District X
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
Lawrence Tougas
Vice President
ama.district10@gmail.com
Box 276, Fairfield CA 94533
(707) 480-2053
www.ama10.org
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENTS
Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA; (619) 427-6392; trattackway@cox.net
Forrest Barton, Woodland CA; (530) 383-9019; cbarton328@aol.com
Jim Bonnardel, San Diego CA; (858) 292-5518; nitroblast@hotmail.com
Alan Friedman, Eloy AZ; (520) 876-0232; poroalan@aol.com
Dan Johnson, Preston ID; (435) 619-3112; dksajohnson@gmail.com
Tim Johnson, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA; (562) 965-4288; timothy@john.us.com
Mike Lee, Redlands CA; (909) 792-8424; mlee8249@msn.com
Barry Mattison, Las Vegas NV; (702) 218-3827; bm.rabbit@gmail.com
Dave Meriwether, Laguna Beach CA; (949) 350-4075; meriwed@comline.com
Jim Mohan, Phoenix AZ; (623) 434-1351; jmohan351@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; willisassoc@aol.com
EVENT SANCTION COORDINATORS
Tim Attaway (CA south of Bakersfield), Chula Vista CA; (619) 427-6392; trattackway@cox.net
Forrest Barton (CA north of Bakersfield), Woodland CA; (530) 383-9019; cbarton328@aol.com
RC Soaring has lost a great friend and pilot in Fred Weaver. His many friends in the US mourn his passing. Fred lived in rural northern California, east of Sacramento, and absolutely loved competing in RC Soaring, most recently in F5J. Among his many admirable traits, Fred had a great sense of humor that, at times, involved politics. He would often send hilarious emails that would brighten his friends’ days.
Fred was heavily into Soaring competition back in the heyday of Thermal Duration (TD) contests. He had especially fond memories of the North/South TD competition that pitted Northern California against Southern California.
It was Fred’s idea to try to rekindle that camaraderie and feeling, but this time with F5J. And so was born Fred’s North/South F5J Challenge. Throughout the summer of 2019, Fred mapped out what he wanted with his new, team-oriented event. Fred was excited to hear that Central Valley RC would allow him to host the contest in Visalia, California. Game on!
The signups were good and the teams were even: 10 North and 10 South. As the contest progressed, it was clear that the South team was going to be tough to beat. After eight rounds, the South was up by 300 points; after 12 rounds, it was up by 408 points. Then it was time for the last (13th) round. Bob McGowan described what happened:
What happened in that last round was that the North’s Fred Weaver flew out the full 10-minute slot while everyone else in the group landed at roughly 2 minutes. Wind was next to nothing and conditions had been excellent for the previous group. Everyone in the group launched low, thinking they had a good read. Fred cut off at 30 meters—others were slightly above.
When it wasn’t working, Fred pushed out farther and eventually hooked up, but it was too late for anyone else to follow. This one dramatic flight group win by Fred catapulted the North forward by hundreds of points because the key South front runners in this group already had bad throw-outs.
The North team was impossibly behind and it was only Fred’s final round save that put the North on top. It was decided that Fred would be the first holder of the perpetual North/South Cup.
Fred’s gutsy miracle flight gave the first North/South F5J Challenge cup to the North, surprising everyone there. He was having fun. To say that Fred was proud of his winning flight is an understatement—he was beaming throughout the awards and picture-taking ceremony. Everyone could tell he was having a blast. That day will forever stick in the minds of all of the attendees whenever they think of Fred.
After that day, Fred was only able to fly in one other F5J event: the June 2020 F5J in Visalia. After that, the NorCal group didn’t see much of Fred as his health declined.
Thank you to Chris Bajorek and Bob McGowan for their remembrances of Fred. I considered Fred a friend and he sold me my first high-performance sailplane, which I will treasure. Fred, you will be missed, but you will definitely not be forgotten. Thanks for being such a good friend to so many.
Until next month, I wish you all happy landings.
