District IV
Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland,
North Carolina, Virginia
Jay Marsh
Vice President
amadistrictiv@modelaircraft.org
3227 Pine Needles Rd.,
High Point NC 27265
(336) 687-0973
amad4.org
facebook.com/amadistrictIV
facebook.com/groups/amadistrictiv
Associate Vice Presidents
Winston Brown, NC; (323) 243-6146; wbnme01@gmail.com
Nic Burhans, VA; (540) 219-9646; nic@amad4.org
Bob Burnett, Washington, D.C. SFRA; (703) 742-9682; bobburnett4@gmail.com
Jack Hamilton, NC; (828) 206-5281; scorpionjacks@hotmail.com
Rusty Kennedy, VA; (757) 812-2812; rusty716@gmail.com
Richard “Rick” Moreland, MD; (301) 261-7366; rmoreland@verizon.net
Mark Smith, NC; (704) 798-2776; marksmithsmitty@yahoo.com
Terry Terrenoire, VA; (412)760-4593; amad2terry@juno.com
Mark Weiss, DE; (302)547-4917; ama82824@yahoo.com
Event Sanction Coordinators
CLAVP: Jack Rosemere, 609 William St., Cambridge MD 21613; (410) 330-4663; jack.rosemere@gmail.com
FFAVP: Bob Sowder, 84 Misty Hills Ln., Troutville VA 24175; (540) 525-7086; bobsowder1@gmail.com
RC: John Bergsmith, 1438 Piney Church Rd., Concord NC 28025; (704) 699-6977; RCcoordinator@amad4.org
Government Relations AVP
Ray Stinchcomb, (443) 618-8998; govrelations@amad4.org
Webmaster
Jack Upchurch
webmaster@amad4.org
Social Media Administrators
Doug LeRoy, Alan Goodman
facebook.com/groups/amadistrictIV
Happy new year to one and all and I hope we have a fantastic year ahead of us.
Back in 2014, when the Washington, D.C., Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) was shut down, one District IV Control Line (CL) club was asked to leave since they were flying within the SFRA’s inner ring at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, directly across the street from the US Secret Service James J. Rowley Training Center. The Goddard Model Aircraft Club found a new home in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, with the Prince Georges RC Club (PGRC), which provided a place for them to fly again. Members now have an 80-foot circle and operate seamlessly with RC activities.
The club recently held a special event, and PGRC member Tim LaNore brought us the following report.
A worldwide CL event took place on October 11-12. It was called the 18th Annual Worldwide Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon. This event is all about putting up as many flights in two days with any variant of a Ringmaster by as many pilots as possible. A flight consists of taking off, flying a minimum of five laps, and landing. There are no prizes or anything like that—just recognition. John Crarley of PGRC is the webmaster for the event, taking in reports from people all over the world and producing a spreadsheet for all to see.
We have participated in the Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon since about 2010. We have a cookout on
Competitors keep warm while preparing for their flights.
Quite an assortment of Ringmaster variants were out there, from beginner models to Sportsters, and even a couple of Imperials. Some of these airplanes were electric with throttle control, while the rest were good old-fashioned, glow-fuel powered; some were also with throttles. Many of our flights had two or more pilots flying in the circle at the same time, which really helped our numbers. Back in 2019, we had seven of us go up together and live to talk about it.
On Saturday, we had good weather, with nine pilots putting up 558 flights. On Sunday, the weather wasn’t as good. We made 453 flights that day for a weekend total of 1,011 flights. That is our highest total to date! We placed third in the world behind a group from the Philippines that made 1,046 flights and a group from Australia that made 1,000 flights. The world total this year was 9,505 flights made by 506 pilots.
This is truly a fun event, so get ready to fly in the 19th Annual Worldwide Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon in 2026. For all of the information about the event, go to ringmasterflyathon.com.
Go fly and have fun safely.
