Some of the recent happenings around the region will be highlighted in this report as well as upcoming dates to fill in your calendar. Colorado IMAC pilots requested and planned and got a Judging and Flying School on Sept 17-18. Announcement of the pilots selected to fly at The Tucson Aerobatic Shootout have been out there for awhile and everyone is practicing like crazy. Fresno IMAC was held and we wish we had had more participation. Tucson is giving pilots in the SW one last chance to tune up for the TAS next weekend and I am betting there will be a good turnout for the contest. Plans are being made for the last contest in AZ on Oct 22-23 at Sun Lakes in Florence AZ. The last and final contest for the South West is coming on November 11-12 in California at the Hemet Model Masters field.

Colorado Flying and Judging School was attended by 19 pilots from the Denver area. This represents two thirds of the IMAC pilots in Colorado. It would have been better but a big Scale meet is coming to Denver the following weekend and many had to help prepare the field for that event and could not come. Jim Brink, AVP for the SW in Colorado was the lead organizer and chiefly responsible for securing a very nice venue for the classroom instruction and the flying site for Sunday’s practical application part of the school. Brian O’Meara’s Ford Dealership allowed us to use their conference room for the day and it was excellent. A restaurant right in the dealership provided easy access to all food necessary for the event and Brian has a world class interest in Scale airplanes that are something to behold. He attended the school for awhile and then shared his B-26 Marauder bomber which had 150 inch wingspan and was a work of art in every way. The practical flying and judging part was held at a local field and about half of the guys made it out for a 6 hour session on see the figure, judge the figure, discuss the downgrades and give a score. It was outstanding only to be made better if we had a bit more attendance.

The Tucson Aerobatic Shootout has everyone in the SW looking at preparation. 37 pilots from the South West are entered….more than half of the entries in the contest. It looks like the region is pretty healthy but remember the rest of the US is groaning under an economic recession that will not go away. Thanks to Dave Johnson, Mike Russo and Steve Richardson for providing the leadership on this event. We have many to thank also in Brian Howard, Anna Wood and the many dedicated judges and support people that are giving of their precious time to make this happen…please be appreciative, very appreciative. Looking forward to another terrific time in early October at TIMPA.

Fresno had 9 hardy souls from IMAC make the effort to support the Fresno Club. I am sorry that we cannot seem to get better numbers but it is somewhat and economic thing and we hope that it improves in the future. Joe and his team had a spontaneous judging session on Sunday and Free styling activities to make it a bit more fun and informative. Thanks for the report Joe.

Tucson RCC is coming this weekend under the leadership of Alan Mosher with the help of David Bramlett and others. It will be a good tune up for the TAS if you would like to get some judges to look at your sequence and your flying. This is a points contest for the region and it should be noted that the TAS is not an official IMAC contest in the South West.

Tim Thompson and the Sun Lakes guys will put together a fine contest after the shootout so we hope that a large contingent will show in AZ…..70 IMAC pilots in Arizona and Rusty Fried has been doing a heck of a job with help from his CD’s in AZ to offer a number of fine contests throughout the cooler parts of this last year.

Finally, check out the plans and see the flyer for the South West Regional Final Contest at Hemet…..WE WANT AS MANY AS POSSIBLE TO COME TO THIS EVENT AND HAVE SOME FUN, ENJOY THE FREE BANQUET and fight for those last few points that may make the difference in the standings for our region. We are looking forward to the new venue, new supporters of IMAC in the SW and a good time for all winding up the season in 2011 in Hemet.

Tim