District III Report - 2004/07
Ohio / Pennsylvania / West Virginia
District Officers
- Bob Brown — Vice President
35 Sanford Street, Bradford, PA 16701; (814) 368-7655; Email: amadiii@charter.net
Associate Vice Presidents
- Mike Barbee — 6561 Calgary Court, Columbus, OH 43229-2008; (614) 891-1643
- David H. Ellis — 5261 DeWitt Road, Cross Lanes, WV 25313-1209; (304) 776-1408
- Nelson Gould — 1340 Oak Drive, Macungie, PA 18062; (610) 395-9159
- Donald Klopp — 30 Rosemont Dr., Myerstown, PA 17067; (717) 866-6469
- Dan Luchaco — 605 Stevenson Street, Sayre, PA 18840; (570) 888-1856; Email: palflyer23@stny.rr.com
- Frank Noll — 5492 Waterloo Road, Dayton, OH 45459; (937) 435-9232
- Leo Rodriguez — 603 Woodmere Dr., Bldg. 1, Unit 7, New Stanton, PA 15672; (724) 925-0159; Email: rodri44@prodigy.net
- Matthew Turowski — 5 Dogwood Road, Drums, PA 18222; (717) 788-0661
- Joseph S. Vislay — 1381 Cranbrook Drive, PO Box 851, Maumee, OH 43537-3062; (419) 893-9537; Email: jsvislay@toast.net
Frequency Coordinator
- John Cottle — 1012 Wyoming Avenue, Forty Fort, PA 18704; (717) 287-8970
Contest Sanctions and Planning
Each year the question arises from various CDs: "How can I make my contest the biggest and best?" The answer is sometimes very simple. Have you applied for an AMA sanction? If the answer is no, you are probably not going to be very successful. Sanctions should be applied for several months in advance.
Applying for a sanction provides others the opportunity to see the activity in Model Aviation's contest calendar. Preplanning is a very important key to success. It is sad to say that very few events are successful if they are dreamed up overnight.
New Associate Vice President — Leo Rodriguez
I have asked Leo Rodriguez, the new associate vice president for southeast Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia, to introduce himself.
"My fascination with the hobby started in 1979 when I dove in with both feet. I joined my local club, which back then was the Lorain County R/C Flying Club in Ohio.
"I have made many lifelong friends in the hobby and have ventured into different aspects, from flying RC helicopters in competition in the early eighties to CL combat and giant-scale RC. I found that I really liked helping others to learn this great hobby. Getting more involved with club functions and offices was the start of a whole new avenue for me.
"I moved to Pennsylvania to pursue a career in aviation in 1989 and have been there since. I am currently an AMT on medical helicopters in southwest Pennsylvania.
"I held the offices of assistant director and director for the International Miniature Aircraft Association (IMAA) in District III. This gave me the ability to see what was going on in our hobby in other parts of the country and the foundation for what it takes to hold office and serve your district's needs directly.
"I am an active member of the Laurel Highland Model Club and have been running an active swap meet every October for the last 12 years. I am definitely a believer in safety and promote others to always be aware.
"I would like to close with a thank-you for allowing me to serve as your District III AVP and be able to give something back once again. I urge everyone to focus on promoting this great hobby and don't hesitate to contact me if the need arises."
Toledo Show — 50th Anniversary and Highlights
This year marked the 50th anniversary for the Weak Signals' Toledo Show. District III members should be thankful and proud that this club has produced one of the world's greatest RC expos.
Two members of the Weak Signals, Rick Lederman and Bob Hisey, received AMA Fellowships. These gentlemen have provided years of service to the club and the Academy through their efforts with the Weak Signals. Congratulations and thank you.
New and exciting attractions are always produced at Toledo. Perhaps the most exciting this year was the ETOC — the Electric Indoor Freestyle Championships. The show featured 11 world-class fliers competing with indoor electric models at a site located at the University of Toledo. Tom Kroggel, Greg Poppell, Brian Hueffmeier, Matt Chapman, Blaine Austin, and several others deserve a big thank-you for initiating this type of event in the U.S.
Congratulations to George Hicks for his first-place win, Quique Somenzini for coming in second, and John Glezellis for his third-place finish. Plans are already in progress for next year.
Also at the Toledo Show, the Perrysburg Electric Flyers hosted the club's successful Indoor RC Invitational Electric Fly-In. The Perry Field House at Bowling Green State University was a nice site. Each year the micro models become smaller and more interesting.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
