District II Report - 2004/02
Thunder Over Tupper
THUNDER OVER TUPPER—an appropriate title for this year’s annual fly-in held in Tupper Lake, New York. Unfortunately, it had more to do with the weather than the modeling activities that took place in between the rain showers. Seems that’s the way it was for most of us in District II this year. Personally, I think Mother Nature owes us a better 2004.
In spite of the less-than-ideal weather conditions at Tupper, the fly-in was its usual success. Held at the local town park right on the water, the venue makes for a picturesque flying site. Contest director (CD) Tom Bickford organizes this annual affair with the help of members from various clubs in the area. The village of Tupper Lake lends its support to the fly-in. In return, a portion of the proceeds from the event is returned to the community in the form of donations to local civic groups.
Pilots come from throughout the North Country of New York, and it’s not unusual to see former AMA president Don Lowe, who vacations in the area, showing up to get in a few flights.
Old Forge Airshow
This is the second year the Mountain Radio Control (RC) Modelers have held an annual community airshow in Old Forge, New York. The club members got their feet wet last year when they held an airshow in conjunction with their field dedication. The affair was so well received by the village of Old Forge that the club decided to make this an annual event.
Club president Pete Ferris asked CD Walt Throne to organize the 2003 airshow, which included a little of everything from giant-scale RC aerobatics to a control-line combat demonstration. The club has already sanctioned next year’s event and plans to expand it into more of a fun-fly and invite all AMA members to participate.
Outdoor Free Flight — Skyscraper Annual
Outdoor Free Flight is alive and well in District II. The Brooklyn Skyscrapers held their annual Skyscraper Annual at Barron Field in Wawayanda, New York, on October 18–19, 2003. The fly-in included Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), National Free Flight Society (NFFS), and AMA events.
It was nice to see the large number of junior pilots included among the more than 70 entrants. When the dust settled, the juniors did quite well: junior fliers won first-place awards in three of the six FAI events. Additionally, among those finishing in the top five, juniors accounted for 10 out of 20.
Congratulations to the top junior performers:
- Sara Radziunas (Junior US Team member) — 1st in F1B, just ahead of Ron Felix (2nd).
- Nate Coste (Junior) — 3rd in F1B.
- Amanda Barr (Junior) — 1st in F1J/P and 1st in ABC Gas.
In F1A:
- Peter Barron — 1st (won a fly-off against Aram Schlosberg).
- Aram Schlosberg — 2nd.
- Ben Thomson (Junior) — 3rd (maxed out).
- Jonah Coste (Junior) — 4th.
- Josh Revkin (Junior) — 5th.
I want to mention what great jobs the Skyscrapers—and especially members such as Andrew Barron and Art Ellis—do in working with our junior members. The result of their efforts is clear in the success shown by our juniors not only in local, but in national and world-class competitions.
See you next time.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
