AMA District III news August 2018 Model Aviation magazine
My month of May started with an air trip. I flew the Cherokee to Frederick, Maryland, with the goal to take in the Wings & Wheels event and talk with officials of the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA) about the common interests of model and full-scale aviation.
On Friday, May 4, 2018, I met with AOPA’s Tom Haines, senior vice president, Media and Outreach. We had a productive discussion about our common goals and interests in aviation, notably that drones are such a large part of both AMA and AOPA and that we need to combine our efforts to defend and protect our organizations from onerous federal legislation.
On Saturday, I checked out Wings & Wheels and it was a great event combining cars and airplanes. I was disappointed that a local model club didn’t take advantage and have a display there. As I have stated before, these kinds of events are perfect to attract new blood into our hobby and clubs.
I took off from Frederick to return to my home airport, Mid-Ohio Valley Regional in West Virginia, and fought bad weather all the way, turning around roughly 50 miles from the airport and landing at North Central West Virginia Airport in Clarksburg. I waited out the weather and took off again only to have to turn back and land again at Clarksburg. It was getting late and it was obvious that I was stuck. What to do? I called my modeler friend, Ed Waske of Engine & Airframe Solutions Worldwide (EASW), and told him of my situation. Within 10 minutes, Ed came to my rescue, had me taxi my airplane to his hangar, and graciously loaned me his wife, Pat’s, car so I could get home.
When Ed opened the hangar door I was astounded to see a fantastic looking air racing plane sitting in his hangar. The airplane was the Nemesis, a world-record holder in air racing. The Nemesis was on its way to be enshrined into the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia and had to land at the Clarksburg airport for the same reason as I—weather! What an amazing positive turn of events all from the good friendships developed through model aviation.
World-record racer Nemesis in a hangar at EASW awaiting enshrinement into the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazey museum. See the final flight at bit.ly/NemesisFinalFlight. BARKS members Sam Samuelson and Joseph Kapraun helped promote model aviation to members of the public who attended the EAA Chapter 915 Ford Tri-Motor Fly In.
I left on Monday, May 14, to attend the 2018 Joe Nall Week only to hear—three hours into my travel—that the event had been canceled because of extreme rain and flooding expected in the area. I turned around and drove back home. Because I was home, I was able to attend the local EAA Chapter 915’s visit by the Ford Tri-Motor tour on May 19.
I called Joseph Kapraun, president of the Blennerhassett Area RC Club, and we set up a model display at the event. The club received many positive inquiries from the public during this event. I guess you might call it my month of turning lemons into lemonade!
Until next month, fly safely—fly
AMA.