District V

District V

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands

Welcome back everyone! It was a busy month and things are starting to get kicking now that “winter” seems to be moving out of Florida.

I started the month with a trek to the Imperial RC Club in Mulberry, Florida, for the sixth year of the Florida eJet Fest on February 1-4. Contest Director (CD) Jerry McGhee runs this awesome event that attracted 58 pilots from Florida, Georgia, and as far away as Michigan.

The long, paved runway faces east/west and the flight stations face away from the sun, so it’s a wonderful flying location. The weather on Friday and Saturday was fantastic, even by Florida standards for the first week in February, with temperatures in the 70s and (for a change!) light wind that was right down the runway.

This annual event welcomes trailers and RVs and is an FAA/AMA FRIA site. The host club does a wonderful job running the event. You might recognize the bright yellow shirts worn by members because the Imperial RC Club was long associated with Frank Tiano’s Top Gun and Florida Jets events, including providing security and flightline control. They will be hosting the Frank Tiano All-Scale Fly-In May 1-5, 2024, with great prizes in several categories.

Model World War I aircraft being static judged — Blue Max CD Scott Lee static judges a Thomas Morse Scout flown by Chad Cotsamire.

I also attended The Blue Max Challenge and Fly In at the Sanford Aeromodelers in Sanford, Florida. CD Scott Lee did another great job with this World War I-era event. Some of the models present wouldn’t be out of place hanging in a museum. If this era’s aircraft interest you, a trip to The Blue Max should be on your travel schedule next year!

Two men standing beside a blue model aircraft — Harley Russell (L) gets his highly modified F-2 Viper static judged by former Top Gun judge Bob Curry.

The DeLand Golden Hawks, in DeLand Florida, held its annual Winter Fest Fly-In and Swap meet on February 10.

Both the fly-in and the swap meet areas attracted a lot of modelers, and the town promoted the event, so there were quite a few public spectators.

I was honored to win Best of Show with my 1/7-scale Blue Angels F-18. I want to give a shout-out to Rob Lynch and Bruce Pennington of BVM Jets for their help.

Blue Angels F-18 model aircraft in flight — My BVM Blue Angels F-18 took home Best of Show honors as voted by the spectators—a humbling honor. Photo by Tony Lively.

Until next month, stay safe and keep ’em flyin’!