Author: Dave Mathewson
Edition: Model Aviation - 2003/02
Page Numbers: 152

District II Report - 2003/02

Region

New Jersey / New York / Europe

Vice President

Dave Mathewson

Note: For a listing of all district volunteer workers, please consult a previous issue of Model Aviation.

Events and Activities

Associate Vice President (AVP) Jim Lewis was again out in 2002 in the northernmost part of District II. As the flying season began, Jim attended the LeRay Recycled Flyers' Spring Fun-Fly. The LeRay field is located on a closed landfill near Watertown, NY. The club has established a close working relationship with the town, which has helped with several improvements at the site. Situated adjacent to Fort Drum, there's also the bonus of watching the occasional full-scale military exercise taking place.

On August 10, 2002, Jim visited the Booneville Balsa Busters annual Fun-Fly in Booneville, NY. The club field is actually the backyard of member Dave Bowerman, who was the event's Contest Director (CD). Dave helped form the Balsa Busters several years ago. Only in its third year, this fun-fly has grown into one of the more popular events in the area.

The next day, August 11, Jim made the trip to Tupper Lake, NY for the annual Thunder Over Tupper Lake Fly-In. Tom Bickford is the CD for this fly-in that draws participants from all over Northern New York and surrounding states. Working with several Tupper Lake civic groups, the fly-in does an excellent job of promoting model aviation in the area and draws several hundred spectators annually.

AVP Ernie Nikodem is pretty much a fixture at most events that take place in the westernmost part of the district. July 13–14, 2002, Ernie stopped by the Wing and Rotor RC's Fly Over Niagara RC Airshow. The event was held at Niagara Falls Reservoir State Park and drew 38 pilots each day. As an incentive to participate, prizes were awarded by raffle each hour, the food was free, and the club charged no entry fee.

Ernie also visited the Annual Empire State Indoor Free Flight Championships in Orchard Park, NY. This is the fifth year for this event, which is held in arguably one of the best indoor venues in the district: the indoor practice facility of the NFL Buffalo Bills. Besides several AMA events, the contest also focuses heavily on youth activities and Science Olympiad flying. The contest draws modelers from several places outside District II, including Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, and Canada.

A new addition this year was the evening time set aside for Indoor RC flying. Rumor is there is talk of doing this again next year. You Indoor RC guys keep your eye out for this — you'll never find a better indoor facility in which to fly.

AMA Website and Internet Notes

Have you visited the AMA Web site (www.modelaircraft.org) lately? There have been several improvements added. The latest is the addition of a Members Only section that includes access to an archive of Model Aviation dating back to 1975. More features will be added to this area in the future. There's now a searchable database for finding hobby shops in a specific area. If you haven't visited in a while, stop by and take a look — I think you'll be pleased.

While I'm on the subject of the Internet, let me take a second to talk about e-mail and some of the "Internet newsgroups" in which some of us participate. Occasionally I'll hear from someone who sent me an e-mail and didn't get a reply. I always reply to every e-mail that needs an answer. If you send me something that needs a response and don't hear back from me, assume I didn't get it and try again.

The Internet can be a great tool for researching a product, getting help with a project, or even talking to modelers with interests similar to yours. Newsgroups and discussion forums are becoming a popular place to look for answers. The problem is, ask a question and you'll get several different answers — some right, many wrong.

If you have a question involving anything to do with AMA, ask me. If I don't have the answer, I'll get one for you.

See you next time ...

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