AMA News - District X Report
Arizona / California / Hawaii / Guam / Nevada / Utah
District Officer
Richard Hanson Vice President PO Box 3312 Scottsdale, AZ 85271 Voice/Fax: (888) 899-3548 E-mail: richh@bigplanet.com Website: http://www.ama-10.com/ama
Associate Vice Presidents
- Glenn Carter — Walnut Creek, CA — (925) 933-2086
- Jim Giffin — Sacramento, CA — (916) 638-4283
- Wayne Hanada — Honolulu, HI — (808) 521-7733
- Kai Jensen — Reno, NV — (775) 329-6430
- Bill Malvey — Ladera Ranch, CA — (949) 481-8621
- Jerry Neuberger — Santee, CA — (619) 258-4477
- Bob Reynolds — Tucson, AZ — (520) 296-8183
Frequency Coordinators
- George Steiner — Sacramento, CA — (916) 362-1962
(See last month's column for additional AVPs and Coordinators)
13th Annual NorCal Free Flight Championships
The 13th Annual NorCal Free Flight Championships took place April 27–28. This report was contributed by Fred Terzian.
Not to blame it on superstition, but for some reason Contest Director Bill Vanderbeek elected not to have the number 13 placed on this year's plaques. We had hoped for the near-perfect weather conditions experienced at the Sierra Championships, but such was not the case. Early arrivals at the 2002 NorCal Free Flight Championships couldn't even test fly on the days prior to the contest.
As has been customary, we attracted the hearty Northwest souls who enjoy this contest. I spoke with Glen and Linda Grell, John Kamla, Bob Stalcik, Frank Pollard, and Charles O'Donnell. I know that Tom Kopriva attended, as well as Tony Robertson from Utah and several people from Nevada. Attendees included two of our biggest supporters, Jim Haught from Indiana, and AMA District X VP Rich Hanson.
The Southern California group was comprised mainly of FAI competitors, but I also saw Norm Peterson and Lynn Pulley flying the AMA Gas events. Al Heinrich brought a trailer full of modeling goodies to sell.
Wind conditions were brisk on Saturday. Henry Smith made a valiant effort to attack another rise-off-water rubber record with his Drip Dry Mulvihill. His model leaped off the pond and immediately headed downwind, but he was unable to sustain the number of maxes needed to post a record time.
Sunday morning opened with very calm conditions. Bud Romak was up at the crack of dawn ready to fly the Dawn Mulvihill event.
The contest was well attended. The best-attended events proved to be Hand Launch and Catapult Glider. In FAI it was the F1A Towline event.
I want to commend Rocco Ferrario, Sterling Davis, Mike Davis, and several others for supporting the junior ranks. Who says that our days are numbered? All of those kids were having a fantastic time and getting well-deserved support from their parents, friends, and mentors.
There are too many to thank for running this contest. We had many volunteers within the Oakland Cloud Duster ranks, including relatives. Many non-club members helped as well, and we appreciated it very much.
Running a contest of this size is not easy, but if the number of participants is any indication, the effort is well worth it. Please join us again for next year's event.
Till next time... Keep 'em safe and keep 'em flyin'.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
