Dare County Radio Control Flyers

Although a forecast for light rain and high-winds posed a threat to flying conditions throughout the day, forty-one guests attended the Outer Banks Festival of Model Aviation, hosted by Dare County Radio Control Flyers, and enjoyed temperatures in the mid-70s, a fun-filled day of flying with our instructors, and learning about model aviation as a family-friendly and educational recreational activity.

Each attendee provided at least one non-perishable food item as admission to the event, to aid local residents in-need, through the good-works of the Beach Food Pantry.

Fourteen club members and two spouses worked at the event in various roles to make it a safe, rewarding, and enjoyable event for all. Mike Alexander, Allen Massey, Jim Shiels, Joyce Shiels, and Sandie Blakney welcomed, checked-in and socialized with our guests while Virgil Kee directed efforts to the youngest attendees to explain how an airplane flies and how a radio control aircraft works. Stephen Yanacek, Grant Dick, Peter Fynn, and Philip Garey worked to instruct and supervise our first-time guest fliers, while Robert Yanacek and Grant Peacock took photographs of the day's activities to provide everyone with some good memories to share. Harold Blakney worked to ensure that our club's flight instructors had fully-charged batteries, while our club president, Jim Davis, supervised the overall event, assisted as needed, and performed a few flights demonstrating high-speed aerobatics and the capabilities of his electric-duct-fan jet.

Thirty-two of our guests took advantage of the opportunity to try flying a radio control airplane for the first time, under the watchful eyes of one of the club's four flight instructors. All those who flew, including a youngster who was just four years old, flew very well and without incident.

Around noon, our grillmaster, Jim Watters, hosted lunch for our guests and members, consisting of hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and beverages. Jim did an excellent job, and with Skip Wescott's help, made sure that everyone was well-fed.

Following lunch, flight operations with our guests continued, along with a number of crowd-pleasing demonstrations performed by Bernie Feaganes with his quarter-scale Fokker D-VII biplane, and 80-inch Mitsubishi A6M Type-0. Bernie, although not a member of our club, visits the Outer Banks regularly, and he attended to offer his expertise to enhance the overall display of the capabilities of model aircraft.

Regrettably, flight operations with our guests was suspended one-hour earlier than scheduled when sustained wind velocities of over fifteen miles-per-hour caused flying to become unsafe. Our club then conducted a drawing to determine the three guest attendee winners of our no-cost try-to-fly raffle.

Sean McCarron's ticket was drawn and he was declared the grand-prize winner following the completion of the necessary membership applications. Sean was then awarded his prize consisting of an Apprentice STS 1.5-meter ready-to-fly airplane, membership in the Academy of Model Aeronautics, and membership in Dare County Radio Control Flyers, valued at $577.

Brandon Fregans' ticket was chosen as the second-place prize winner. Upon completing the required membership applications, Brandon claimed his prize, valued at $424 and consisting of an Apprentice S2 1.2-meter ready-to-fly airplane and membership in the Academy of Model Aeronautics.

Shannon Castillo's ticket was selected as the third-place prize winner and she completed the specified applications for membership to claim her prize. Shannon was presented her prize consisting of a 1.1-meter AeroScout S2 ready-to-fly airplane and membership in the Academy of Model Aeronautics, valued at $354.

A separate raffle to determine the winner of the 1.5-meter Conscendo Evolution powered-glider, valued at $331 was also conducted, with club member Allen Massey being declared the winner and claiming his prize.

Just prior to closing, Bernie Feaganes surprised our club members with a number of gifts he brought with him from Virginia, provided through the generosity of Legend Hobby. These included promotional and apparel items, and a 70-inch Ugly Stick balsa-wood model kit. Because this was an ad-hoc event, it was decided to conduct a members-only raffle to determine who would receive the model aircraft kit. Harold Blakney was selected as the winner and departed at the end of the day with his prize.

Following the event, club president, Jim Davis, met Elisabeth Silverthorne, executive director of the Beach Food Pantry to drop off non-perishable food items and cash donations that was collected. Elisabeth reported that our donation was enough to provide 225 meals—enough to feed five people for two weeks!

Our club wishes to thank everyone who participated in, and made this event so successful. Your donations for admission to the event for the Beach Food Pantry are greatly appreciated and will undoubtedly assist this worthy organization that does so much to help our local residents. We enjoyed meeting and flying with all of our guests, and we hope that you will fly with us again in the near future. We also wish to recognize Bernie Feaganes for all his efforts, and the Academy of Model Aeronautics Foundation, Horizon Hobby, and Legend Hobby for their generosity in event funding and prize donations.