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
The Fin Hill Middle School flyoff was held after six building sessions with the Sam 8 Club. The popularity of the weekend activity keeps building at the Kirkland, Washington, school. With up to 15 students at any given session, the club relies on its members to mentor the kids.
Even on contest day, several new faces came to build and fly in the event. Steve Dona, the club president, invited me to join the fun with members of the club and students in this contest of indoor Free Flight models built by the kids.
There were two planes eligible for the contest, the P-18 and the Mountain Lion, both model kits from Laser Cut Planes. These are good-flying airplanes for beginners. With the help of the mentors, they recorded respectable times in a school gym. At this point it was hard to tell who was having more fun and had more pride in the models, the students or the mentors.
Will Tilse coaches Aydren McGill on the launch of the Mountain Lion for another high-time flight. This is a serious team, as were most of the other builder/mentor teams.
Bela and Nela Womack and Sean, Mari, and Conor McMenamin with Colin Widdison mentoring this building table. Not to be left out, the moms got in on the building and flying and plan to come back for more.
The top three winners of the competition in the two classes.
The winners got to choose their prizes!
Some of the students were surprised they didn’t get a prize for participating. Only the top six winners got to choose from the prize table. This was a real contest!
The success of this program comes from multiple build-and-fly sessions with airplanes worth keeping. The club members are big winners too. This is an activity where they get to share their knowledge with a new modeler.
The Whidbey Island Radio Control Society (WIRCS) in Washington just received AMA Leader Club status. The new club president, Brien Lillquist, looked at what was available to AMA clubs, filled out the paperwork, and sent it to AMA Headquarters. It’s good to have innovative officers with some new ideas for the club.
(L-R) Ken Woblick, club secretary/treasurer; AMA District XI Vice President Chuck Bower; Brien Lillquist, club president; and Bill Diekman, vice president of WIRCS.
This month I would like to recognize two AMA staff members. The Media and Publications department is composed of 10 people, but I deal with two of them for this column you’re reading.
Managing editor, Liz Helms (L), and graphic designer, Ashley Rauen.
Each month I submit my column, and I can count on it being polished and printed thanks to these two!
As flying season returns to District XI, when you’re checking over your airplanes for any winter storage problems, it’s a good idea to revisit your preflight checklist. Don’t forget to put your AMA and FAA numbers in your new models. Remember we’re all in this together—fly safely. See you at the flying field.
