At some point in everyone’s life, it’s time to retire, and that is what Associate Vice President (AVP) Rusty Kennedy has done. He has decided to step down as the chairman of the AMA Foundation. All of District IV applauds you and thanks you, Rusty, for all of your years of service to the members in District IV and nationally. I want to further recognize him in this month’s column. Rusty, who will remain a District IV AVP, has been my righthand man and second in command since I first thought about running for District IV vice president (VP) 11 years ago. He has spent lots of energy working with our district, the AMA, and the AMA Foundation. His hard work has made my job easy.
Does anybody know what the weather is going to do? Is global warming becoming a real problem? For the last six years, we have not had any measurable snow in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. I can remember that when I was a child, I could bury myself in several snowfalls a year and we always got out of school to play. No more. Heck, my good friend, District V VP Andy Griffith, will probably get snow in Florida before we do.
To remind you about the fun flying from snow and events this time of year, here are two reports from Ray Stinchcomb, our District IV government relations coordinator.
After more than 700 days of no significant snow in central Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay Radio Control club (CBRC; www.crabrag.com) finally got enough snow on the field for ski flying. Four intrepid members arrived at the field with three ski-equipped airplanes ready to go: Steve Barnett, with his Bridi Loadstar; Bob Baltz, with his Apprentice; and Ray Stinchcomb with a Telemaster. Al Dombroski attended as the official photographer.
The Apprentice, with its tricycle landing gear, didn’t do well off the snow, but the Loadstar and Telemaster are good ski aircraft. This is part of CBRC’s attempt to promote the AMA All Season Flyer program. Several members have successfully completed 12 consecutive calendar months of flights for 15 years or more.
One of the first indicators of spring (after Groundhog Day) is the Westminster Aero Modelers (WAM) Swap Meet (www.flywam.org) held on Saturday, February 10. We finally got snow last weekend in central Maryland, so an indoor event to hold the 2024 WAM Swap Meet worked out well. We had a full house of sellers, sold-out tables, and a good attendance of shoppers. It was a great start to the model flying season.
Go fly and have fun safely.