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
Hello District III modelers! As I write this, it’s the first of June and the flying season is in full-throttle mode. I began my June with a visit with to the St. Clairsville Radio Control Flyers club in Ohio. For many years, this group has hosted a successful Pattern competition, however in 2016, the club members decided to add a fun-fly to its club events.
Some of the variety of beautiful aircraft at the St. Clairsville fun-fly.
Unable to attend in 2016, I made it a point to see how the event was going in 2017. I was not disappointed. The gathering drew more than 20 pilots with an amazing variety of aircraft. There were 3-D machines, a giant turbine jet, a twin-engine scale aircraft, two-meter Pattern airplanes, a scale helicopter, profiles, trainers, and more. For this club’s second fun-fly, I believe it is well on its way to many more and bigger events in the future.
Lafe Kunkel flew great 3-D demonstrations with his West Virginia Mountaineer Extra 330. Lafe resides in Morgantown WV.
Mike See and his son prepare to fly his beautiful Moki-powered Yak at St. Clairsville.
Shawn Boyd flew this nice Twin Otter at the St. Clairsville fly-in.
This neat sign is used for vehicles entering the St. Clairsville flying field.
I encourage all of the District III clubs to host an event each year. Invite members of neighboring clubs and the public to attend. This kind of fellowship will help grow your club and keep your members excited about your organization. Thank you to the St. Clairsville club for hosting another great event in District III. I don’t think I’m alone in saying I will be back!
Promoting model aviation in schools is a great way to teach youngsters about how airplanes fly. Like many of you, I am on Facebook and see what my model aviation friends are doing. I ran across a post from Robert Brassell of Avon, Ohio, showing his son utilizing an RC model in his school science project. I contacted Robert to see if he could provide more information about this project. Bob wrote:
“I was originally recruited to do this when my daughter, Emily, was in third grade in 2008 at Avon Heritage Elementary School. In 2014, it was James’ turn. James is in sixth grade now, however, we are still pleased to help at the elementary school events. “I have used that same poster board the whole time with a few photo changes. Until last year, we brought a RealFlight simulator for kids to try, but that sometimes got overwhelming. Now we have a video on the science of flight that ties in with the display.”
Thank you, Bob, daughter Emily, and son James, for using your model for your science project. This display, seen by school children and adults, might lead a young person down a future aviation career path and could possibly spark an interest in the mothers and fathers of these kids to consider model aviation as a hobby.
Bob Brassell and son, James, with their school science project display at Avon Elementary School.
Until next month, fly safely—fly AMA.
