District V
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands
Welcome back everyone! District member AJ Peyregne, along with friends Robert Wiley and Steve Salisbury, worked hard over several months of meetings with the Dothan Leisure Service (DLS; parks department in Dothan, Alabama). They were able to establish the Eastgate Airpark for RC flying. In working with DLS, they agreed to support the City of Dothan’s summer camp program, Adventure Camp.
AJ and fellow member Jeff Fry had two hours with the 25 campers and were able to introduce them to our wonderful hobby using a mixture of buddy-box flying with a HobbyZone AeroScout and a computer equipped with a RealFlight RC flight simulator. At the end of the session, each student built and flew his or her own foam glider. The city officials were duly impressed!
This is the type of community involvement that is golden when trying to obtain flying site assistance, dealing with complaints, etc.
Continuing my theme of youth in model aviation, I was proud to have been able to sponsor Drew Powell from Lakeland, Florida, a youth member of the Imperial RC Club of Mulberry, Florida, to attend Camp AMA.
Camp AMA takes place each year at the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana, and is a great way for youth between ages 13 and 17 to spend a week immersed in all things related to model aviation. Kyle Jaracz and his team in the AMA Education department do a fantastic job with this program.
If you have a youth you would like to be considered for a District V scholarship to Camp AMA, please contact me. If you or your club would like to consider sponsoring a camper, I will put you in touch with the right people.
Until next month, keep ’em flyin’!
