I wrote this on New Year’s Day. I just returned from my home club’s event, the KC Northern Knights MAC’s annual Frozen Thumb Fly. It was a great day! We awarded 29 certificates to the pilots who flew. (The club has approximately 70 members.) There was great food and fellowship!
Henry (Hank) Bittmann, of the Kankakee Valley Model Flyers, reported on an event that took place last fall.
The Kankakee Valley Park District held a fall festival on September 30. The Kankakee Valley Model Flyers provided a static display of their airplanes, drones, and helicopters for the public and there were demonstration flights conducted. The public was allowed to try RC flying via buddy-box systems as well.
Kurt Larson, from the Tinley Creek Remote Control Flying Club, sent a couple of pictures from an indoor flying group. They fly at the Naperville Yard Indoor Sports Complex in Naperville, Illinois, every Wednesday. Other attending clubs include the Grundy County Aeromodelers, Woodland Aeromodelers, Fox Valley Aeromodelers, and Aurora Barnstormers. Santa cookies were courtesy of Kurt’s wife.
Here is a photo of two of my six students: Paul Horgash and Tom Zapcheck. I will be training in 2024. We now are using a two-meter E-flite Carbon Z Cub for the club trainer. I am on the far right.
I will share your club’s event, or even just a fun day of flying, in my column. Simply write a 150-word description of the event, along with a couple of pictures. Email it to AMAdistrictVI@modelaircraft.org with the word “magazine” in the subject line. Keep in mind that the pictures must be at least 500 KB standalone jpg files.
To help our hobby grow, each person needs to take time to introduce someone new to model aviation. An added bonus is getting youth excited about model aviation because they are the future of our hobby, as well as future workers in aviation-related industries!
Gary Himes
Vice President District VI