club’s opportunities?
The Fly-A-Ways RC Club, just west of North Plains, Oregon, held a Scale fun-fly and Scale qualifier. With 25 pilots signed up and a blue sky, there was lots of flying alongside the smell of burgers and hot dogs to keep spectators happy. Scott Enchs was the contest director and announcer for the event.
A side note to this event—the flying field is held to flying below 400 feet. The club has a good relationship with a full-scale glider field less than a mile away. This is a great testament to good community relations for these two groups of fliers.
Mike Mosbrooker reports that after a one-year hiatus, the Bell Air R/C Flyers in Washington put on another Warbird Over Whatcom event. Once again, the one-day affair was well done and the setting was great as always. Eighteen pilots came from as far away as eastern Washington and British Columbia. They brought 36 aircraft of all sorts and sizes.
There were only two mishaps of note. On the day before the event, Bill Mitchell managed to put his new MiG-3 into a tree where it might still reside 40 feet off the ground. And Mike Mosbrooker managed to badly damage his favorite ¼-scale Sopwith Pup when the engine quit in a location where the only options were bad and worse. It is being rebuilt.
The club managed to come up with nice drawing prizes and a great lunch. It sold very attractive event shirts printed by the AMA at a reasonable cost. Thanks to the assistance of many of the club members and their spouses and in particular, Mike Miller, club president, who operated the PA system all day.
A big thanks to Amelia Fox and Rory Cahill, as well as Paul and Donna Baker, for handling the food at the event. Jay Schoening stepped up as contest director and Russ Henderson was the hard-working photographer during the event. Even without publicity, a couple of hundred people came to watch this great event.
Fuel them, charge them, or wind those motors, and keep them flying! See you at the field.
