District I

District I—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont

Andy Argenio
Vice President

In 2016, a number of AMA clubs in District I experienced a greater interest and acceptance of multirotor racing by their members. Many RC hobby retailers have stated that multirotor aircraft and their accessories represent one of the largest areas of sales today. As newcomers become proficient at multirotor flying, they are joining the AMA to enter racing competitions that are being offered at local AMA clubs. Those traditional AMA model aircraft fliers who started dabbling in FPV flying during the last few years, are now being joined by younger, passionate multirotor racing enthusiasts. Clubs are creating racecourses at their flying sites.

Many clubs and members have contacted me requesting help in getting involved in multirotor racing. In November 2015, the AMA officially welcomed MultiGP as AMA’s newest Special Interest Group (SIG) to represent the FPV racing community.

At that time, MultiGP had 4,000 members and 175 chapters. In nine months, as of September 2016, the AMA multirotor SIG had 10,631 members and 774 chapters worldwide. District I has 347 members and 10 chapters in MultiGP.

Group photo of multirotor race participants — The MultiGP Regional Qualifier was hosted by Boston Multirotor and Wingbusters Rotor Racers at Wingbuster Model Aircraft Club in Massachusetts. Kneeling L-R: third-place finisher, Adam Proulx; first-place winner, Bob Gettler; finishing second, Kevin Pratt; and in fourth place, Ethan King.

Pilot wearing FPV goggles holding a radio controller — All pilots, spotters, and spectators are isolated from the racecourse with 15-foot safety net walls strung between wooden posts as seen in the above right photo.

Spectators beside a multirotor racecourse — All pilots, spotters, and spectators are isolated from the racecourse with 15-foot safety net walls strung between wooden posts as seen in the above right photo.

Adam Proulx contacted me in February for assistance and support for a multirotor racecourse at the Wingbusters Model Airplane Club in Halifax, Massachusetts. The plan was approved by the club and an excellent racecourse was set up on the club’s site at a location also used for Control Line (CL) flying. Within a few short months, Adam became an AMA contest director, created a MultiGP chapter, and ran the club’s first race. By September, the chapter had 12 sanctioned racing events, including the event that I attended, which is pictured in this column. The chapter has 46 members and is still growing.

MultiGP chapters can be found at www.multigp.com/chapters. If you or your club needs help getting into MultiGP racing, contact me or any of the associate vice presidents.

Panoramic view of a marked multirotor racecourse in a field — This approximately 500 x 175-foot dual-use rear field serves as either a CL or multirotor flying area for competition events.