District X—Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
Lawrence Tougas
Vice President
ama.district10@gmail.com
Box 276, Fairfield CA 94533
Tel.: (707) 480-2053; www.ama10.org
We have lost one of our own. Eric Henderson—husband, father, grandfather, RC enthusiast, 33-year AMA member, District X associate vice president (AVP)—passed away on July 16, 2016, in Henderson, Nevada, after a long battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Starting with Control Line modeling as a young boy, Eric was into RC cars, boats, and airplanes beginning in 1974. As a contest director and participant of multiple fun-fly events, Pattern contests, national and international Slope Soaring contests, F3F, timed Slope Speed Racing, and International Miniature Aerobatic Club contests, Eric was a strong advocate for the hobby. Wherever work or life would lead him, he always managed to find a flying club. Eric held leadership roles in many of them.
Eric Henderson
12/16/1948 - 7/16/2016
Godspeed.
Eric is survived by his wife, Mary Anne; children Phillip, Robert, Charlotte Byrnes, Victoria Sanders, and Katherine Ware; stepson Aaron Haynes; 10 grandchildren; niece Pauline Lutman; and countless friends.
This year, the SAE Aero Design Series West collegiate competition was held at the San Fernando Valley Flyers field in Northridge, California. This competition brings undergraduate and graduate engineering student teams from around the world to design and build custom aircraft to handle specific flight missions.
This year, 75 teams, half from US universities and the balance from around the globe, competed. Three classes in which to compete include Micro Class hand-launch electric aircraft, Regular Class ground takeoff electric-powered aircraft, and Advanced Class nitro-powered heavy-lift aircraft.
In the Micro Class, teams design a lightweight micro UAV aircraft that can be quickly deployed from a small package then hand launched. The aircraft must be flown over a short, 200-foot course, and then land within the designated flight area.
In the Regular Class, District X was represented by San Jose State, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and U.C. Berkeley. The objective was to design freestanding aircraft that could lift as much weight as possible, while observing the electric power restrictions of a six-cell, 5,000 mAh LiPo battery and a designated 1,000-watt power limiter, yet still be within the aircraft’s length, width, and height requirements.
The Advanced Class pushes into other areas by designing the most efficient aircraft capable of accurately dropping multiple 2-pound humanitarian aid packages, while also carrying the most static payload. They are limited by the maximum total displacement of a .46 nitro-powered engine. Further, they must have a data acquisition system capable of real-time ground display of altitude and use a separate pilot on FPV to sight and drop the payload within a target zone. In this class, we had District X teams from UC Davis, Cal State Northridge, Loyola Marymount University, and Arizona State University.
District X AVP Greg Stone said, “It is incredibly rewarding to share our knowledge and support. I have been working with the Arizona State University team for the past three years and providing support at the events. We should all be looking for opportunities to share our hobby and work with these students as they grow in their field and complete their engineering degrees.”
Greg, I couldn’t agree more. The time I spent at the event was wonderful. Congratulations to the District X teams in the Regular Class: University of Hawaii at Manoa, 15th place; San Jose State, 17th place; and U.C. Berkley, 29th. In Advanced were U.C. Davis, sixth; Arizona State-Tempe, seventh; and Cal State Northridge, 11th.
Until next month, happy landings.
Associate Vice Presidents: Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA; (619) 427-6392; trattaway@cox.net; Forrest Barton, Woodland CA; (530) 383-9019; cbarton328@aol.com; Richard Bonnardel, Kailua HI, (808) 261-7046; rebbfb@hawaii.rr.com; Kurtis Chandler, Phoenix AZ; (602) 647-8342; azpm@cox.net; Alan Friedman, Eloy AZ; (520) 876-0232; poorralan@aol.com; Dan Johnson, St. George UT; (435) 619-3112; dk5ajohnson@gmail.com; Eric Henderson, Las Vegas NV; (609) 410-3194; ehenderson05@gmail.com; Kevin Houser, Oro Valley AZ; (520) 490-7657; khouser@rocketcafarms.com; Tim Johnson, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA; (562) 965-4288; timothy@johnson.us.com; Mike Lee, Redlands CA; (909) 792-8424; mlee8249@msn.com; Scott Malta, Merced CA; (209) 723-4202; scottmalta@comcast.net; Jim Mohan, Phoenix AZ; (623) 434-1351; jmohan351@cox.net; Todd Sheridan, Pleasant Grove UT; (801) 358-8345; sheridan.todd@gmail.com; Greg Stone, Laguna Nigel, CA; (949) 413-0920; gstone4@cox.net; Peter Vogel, Santa Clara CA; (408) 569-7067; vogel.peter@gmail.com; Roger Willis, Murrieta CA; (951) 249-9688; willisasoc@aol.com. Contest Coordinators: Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA; (619) 427-6392; trattaway@cox.net; Forrest Barton, Woodland CA; (530) 383-9019; cbarton328@aol.com; Bob Bayless (Arizona and Utah), Peoria AZ; (623) 694-3379; sumobob@cox.net; Christopher Sullivan, Waipahu HI; (808) 953-8863; rccombat808@yahoo.com.
