District XI—Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington
Chuck Bower
Vice President
cbower@whidbey.com
6075 S. Coles Rd., Langley WA 98260
Tel.: (360) 632-9211; www.amadistrict-xi.org
AMA Expo 2016, in Ontario, California, started my busy month of January. I was looking forward to some warm weather, but found it was much like Western Washington weather.
Inside, the Expo was warm and dry with lots of people enjoying the vendor exhibits. There were some nice display models as usual, but a fun model that caught my eye was a Star Wars Speeder on a quadcopter frame.
A big draw at Expo on Sunday was Marke Gibson from the FAA who gave an hour-plus talk. Marke is a dynamic speaker, but he didn’t give us any new news.
My trip to Congress to “Lobby for the Hobby” was lucky timing. Many of the other district vice presidents had flights canceled or couldn’t travel because of the blizzard on the East Coast.
There were roughly a dozen of us from the AMA who split into groups to talk with as many Congress and Senate staff members as time would allow. These were key people in the process of writing the reauthorization bill for the FAA. The timing was critical to get our message out before the first draft was distributed for changes and additions.
We gathered for a preparatory meeting to look at talking points and review the strategy for our message. It also gave us a chance to share our ideas with each other. After several meetings, we formed a confident team to share our message, each with our talking points.
I’d like to thank the members of District XI for the opportunity for me to go to Congress on your behalf. I believe that we supported the idea that we are a part of the solution, not the problem!
The 2016 North West Model Hobby Expo took place in Monroe, Washington, January 29-31. Twenty-four models were on display this year to the delight of the crowd.
On Saturday, we held a District XI meeting with reports from our associate vice presidents, and a extended question-and-answer exchange on the latest about the FAA.
See you around. Remember we’re all in this together.
Associate Vice Presidents: Darrell Anderson, Great Falls MT; (406) 899-6438; d.l.anderson@bresnan.net; Bryan Batch, Spokane WA; (509) 487-7870; bbhobbies@westoffice.net; Del Herring, Wenatchee WA; (509) 679-8402; del.herring301@gmail.com; Tom Kopriva, Eugene OR; freeflyer123@comcast.net; Mike Mosbrooker, (360) 679-9139; mosbrookerdx i@comcast.net. Chris Rankin, Bend OR; (541) 593-3294; MissleMist@rocketmail.com; Robert Stephens, Anchorage AK; (907) 440-0478; rfstephens@hotmail.com; Al Watson, Bellevue WA; (452) 746-9519; alenawatson@msn.com; Bryan Wood, Boise ID; (208) 412-3254; bw5493@yahoo.com. Frequency Coordinator: Phil Tallman, Medical Lake WA; phillip.tallman@gmail.com. FF/CL Coordinator: Mike Hazel, P.O. Box 505, Lyons OR 97358; zzclspeed@aol.com. RC Coordinator: Dan Rood, 629 W. 26th Ave., Spokane WA 99203; drdantempo@yahoo.com. Webmaster: Chris Rankin.
