District V
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands
Welcome back, everyone! I just returned from the International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana, after attending the AMA National Fun Fly and quarterly Executive Council meeting; it was a great trip. The fun-fly had approximately 75 attendees despite some sketchy weather that actually turned out better on Saturday than what was forecast. While I failed to get a picture of us, I ran into fellow District V resident and AMA Life Member Wayne Kinard from Ft. White, Florida.
I’ve come across several instances where members have traveled to my flying field from clubs that are several hours or more away to get turbine training and waiver signoffs. While I have no issues with that (we love to fly jets in Jacksonville and have a great field), I do have an issue with the pilots who are doing so
This month’s Youth feature congratulates Lucas de Lavigne at the Western Carolina RC club in Simpsonville, S.C., for passing his RC Pilot Certification with instructors Steve Hildebrandt and John Schwab.
District V members attended the EDF Jet Jam, held at the Rosewood RC Flyers’ Bill Beach Airfield in Rosewood, Ind., in full force. This club treated me like an old friend when I stopped in on a random weekend while visiting family, having no idea that I was an AMA vice president (VP).
Congratulations to David Bunye of DeLand, Fla., for attaining his AMA turbine waiver with an Aerofoam L-39 at Gateway RC Club in Jacksonville, Fla.
because they find it difficult or impossible to get training at their home field—not because of the lack of jet pilots but either because of needless rules or people who are just unwilling to share their time and experience. That makes me a little sad.
I understand the need for commonsense rules; after all, turbines are complicated, loud, and potentially a fire risk. As the new chairman of the AMA Safety Committee, I also understand all about risk mitigation. The attitude of the Safety Committee is, “How can we incorporate this activity safely?” not “What rule can we think of to ban (fill-in-the-blank activity)?” I urge you to consider that perspective while creating rules in the name of safety.
Don’t use safety rules as a stick to discourage or ban a form of flying that you don’t like or don’t understand. If you do want to understand a type of flying better, and you don’t have someone local, let me know and I’ll try to come to your club or send an associate vice president who is fluent in that discipline to give a talk and demonstration. Who knows; you might even think it’s cool!
Until next month, stay safe and fly a lot!
District XI VP Phil Tallman let me have a flight on his Boomerang Atom at the AMA National Fun Fly. Thanks, Phil!
Andrew Griffith
Vice President
amadistrictv@modelaircraft.org
12258 Bucks Harbor Dr. N.
Jacksonville FL 32225
(904) 993-4956
amadistrict-v.org
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENTS
Mickey Avery, AL; (334) 247-7123; district-V-AVP@email.com
Rick Grim, AL; (256) 656-0859; uavpilot@bellsouth.net
Joe Dolliver, FL; (239) 218-2677; Joe33914@gmail.com
Keith Hall, FL; (813) 928-3861; wing-man@verizon.net
Randy Leapley, FL; (813) 277-6862; randy.leapley@yahoo.com
Jose Melendez, FL; (321) 412-3078; rcjets12@hotmail.com
Andre Smith, FL; (850) 980-3724; andresdsmithr@gmail.com
Bill Barbee, GA; (912) 660-2155; awbarbee@hotmail.com
Nick Ray, GA; (865) 368-3820; lasray@gmail.com
Darrell Sprayberry, GA; (706) 280-5848; darrellhullb@optlink.us
Paul Verger, MS; (228) 826-4892; cpaulverger@yahoo.com
Edwin Medina, Puerto Rico; (787) 525-7768; captmedina@gmail.com
Scott Anderson, TN; patternpilot1@hotmail.com
Tim DiPeri, TN; (615)591-7399; caseco@comcast.net
Dick Tonan, TN; (615) 995-6291; dtonan@mac.com
RC, CL, AND FF EVENT SANCTION COORDINATOR:
Dick Tonan, (615) 995-6291; dtonan@mac.com
WEBMASTER: Glenn Bond, d5amaweb@gmail.com
