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
It’s been a blockbuster fall for Florida’s Central West coast. The Triple Creek RC Club had two two-day events. These days, holding a two-day event is difficult for most clubs, but the Triple Creek RC Club holds two, two-day events two weeks apart. That’s a major feat, but as the club’s president, Gene Garand said, club members came out in force and made it look easy!
The first event was WattFest 2015, which was held October 10-11, in Riverview, Florida. This is the club’s third annual all-electric event. It brought out the likes of Mike Wargo and Quique Somenzini! There were all types of electric aircraft. The west side of the main flying area even had a drone race track. The club event had demos, clinics, races, and just plane fun open flying.
The kitchen crew was amazing—offering a breakfast menu and a lunch with several options from which to choose.
Greg Karpey was the event coordinator and this was a first-class event. During the gathering, Quique said that this was one of the top 10 RC fields he had seen in the country. Keep October open for WattFest 2016. This event is growing each year!
A week later brought the Manatee County Radio Controllers club’s two-day Control Line (CL) event, Southeast Stunt N Fun, held October 31-November 1, 2015, in Palmetto, Florida. This was my first CL event and I had a blast. I have to add that this flying is not for the faint of heart. I was continually amazed at what these pilots could do with a CL model! Their maneuvers included square loops, clover leaves, and inverted flight.
AMA Nats CL pilot, Gene Martine, from Jacksonville, Florida, was on hand to explain what I was watching. I would have been lost without him. Wayne Smith was the contest director (CD) and did a great job of organizing and moving the pilots to the two circles.
The club’s president, Keith Krug, expressed how great the CL and RC pilot members got along. Although the CL pilots had their own spots to fly, the RC modelers gave up their runway for the weekend’s event.
The weather, the field, and the event were amazing! If you haven’t been to a CL event, I highly suggest that you put it on your model aviation bucket list. All I can say is CL is alive and well in Florida!
Held a couple of weeks after that was the Fighter Town USA fly-in, hosted by the Bay City Flyers. This is the club’s annual warbirds event in Land O’ Lakes, Florida. It brings out the big boys—I mean the likes of Chip Green and Nick Ziroli!
Jim Slaughter was on the microphone and did a great job of keeping pilots informed and flying. When Jim was busy flying, CD Bruce Horvath would step in and help out. This event was rescheduled because the field was flooded by rain earlier this year, but the weather for the November 14 fly-in was perfect, with a little breeze.
Bay City RC Club is one of the oldest RC clubs in this area and always puts on a great event. It’s also a great club. This is another first-rate event to put on your GTD (Get Things Done) list.
The Largo Flying Club (LFC) was awarded the 2015 Voluntary Service Award (for groups) by the Florida Recreation and Park Association at its annual convention. For the past five years, LFC has conducted a weeklong, Learn to Fly RC program for local youth as part of the city of Largo’s Summer Camps series. It has been extremely popular and the city considers it a valuable (and unique) part of the camp offerings.
The LFC received assistance from AMA’s Take off And Grow program. Larry Tittle, club president, explained that the program helps build a healthy relationship with the City of Largo. This explains why the club has a 16-year-old flying site.
Great job LFC members! You’ve set a great example.
Associate Vice Presidents: Alabama: Rick Grim, (256) 656-0859; uavpilot@bellsouth.net. Florida: Andy Bowen, (386) 736-1688; abowen27@cfl.rr.com; Andy Griffith, (904) 993-4956; barracudahockey@aol.com; Keith Hall, (813) 928-3861; wing-man@verizon.net. Georgia: Bill Barbee, (912) 660-2155; awbarbee@hotmail.com; Bob Dixon, (478) 960-5200; rdixon3@cox.net; Dave Wenzel, (912) 754-9619; davevfrguy@hotmail.com. Mississippi: Paul Verger, (228) 826-4892; cpaulverger@yahoo.com. Puerto Rico: Juan L Cortes, (787) 674-9909; juan_cortes63@yahoo.com. South Carolina: Don Wise, (803) 534-8164; d7wise@cs.com. Tennessee: Dick Tonan, (615) 793-2204; dtonan@mac.com. Safety Coordinator: Red Scholefield, Newberry FL; (352) 331-8410; redscho@cox.net.
