Jeremy Church, from the Jasper RC Flyers, in Jasper, Indiana, reported:
We are excited about our year. We have 10 new members, and we have recently started instructing four teenage men. One and his dad will be joining soon. We have been working hard on public relations and promoting our events.
We have also started hosting an open house event. We have been sending press releases to local/regional media and doing radio and TV interviews. Public relations are paying off. Our Strassenfest Fly In went well. We had our largest turnout of pilots (28) and more spectators than I can remember in the past 8 years.
Nearly 30 kids participated in the candy drop, and someone was on the simulator all day. Even with extending our flightline beyond the end of the runway, we came close to running out of space. What a great problem to have!
From Brad Gamble of the Bolivar Sport Flyers in Bolivar, Missouri:
Our 2024 Pro Bro event was one that will, borrowing from FDR, live in infamy. On June 13, 14 pop-up tents were in place, ready for a weekend of flying. We had a storm overnight. When I arrived at the flying field, what I saw was unbelievable. Every tent was destroyed. Two participants who had camped on-site had a tent bounce off their vehicles on its way to its resting place.
The weather service later confirmed it was an EF1 tornado that caused the damage.
Fortunately, neither of the campers were hurt. With help from many volunteers, we had everything cleaned up, and with new tents in place, by mid-afternoon we were ready to fly. What followed was two great days of flying and fellowship along with great food.
Rege Hall, of the Blacksheep RC Modelers in Danville, Indiana, reported:
We hosted our annual National Model Aviation Day with great weather. We raised $8,900 to support the Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation!
The day started out with four of our veteran club members raising the American flag: Harold Etling, Hammack, Terry Hatfield, and Greg Stanfill. This occurred along with our national anthem and a fly-over by the full-scale Indy Bipe team.
A beautiful blue sky and light wind made for a fantastic day of flying. More than 100 aircraft were on display and flew throughout the day. Nearly every type and size of aircraft was featured, from small foamies to large aerobatic airplanes to jets and helicopters.
A large number of youths enjoyed Don Schmedake’s candy and parachute drops. The fundraising included a barbecue lunch that served 125 people. We raffled off an RTF Aero Scout, a 1.2-meter Decathlon, a PNP Shoe String, and various giveaways donated by local merchants.
Jeff Thomas reported that the Indianapolis RC Modelers team won AMA’s Heavy-Lift Challenge this year. We had AMA certificates to give each student. Here is the photograph of the winning team. This is two years running that a District VI team has won AMA’s Heavy-Lift Challenge.
Gary Himes
Vice President District VI