District III—Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia
Mark Radcliff
Vice President
mradcliff@suddenlink.net
199 Heron Dr., St. Marys WV 26170
Tel.: (304) 684-2133
www.amadistrict-iii.org
www.facebook.com/ama.district.iii
I just returned from AMA Expo East held February 24-26, 2017, at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. The show is in AMA District II, however many District III eastern Pennsylvania members attend because it’s closer for them than The Toledo Show: R/C Model Expo.
I was impressed with the area where the Exposition Center is located. There is plenty of parking along with many motels and restaurants surrounding the facility. Once inside, I was impressed with the size of the facility and the well-organized show floor layout. Although the show and facility are not as large as that of the Toledo Show, its layout is unique. The AMA display is the hub in the floor center and the static displays
The AMA booth was busy with membership renewals and merchandise sales.
District III member Ed Andrews of Pittsburgh, scratch-built his Best of Show-winning Gee Bee. At 52% scale, it is stunning.
are located around the AMA booth with vendors surrounding everything else.
The show opened on Friday and attendance was good. On Saturday, at 8:45 a.m., a well-attended AMA Membership meeting was held at the main stage. Members met AMA district vice presidents, associate vice presidents, and AMA staff. They were able to hear all of the latest information pertaining to our great hobby. A question-and-answer session was conducted at the conclusion of the meeting.
At 10 a.m., the show opened and attendance was extremely strong at the vendors’ booths. People were lined up two and three deep to see all of the latest and greatest model goodies. The static display tables were full of beautiful aircraft representing Free Flight, Control Line, vintage, Scale, and more.
AMA had a speaker stage that
AMA Ambassador and astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson really packed the house with his great informative lectures about how model aviation had a profound impact on his aviation career.
District III member, Aleksey Lomov of Philadelphia, shows what can be done with typical off-the-shelf RTF foam aircraft. He transforms them into beautiful Scale aircraft.
included wonderful presentations by astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson, the Huff family, Scale builder Sal Calvagna, and others. The speaker presentation area was standing room only as modelers heard inspiring, aviation-related information from well-respected aviation legends.
You can probably tell from my glowing report that I feel the show was a success. You can watch video of the show at www.modelaviation.com/2017-ama-expo-east-express.
Thank you to the entire AMA staff for your hard work, and thank you AMA members for supporting this great event.
Until next month, fly safely—fly AMA.
