District IX Report
Colorado / Kansas / Nebraska / North Dakota / South Dakota / Wyoming
Vice President
Russ Miller 980 N. 3rd St. Carrington, ND 58421 Phone: (701) 652-2321 Fax: (701) 652-2994 E-mail: rumiller@daktel.com
Associate Vice Presidents
- Max Hansen — 1909 Wisconsin SW, Huron, SD 57350
- Nathan Lancaster — 3597 S. Kendall Street, Denver, CO 80235
- Fred Hildebrand — 4015 Somerset Circle, Casper, WY 82609-3161
- Troy Lapp — 1619 Wichita Dr., Bismarck, ND 58504
- Travis McGinnis — 8027 W. 81st Circle, Arvada, CO 80005
- Don Moden — 410 Hart St., Salina, KS 67401
- Jim Ricketts — 4921 Fernwood Drive, Sioux Falls, SD 57103-5573
- Jack L. Siebert — 3611 Kimberly Circle, Lincoln, NE 68506-4524
- Mark T. Smith — 14632 W. 50th Street, Shawnee, KS 66216
- Mike Weidner — 6535 Foxdale Circle, Colorado Springs, CO 80919-1788
Frequency Coordinator
Steve Mangles c/o Radio Service Center, 918 S. Sheridan, Denver, CO 80226
News from Nebraska
Contributed by Dick Behrens.
The Omahawks sponsored their sixth annual cross-country fly on Sunday morning, May 2. There was no entry fee and no prizes. Sixteen pilots, along with their spotters and drivers, took part.
This year's route went eight miles north of Valley, NE to a turnaround, then back to the start. The fliers had to share the route with about 300 unexpected bicyclists.
At the turnaround, the club provided 50 breakfast biscuits, five dozen donuts, and coffee. Gene Alexander dealt an optional poker card game along the route. Byron Head won the $17 pot.
The pilots included:
- Gary Black
- Nick Brown
- Skip Brown
- Bob Burt
- Kip Dirkschneider
- Byron Head
- Bud Mitchell
- Matt Myer
- Ward Neesen
- Keith Paskewitz
- Ed Pugsley
- Gale Sherman
- Ed Splittgerber
- Rich Tiller
- Bob Zitzlsperger
- Dick Behrens
Nick and Rich flew from a convertible, Byron from an open-roof minivan, and the rest flew from pickup trucks.
News from Colorado
Contributed by Chris Sturm.
The Arvada Associated Modelers Club was formed in 1975 with fewer than 10 members. For the first few years the club flew at five different sites, but each field was eventually claimed by development. In 1979–80 the club moved to Sullivan Field in northwest Arvada, Colorado, knowing that site would likely be taken someday as well. After identifying and rejecting at least 17 potential sites for various reasons, the club finally found an ideal location.
The city acquired a parcel of open land measuring three-quarters of a mile (west to east) by 700 feet (south to north). The city also included, in a long-term lease renewable in five-year increments, overfly privileges over additional open-space acreage, for a total flight area of roughly 220 acres.
A site committee and other club members contributed design ideas. The field marshal installed a weather station to gather temperature, wind direction, and wind speed data.
The resulting design features two runways: one on the east half of the site and one on the west half. The main runway on the east side is concrete, four inches thick, 743 feet long and 49 feet wide. The west runway remains natural prairie grass, approximately 600 feet long by 75 feet wide.
The east half has six safety-fenced pilot stations, with fencing between the pilots and the starting tables and pits. There are currently four starting tables with small benches on the front to hold starting equipment, flight boxes, or other gear. The west half has four fenced-in pilot stations with cement helicopter landing pads in front of each station. There are two additional "hover only" cement stations on either side of the pit area for teaching helicopter pilots.
Now that the club has two runways, separated by approximately half a mile, it needs a way to provide frequency control. More on the club's creative frequency control next month.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
