One club that has hosted several successful Take off And Grow (TAG) events is the Airpark Elite in Denver, Colorado. Through a glitch in the funding process, the club did not receive money for this year’s event, but in the true spirit of community involvement, the members still went full speed ahead.
Bruce Holloman, Angelica Brice, Brandon
Hollowman, and Mason Schneider
Here is a report from Colorado Associate Vice President (AVP) Tom Neff. You have to learn to deal with wind if you live here, but a 30 mph crosswind greeted us this year. The Airpark crew adapted, and the conditions simply meant some short takeoffs across the runway.
Myles Barnheart started new student pilots on a flight simulator before their time with their flight instructor. Instructor pilots Duane Gaul, Alan Thovson, Brian Neff, and I took the task of helping the students to fly. Getting the airplanes safely back on the ground was challenging in the brisk wind. Not to be outdone, two of the younger flight instructors, Mason Schneider and Brandon Holloman, decided that if we could fly our big nitro trainers, their T-28 electrics could handle the wind as well. There were some interesting landings with negative ground speeds.
Most of these pilots have 15 years of experience as instructors, so the bumpy flights turned into great experiences for the Civil Air Patrol cadets, Wings Aerospace Academy students, and many parents.
All of that flying worked up an appetite, so the Phil Kenney and Phil Schmuck’s barbecue came to the rescue. Everyone was treated to a delicious lunch of burgers and hot dogs.
Thanks to all who helped. You know this could not happen without you. Colorado AVP Rick McCaskill reported on the annual event at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum. This year the event exceeded last year’s success.
Sunday, April 10, 2016, was the Aerobotics event at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum. The name change indicates the inclusion of robotics to this year’s event. Fourteen clubs from the Colorado Front Range showcased our hobby with approximately 2,000 visitors in attendance. Fellow AVP Tom Neff and I had a table representing AMA and we participated in the demonstration and introductory flights.
Special events held the public’s attention throughout the day. There were indoor flights, but there were also plenty of demonstrations outside of the museum. Every hour there was another attention-getting demonstration including helicopter aerobatics, large commercial hexacopter flights, and a turbine engine run-up on a large jet.
The Magnificent Mountain Men club demonstrated Free Flight models and helped young visitors build small gliders. Many of the RC clubs offered various make-and-take activities as well.
In addition to the RC stuff, the museum offered access to tour the military, commercial, and space aircraft within the museum. They also opened many full-scale flight simulators from a Wright Flyer to commercial aircraft for public use. Everyone was pleased with the outcome. We received more than 10,000 views on the District IX Facebook coverage of the event