{"id":123,"date":"2016-10-15T21:06:21","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T21:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/?p=123"},"modified":"2017-01-25T21:14:46","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T21:14:46","slug":"ama-district-v-news-november-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/2016\/10\/15\/ama-district-v-news-november-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"AMA District V news November 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: When is <\/span>National Model Aviation\u00a0Day?<\/strong> A: The hottest day of the year in\u00a0Florida!<\/p>\n

Seriously though, I had the great\u00a0pleasure of attending the National\u00a0Model Aviation Day Fly-In that took\u00a0place at the Shadetree RC Club in\u00a0Glen St. Mary, Florida. In order to\u00a0spread out the workload, three clubs\u00a0near Jacksonville rotate hosting the\u00a0event\u2014Gateway RC Club, the RC\u00a0Club of Jacksonville (my club!), and the\u00a0Shadetree RC Club.<\/p>\n

Nearly 60 pilots showed up with\u00a0everything from foamies to a Hemple\u00a050% Cub. Thanks to generous prize\u00a0donations from Tower Hobbies\/Great\u00a0Planes, Hobby World of Jacksonville,\u00a0Redwing RC, Dave and Buster\u2019s of\u00a0Jacksonville, and AMA District V,\u00a0the event raised $3,000 for Disabled\u00a0American Veterans.<\/p>\n

Being a veteran myself, I can\u2019t thank\u00a0everyone enough who helped run the\u00a0event or simply showed up and flew,\u00a0bought raffle tickets, and hung out.\u00a0I\u2019m proud that District V hosts such\u00a0wonderful gatherings.<\/p>\n

I hope that next month I\u2019ll have some\u00a0feedback about how District V and the\u00a0AMA did as a whole.<\/p>\n

The kids are alright!<\/strong> Nothing will ensure\u00a0the longevity of both your club and our\u00a0hobby more than getting youth members\u00a0involved. District V\u2014and the AMA in\u00a0general\u2014has some wonderful young\u00a0people coming up through the ranks.<\/p>\n

\"Raymond<\/a>
Raymond\u00a0Johnson (L)\u00a0and Brandon\u00a0Stephens, of\u00a0Lake City RC,\u00a0were invited\u00a0to fly for Team\u00a0Aerobeez, not\u00a0only because\u00a0of their flying\u00a0skills, but their\u00a0great attitudes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One such example is Kevin Garland who\u00a0grew up in Georgia. I met Kevin when\u00a0he was 14 years old on the 3-D event\u00a0circuit, as well as running into him at\u00a0several International Miniature Aerobatic\u00a0Club (IMAC) events. He pursued\u00a0an aviation degree at Embry-Riddle\u00a0University in Daytona Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n

One of the clubs in my area, the\u00a0Lake City RC Club based in Lake\u00a0City, Florida, is doing a great job of\u00a0encouraging young pilots. Norman\u00a0Green and Curtis McCallister are doing\u00a0a marvelous job of mentoring and\u00a0encouraging younger members. Norman\u00a0spends endless hours maintaining and\u00a0repairing their aircraft, driving them to\u00a0events, and making sure they have fun.<\/p>\n

Two of the club\u2019s members whom\u00a0I have known for a number of years,\u00a0Brandon Stephens and Raymond\u00a0Johnson, have advanced so far in their\u00a03-D flying that they were asked to join\u00a0the Aerobeez RC flight team.<\/p>\n

In addition to Brandon and Raymond,\u00a0younger Lake City RC members Avery\u00a0Thronton and Gracelyn Arnold are both\u00a0pilots. They aren\u2019t just flying foamies,\u00a0either. Both have been doing a lot of\u00a0flying with Giant Scale 3-D gas models\u00a0and have improved each time I\u2019ve flown\u00a0with them.<\/p>\n

Another District V standout is\u00a012-year-old Kal Reifsnyder from Lake\u00a0Placid, Florida. Consider this: by age\u00a012, Kal had won Youth Masters IMAC\u00a0Advanced class (two years ago), won a\u00a0class at the AMA Nats, and competed\u00a0at the Extreme Flight Championship\u00a0(XFC). As I write this, he\u2019s in third\u00a0place after the first round of the\u00a0Clover Creek Invitational. He has also\u00a0performed noon demos at major events\u00a0such as the Top Gun air show. I\u2019m not\u00a0sure what path Kal will take when he\u00a0gets older, but his future looks bright.<\/p>\n

\"Twelve-yearold<\/a>
Twelve-year old\u00a0Gracelyn\u00a0Arnold with\u00a0her 50cc Pilot\u00a0Extra 330.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What do these kids have in common?\u00a0They have a group of family and friends\u00a0who support them without pushing\u00a0them, making sure they learn the value\u00a0of working hard and having fun. They\u00a0also have something else in common\u2014\u00a0they are all nice kids with good attitudes\u00a0and respect for others. It\u2019s nice to see.<\/p>\n

\"Fi\u001e<\/a>
Fi\u001efteen-year-old\u00a0Avery Thornton\u00a0lays down some\u00a03-D smack at the
National Model\u00a0Aviation Day Fly-In.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Twelve-year-old<\/a>
Twelve-year-old Kal Reifsnyder prepares for a\u00a0noon demo at Top Gun. Kal has an impressive\u00a0r\u00e9sum\u00e9, competing at the AMA Nats, Clover\u00a0Creek, XFC, and many IMAC events.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Youth membership is free to our\u00a0members 18 and under, and $15 with a\u00a0subscription to Model Aviation<\/em> magazine.\u00a0Our club has followed suit and offers\u00a0free membership to youth 18 and\u00a0younger. I encourage you to get some\u00a0kids off the couch and out to the field!\u00a0Until next month, fly safely and have\u00a0fun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: When is National Model Aviation\u00a0Day? A: The hottest day of the year in\u00a0Florida! Seriously though, I had the great\u00a0pleasure of attending the National\u00a0Model Aviation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4,8,9,10,11,12],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-district-v-news","tag-nats","tag-nmad","tag-youth","tag-embry-riddle","tag-imac","tag-dav"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}