District XI
Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington
Hi all! It has been a mild winter so far here in the Northwest. It wasn’t good enough for much flying, but I got to work on my new trailer. I did fly on December 31 and New Years Day, ringing out the old and bringing in the new!
This month, I want to devote this column to RC Scale competition. We have a good contingency here; it is the one competitive thing I do. We have multiple eligibility events throughout the district and a championship in East Wenatchee, Washington. We like to have beginners, and we have classes that allow nearly any scalelike airplane to be used—ARFs or RTF models included. Please consider joining us for a great time. Information can be found at www.nwscale.org.
Associate Vice President Mike Ingram was the contest director for the NorthWest Scale Aero-Modellers (NWSAM) Scale Championship last August. Here is his submission about the event:
The NWSAM wrapped up the 2023 competition season with the 12th Annual NWSAM Championship in East Wenatchee, Washington, at the Wenatchee Red Apple Flyers Club field. There were 41 entries, with multiple entries in all of our six event classes. The entry-level class, Pro/Am Sportsman (AMA 520 Fun Scale), has seen an increase in contestants in the last few years and had 15 entries.
The basic premise of NWSAM is to sponsor a series of regional eligibility events, leading to an annual regional championship-level event. To be eligible for the championship, a contestant must bring a score forward from an eligibility event. That score is then added to the score at the championship, which produces a final championship score. The eligibility events for 2023 were held in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia.
We are fortunate to have the fastest scorekeeper in the West, Terri Ingram. I cannot tell you how many contestants have commented throughout the years that they never expected to get their scores back so fast after they had just flown. On many occasions, the contestants have their score sheets waiting for them by the time they put their airplane away. Please consider joining us in the 2024 season.
That’s all for this month. Keep building and flying!
