District X—Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
Vice President
ama.district10@gmail.com
Box 276, Fairfield CA 94533
Tel.: (707) 480-2053; www.ama10.org
April is here, along with Easter. We had a wet winter and the sun and blossoms of spring are a welcome site.
You might still have time to submit Leader Club and AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame nominations, due March 31. We have so many great clubs and individuals in the District. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to get them the recognition they so strongly deserve. Time is of the essence.
AMA scholarship applications are due April 30. The AMA awards roughly $40,000 per year to students. Let’s help some District X kids pay for college.
It is now only two months until June and Father’s Day. I am going to dedicate my June column to remembering our fathers, father figures, and surrogate fathers who got us into this wonderful world of aeromodeling. Please send me an email with a photo of your loved one and a brief write-up, and we’ll share our photos and memories in the June District X column. Please don’t delay—put down the magazine and send in your photos today.
One of the most frequently asked questions I get is, “How can I get coverage of our event in the District X column?”
Really, all it takes is to send it to me. Put together a write-up of between 400 and 600 words that discusses the event. Answer the questions of who, what, where, when, why, and how. In other words, who put on the event and who was there, what was done, where was it held, why was the event put on, and how did you go about making the event a success, then the most important thing is to send in pictures.
Pictures will make or break your story. I need high-resolution photos, not ones that are downsized for emailing. If you need to send them in several emails, please do. Six good pictures are all that it takes.
Get photos where the airplane or person is filling the frame. To get an interesting photo of an airplane on the ground, get down low and shoot it so it looks like a full-scale aircraft. Your fellow members want to know who is in the picture, what are they holding, where are they from, why they choose that model, and how they made it, so captions are critical. Did you notice we were back to answering who, what, where, why, and how?
Send captions that can be matched to your photos. I promise you if you do that, your write-up will make it in the magazine. If you are thinking about making a submission, contact me for more details. You can get publicity for your event or area of modeling interest, and I would be happy to help.
Let’s discuss integrating your club into your community. A good example of how to do this can be seen by what the Casa Grande RC Flyers club is doing in Arizona. When club president and District X Associate Vice President Alan Friedman convinced the city to lease the club some land for $1 per year, Alan promised to make the club an asset to the community.
The club holds an annual open house that attracts 300 or more people. It chooses a charity, the Humane Society, to partner with and raise money for. The event has a lot of opportunities for hands-on fun with buddy boxes and a high-energy air show.
The club also holds a National Model Aviation Day event, partnering with a charity—this time a local food bank—to increase the reach of the event. Club members write a self-contained article for the local paper along with photos. This article is ready made for insertion in the paper and as a result, gets published ensuring that they get coverage of these events, which is critical to letting the community know the good things they are doing.
Nancy Friedman, club secretary, along with her husband, Alan, scheduled aviation-themed events at the local high school and 4-H group to give the students exposure to the basic concepts of flight such as the three axes of control: roll, pitch, and yaw. They also worked together making foam plate FPG-9 gliders.
They submitted a write-up and got coverage of their efforts in the local paper so their community and community leaders were aware of their efforts. Work like this is money in the bank so that when the club needs help from the city or is under attack from an unreasonable neighbor. The club can point to tangible things it did for the community and how it is in the city’s best interest to support the group.
Take a lesson from the Casa Grande Club and stay involved with your community. Until next month, I wish you all nothing but 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; rebbhf@hawaii.rr.com; Kurtis Chandler, Phoenix AZ; (602) 647-8342; azpm@cox.net; Alan Friedman, Eloy AZ; (520) 876-0232; pooralan@aol.com. Dan Johnson, St. George UT; (435) 619-3112; dkjohnson@gmail.com; Kevin Houser, Oro Valley AZ; (520) 490-7657; khouser@rocketfarmers.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; Gil Terzo, Las Vegas NV; (702) 523-9897; gterzo@aol.com. Peter Vogel, Santa Clara CA; (408) 569-7067; vogel.peter@gmail.com; Roger Willis, Murrieta CA; (951) 249-9688; willisasoc@aol.com. Sanctioned Event Coordinators: Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA; (619) 427-6392; trattaway@cox.net; Forrest Barton, Woodland CA; (530) 383-9019; cbarton328@aol.com; Kurtis Chandler (Arizona and Utah), Peoria AZ; (602) 647-3842; azpm@cox.net; Christopher Sullivan, Waipahu HI; (808) 853-8863; rccombat808@yahoo.com.
