{"id":95,"date":"2016-07-15T17:52:31","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T17:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/?p=95"},"modified":"2016-09-22T17:59:40","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T17:59:40","slug":"ama-district-v-news-august-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/2016\/07\/15\/ama-district-v-news-august-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"AMA District V News August 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andrew<\/a>
Andrew Griffith District V Vice President<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hello District V<\/span>!<\/strong> You might notice a\u00a0new picture at the top of the page. Our\u00a0elected vice president, Kris Dixon, made\u00a0the decision to resign his position to\u00a0take care of some family issues. I\u2019d like\u00a0to wish him well and thank him for his\u00a0service.<\/p>\n

As the first alternate District V vice\u00a0president, I\u2019ve been asked by the AMA\u00a0Executive Council to fill the vacant\u00a0position until the election is complete\u00a0at the end of this year. I\u2019m both excited\u00a0and a little bit nervous to serve as the\u00a0interim vice president for, what is my\u00a0opinion, the best district in the country.<\/p>\n

I really don\u2019t like to talk about\u00a0myself, but was asked to write a quick\u00a0introduction. I\u2019ve been a member of\u00a0the AMA since middle school (I just\u00a0turned 50!), and have served as an AMA\u00a0contest director for the last 11 years,\u00a0an associate vice president for the last\u00a0five years, and club officer for the last\u00a010 years. I regularly write for Fly RC\u00a0magazine and occasionally for Model\u00a0Aviation, Park Pilot, and RC Heli Pilot.<\/p>\n

As for flying, I pretty much do it all\u2014\u00a0jets, 3-D, gliders, Scale, and 3-D helis,\u00a0and anything else I can get my hands on.\u00a0In addition to my model flying, I\u2019m\u00a0a former in-flight technician on a U.S.\u00a0Navy P-3 Orion, where I worked on\u00a0radar, communication, and weapons\u00a0systems for 20 years. I grew up watching\u00a0air shows at the Willow Grove Naval Air\u00a0Station (a former AMA Nats location)\u00a0and have been immersed in the hobby,\u00a0and in aviation in general, most of my\u00a0life.<\/p>\n

I love getting out to events and\u00a0encourage you to do the same. This\u00a0year alone I\u2019ve been to the AMA Expo,\u00a0the Southeastern Model Show (aka the\u00a0Perry Swap Meet), Florida Jets, Top\u00a0Gun, the Southeast Regional Aero Tow,\u00a0Joe Nall Week, and another dozen or so\u00a0events at various local clubs.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing this as the summer\u00a0descends upon us in earnest, so my\u00a0next scheduled event is National Model\u00a0Aviation Day at the Shade Tree RC\u00a0Club in Glen Saint Mary, Florida.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m honored and humbled to\u00a0represent our district on the AMA\u00a0Executive Council and look forward to\u00a0hearing from our members and catching\u00a0up with you at events.<\/p>\n

I sat in on a Burt Rutan (an AMA\u00a0member by the way) lecture at the\u00a0University of North Florida. He made a\u00a0great point. With manned space flight\u00a0being a thing of the past, how are young\u00a0people going to be inspired toward\u00a0careers in technology fields just as he\u00a0and I were by following the Apollo and\u00a0Space Shuttle programs?<\/p>\n

\"modelaviation201608-v-01\"<\/a> \"modelaviation201608-v-02\"<\/a> \"modelaviation201608-v-03\"<\/a> \"modelaviation201608-v-04\"<\/a><\/p>\n

STEM, or Science, Technology,\u00a0Engineering and Math, is a buzzword\u00a0around educational circles and for good\u00a0reason. The future depends on our\u00a0children and that\u2019s as true in the AMA\u00a0as it is in life. Getting young people\u00a0involved in the hobby is a focus of the\u00a0AMA. Youth memberships are free, and\u00a0several programs are aimed at getting\u00a0young boys and girls involved in both\u00a0the hobby and STEM careers. Our local\u00a0clubs are AMA\u2019s boots on ground at\u00a0school programs, Scout programs, and\u00a0the like.<\/p>\n

One such shining example of a club\u00a0taking the lead is the Alabaster Radio\u00a0Control Association in Alabaster,\u00a0Alabama. It has formed a partnership\u00a0with the Thompson Intermediate\u00a0School Gifted Education program. Club\u00a0members volunteer their time (the\u00a0most precious gift we can give) assisting\u00a0students by discussing the principles\u00a0of flight, giving flying demonstrations,\u00a0and helping them obtain RC flight\u00a0simulators. This isn\u2019t something new\u00a0either, the club has been involved in this\u00a0for 10 years!<\/p>\n

I encourage you to reach out and see\u00a0what you can do. There are the EAA\u00a0Young Eagles, Boy and Girl Scout\u00a0troops, magnet schools, Civil Air Patrol\u00a0chapters, and others all around your\u00a0community.<\/p>\n

Reach out and find one and get\u00a0involved. If you need assistance, contact\u00a0me and I\u2019ll put you in touch with Bill\u00a0Pritchett and Jessy Symmes at the\u00a0AMA\u2019s Education department. They\u00a0have all the information and materials\u00a0you will need to get started.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, thanks to the\u00a0Alabaster club for its great work!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello District V! You might notice a\u00a0new picture at the top of the page. Our\u00a0elected vice president, Kris Dixon, made\u00a0the decision to resign his position […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-district-v-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","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=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amadistrict-v\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}