District V

District V

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands

Kris Dixon
Vice President

gaffrfd3@gmail.com
2389 Dublin Eastman Rd., Dexter GA 31019
Tel.: (478) 484-3845; www.amadistrict-v.org

What is a perfect day? Wind 0-2 mph; lightly scattered clouds; 600 x 80-feet of Bermuda grass runway; on-site electricity with an outlet in each of the ten 10 x 10-foot covered areas with work benches, water, and restrooms; and 40 good friends bound by the common interest of flight, laughing, sharing information, and respecting all sizes and types of model aircraft. Oh, I forgot to mention that one of our club members has a cattle ranch and brought inch-thick patties of ground Angus steaks for the most amazing hamburger cookout ever, accompanied by potato salad, chips, and ice cream.

What a perfect day! The Fall Festival fun-fly with the Cullman Aeromodelers in Alabama, was the location of this event. As an AMA sanctioned club, we enjoy sharing our enthusiasm for model aviation with our community. This year, we hosted the local chapter of the Civil Air Patrol, cooking burgers for them and giving them an opportunity to fly RC aircraft. Visitors are always welcome.

Cullman Aeromodelers members standing with their model aircraft — A few Cullman Aeromodelers members with their aircraft enjoying a perfect day.

If you visit Cullman and are an AMA member, we welcome you to come fly with us. Contact Lavell Thrasher, club president, at (256) 352-4203 or jackiethrasher@att.net.

The following report comes from Associate Vice President Andrew Griffith.

On Halloween Day, I had the pleasure of attending the Russ Stricker Salute to Veterans Fly-In at the Ocala Model Flying Club in Ocala, Florida. According to Contest Director Tony Palizzi, 30 registered pilots from across Florida came to participate.

Tom Thacker speaking at the pilots’ meeting — Longtime AMA member Tom Thacker let out-of-town pilots know the ground rules during the morning pilots’ meeting.

I have been to a number of events at the Ocala club field, and always enjoy my time there. Set amid horse stables and tucked away on an area of land owned by the Florida Greenway & Trails Foundation, the club field is conveniently located near Interstate 75. The Greenway is a nearly continuous set of hiking and bicycle trails that go across Florida from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

Scale bomb detail on a P-47 model aircraft — In case you were wondering what happens when it hits the ground! This is actually a great scale detail added to this P-47 as pilots, ordnancemen, and airplane captains often personalized bombs with messages before sending them off.

The Salute to Veterans Fly-In is an event for any size and type of warbird. There was a variety of models represented—from foamie park flyers to a couple of Composite-ARF Giant Scale Corsairs with Moki 250cc radial engines. The weather was good and the flightline stayed busy most of the day. When we weren’t flying, the refueling station was serving fresh grilled burgers, hot dogs, and most importantly, cold drinks. Thanks for the hospitality and see you next year!

Fokker D.XXIII model aircraft in flight — A Fokker D.XXIII on final approach.

This report comes from Bud Gehr, webmaster and safety officer for the Charleston RC Society (CRCS) in South Carolina.

The CRCS was invited to participate in the Charleston Area Model Railroad Club’s annual railroad show at the Danny Jones Armory on November 7-8, 2015. Our booth was packed with numerous types of aircraft on display. There were a couple of computers running flight simulators for the attendees, and we put on several outdoor demo flights.

Several CRCS members were on hand to answer questions and put on demonstrations for the show’s attendees. Dave Schonhut did a good job of drawing the crowd to our booth with jet sounds from his large F-16 and F-18 EDF aircraft. Richard White took a number of photos during the event.

The AMA sent us a media kit of flyers, applications, and several small booklets for attendees to take home. One CRCS member brought balsa gliders for kids to assemble and fly.

Thanks to all of the club members who helped make this a successful event!