District I
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
On September 14 and 15, the AMA District Outreach Team (ADOT) and local club volunteers showcased model aviation at the Beverly Regional Airshow in Beverly, Massachusetts. This was the seventh show to be hosted by Rich Little’s Flight4Cystic-Fibrosis in 2024. It is a two-day, action-packed event featuring six amazing air show performers, military aircraft exhibits, model aircraft flying and display, skydivers at noon, a choice of food trucks, and rides in a historic C-47 airplane.
Of all of the airport air shows this year, I enjoyed this one the most because, in addition to entertaining the crowd with exciting RC flight demonstrations, we had time to see some of the world’s top competition full-scale pilots perform.
I thought you might want to see what you missed, so I included the following URL addresses of YouTube videos by Jarrod Jackson that show each pilot’s thrilling show performance.
Ghostwriter Airshow’s Nathan Hammond flew his de Havilland Super Chipmunk, demonstrating skywriting figures and precision aerobatics. View the video on https://youtu.be/1MWEGJNfN7w.
Trevor Rafferty can be seen flying his 400 hp hand-built Pitts Model 12 at https://youtu.be/R797yg9DNk.
Manfred Radius demonstrated the capabilities of his fully aerobatic H101 Salto sailplane after being towed to 3,000 feet, can be seen at https://youtu.be/rfwvgdj5pE8.
RJ Gritter flew his Super Decathlon, performing dynamic, high-energy aerobatic maneuvers. See the video is at https://youtu.be/f7jc6Xy5QPs.
Warbird Thunder’s Chris Thomas and Christopher Orr flew their North American SNJ Texans, doing graceful aerobatics in formation, and can be seen at https://youtu.be/2iNJDdZ6vlc.
Jason Flood flew his modified Pitts S-1S, demonstrating his dynamic aerobatic skills. It is available at https://youtu.be/yiztMLkdkMY.
Twelve ADOT members and volunteers participated in this air show. We displayed and flew a variety of popular RC model aircraft, from the smallest electrics to the Giant Scale aerobatic gas- and turbine-powered jet models.
At the AMA booth, members answered attendees’ questions about aeromodeling, gave out AMA handouts, provided flight simulator instructions, and raffled off an RC Decathlon model airplane replica of RJ Gritter’s full-scale airplane. During the show, RJ signed his signature on the model airplane to the delight of the 12-year-old raffle winner. Thanks, RJ.
Thank you to Rich Little and the ADOT members for contributing to another outstanding air show.
Wishing all good health, lots of happiness, and a great new year! ✈ AMA
The AMA booths were busy each day with questions about aeromodeling, raffle ticket sales, and running five simulators.
