OPEN HOUSE AND MODEL AIRPLANE EXPO 2011
Saturday October 1, 2011 presented us with crisp cool air, bright blue skies,…and a northerly breeze, straight across the runway. The forecast was for crosswinds of 10-20mph. Fortunately the winds remained quite manageable for the nearly 25 pilots and close to 40 airplanes in attendance at the SRQ Open House and Model Airplane Expo.
Many thanks to all who came to support this event which was put on to help create more community awareness of the hobby we all enjoy so much. I believe we did that. There are some folks I’d like to recognize for their special contributions to make this event more enjoyable for everyone. Joe Fast opened the day’s activities with another great rendition of our Star Spangled Banner followed by the salute to the Flag.
David and Nancy Speed set up a wide screen and projector with our flight simulator in the Operations Building. Al Jensen and Steve Sundheimer offered guidance to those who wanted to see what it would be like to fly the various model choices on the simulator.
President Paul Jantzen greeted visitors and helped show people where to park.
Jon Hay set up the sound system so that we could keep spectators informed of the flight and non-flight demonstrations. George Jenkins did a great job getting coverage for the event televised on SNN News 6 and WWSB Chanel 7, and George and Carroll Jenkins handed out magazines, brochures for AMA and SRQ to many young families. There were also balsa and foam gliders for the young pilots.
During the day, flying demos included scale flights by Don Janssen’s Fokker DVII, Dave Barry’s SE5, Tom Smith’s Hawker Sea Fury and others. Many pilots brought multiple airplanes making for a wide variety of planes to show the crowd. Aerobatic demos were performed by Alden Fonseca and his Extra 330, Bill Kersey flew his large orange Extra through a series of IMAC type maneuvers, and Gabe Bagni did things with his giant Ultimate biplane that appeared to defy at least some of the laws of physics!
Everyone seemed to enjoy the gaggle of T-28 park flyers. We had 9 airplanes in the air at once. And although it may have looked like controlled chaos, there were no mishaps.
Jim Lasik treated us to his Flying Flag towing a banner saying “God Bless the USA—9/11/2001, choreographed to the playing of Lee Greenwood’s song.
Alden Fonseca also flew his black Rafael jet, and provided some exciting moments after it was discovered that he had lost a tire on takeoff. Not to be undone, Alden made a beautiful landing…and lost the other tire on his rollout.
Brad Termaat had his daughter Ellie and son Zachary on a buddy box, flying Brad’s Stik sport plane. What a great way to show the audience the appeal of R/C flying as a family activity!
Our special guest was Carolyn Brown, General Manager of Sarasota County Parks and Recreation. Just two weeks into her newly official job running the parks system, she told me that she really enjoyed her visit, especially after seeing a scrapbook provided by our own Jim Behanna, showing pictures of the development of our flying field from land fill to landing strip.
The Runway Café’ was run by new members Kim Shank and Martin DeRoy. They did a great job keeping hungry troops fed.
Brian Hague from Gator Hobbies was on hand to provide airplanes, radios and accessories from their new store now open on Clark Road here in Sarasota.
And fortunately for us all, Mike Winter took lots of pictures now on the SRQ website. Many thanks again to all who participated and made this a really fun event!
Jim Martin
Our special guest was Carolyn Brown, General Manager of Sarasota County Parks and Recreation, shown here with Jim Martin, the organizer and MC of the event.
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