Edition: Model Aviation - 2002/09
Page Numbers: 158

District II Report

Area

New Jersey / New York / Europe

Vice President

Dave Mathewson

Associate Vice Presidents

  • Roy A. Brown — USAF AFCENT CMR 460 BOX 585 APO AE 07903; E-mail: BrwnRoy@cs.com
  • Sal Calvagna — 1335 Broadway Avenue, Holbrook, NY 11741; Tel.: (631) 737-6327; E-mail: ncalvagn@suffolk.lib.ny.us
  • Gary Fitch — 1219 Slab City Rd., Franklinville, NY 14737; Tel.: (716) 676-2498; E-mail: gmfitch@hotmail.com
  • Ray Juschkus — 59 Livingston Street, St. James, NY 11780; Tel.: (631) 862-5589; E-mail: rayjay@ix.netcom.com
  • Jim Lewis — P.O. Box 61, Ogdensburg, NY 13669; Tel.: (315) 393-2580; E-mail: swtdove@northnet.org
  • Tom Murray — 31 Voorhees Drive, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920; Tel.: (908) 766-5656; E-mail: thmurray3@aol.com
  • Ernie Nikodem — 407 Willow Street, Lockport, NY 14094; Tel.: (716) 434-8350; E-mail: marlenernie@juno.com
  • Bill Poythress — 2 Hemlock Court, Saugerties, NY 12477; Tel.: (914) 246-8850
  • Adam Sattler — 41 Perry Avenue, Latham, NY 12110; Tel.: (518) 783-8929; E-mail: asattle1@nycap.rr.com
  • Peter Seiffert — 8636 Grey Birch Dr., Baldwinsville, NY 13027; Tel.: (315) 635-6370; E-mail: pseiffert1@twcny.rr.com
  • Alexander Szemere — One Talia Rd., Kendall Park, NJ 08824-1705; Tel.: (732) 821-5641; E-mail: drszemere@aol.com

Frequency Coordinator

Dan Williams

  • Address: 27 Treeline Dr., Liverpool, NY 13090
  • Tel.: (315) 652-7740
  • E-mail: dlw@dreamscape.com

Webmaster

Jack Sugameli

District News and Events

District II is having a fly-in! Some of you may remember the question posted on our District Web site asking what one thing AMA could do to benefit the sport flier better. We received several good suggestions. One suggestion was that we hold a district fly-in where members could get together, meet each other, fly, discuss how other clubs operate, and generally relax and have a good time in a noncompetitive atmosphere.

I ran this idea past our District Associate Vice Presidents (AVPs), who thought it was a good idea, so that's what we're going to do. I hope to be able to make this a yearly event and move it around to different parts of the district. This year, AVP Peter Seiffert and his club, the Syracuse Thunderbirds Aero Radio Society, have generously offered to host the fly-in with their annual air show planned for August 31 and September 1, 2002. Site restrictions will limit this to a Radio Control (RC) event this year. Nevertheless, we're also exploring a few similar concepts for our Control Line (CL) and Free Flight (FF) members, and eventually hope to find a site that could accommodate a combined fly-in.

By the time you read this, all of our district clubs will have received detailed information about the event. If you haven't seen the information or need more, visit the District II Web site, www.amadistrictii.org, or contact me and I'll send you a flyer. I hope to see many of you there. It will be a good place to start planning for next year's district fly-in.

Some of you may remember reading the letter to the editor printed in Model Aviation several months ago, written by Vince Aprea. Vince is a District II member and a member of the New York City Police Department. Vince wrote about his experiences during the morning of September 11, 2001, and how his model Corsair was destroyed in the back of his vehicle as he rushed to the World Trade Center to help his fellow officers try to rescue civilians from those burning buildings.

Vince received several letters of support after his letter was printed. He even received offers from manufacturers and AMA members to help replace his lost equipment. One club that almost made it a mission to help Vince was a District II club, the North Country Flying Tigers. This club, led in its effort by Phil Camp and Joe Kruger, not only offered to replace Vince's lost model, but invited him and his family up to their field in the Glens Falls area of New York for a little rest and relaxation when he had an opportunity.

As progress continued at Ground Zero, Vince was finally able to take a couple days off and made the trip upstate to fly with the Tigers. This all took place in early May of this year and, as you can see from the pictures, it turned out to be a great day for all involved.

I was in Muncie for Homecoming, June 7–9, and I stopped and looked at the first group of engraved bricks that have been set in the AMA Walk of Fame in front of the administration building. I recognized the names of several District II members and noticed that some of our clubs have purchased a brick as a "club project."

Thanks to all of you who have considered this an appropriate way to support AMA. If anyone would like more information on the Walk of Fame program, let me know and I'll be happy to send it to you.

I need to pass along some sad news. AMA District II Education Coordinator George Yatsko passed away Monday, June 3, 2002, after a battle with cancer. George was one of the most enthusiastic people I have ever met and was totally engrossed in his efforts to introduce model aviation not only to the youth of his community, but to children throughout the District. I know he enjoyed teaching kids to fly as much as the kids enjoyed flying. George was active in many programs he created in Hillsdale, NJ, to teach model aviation to children using electric control-line models. His efforts with this program were documented in Model Aviation, in a feature article written by Bob Hunt that appeared in the May 2002 issue.

See you at the field.

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.