Introduction

[Michael]

Hello fellow Scale Masters members and guests:

My name is Mike Peck and I'm pleased to have been appointed to finish Jeff Lovitt's term as West Coast Vice-Chairman.  Jeff did a great job for all of us during his tenure, and I want to thank him for his contributions to the Scale Masters organization, his service to our western US members, and for serving as an excellent role model as a builder and competitor in our program.

For those who don't know me, I live in Phoenix, AZ and hold membership in three local clubs, the One Eighth Air Force, the Sun Valley Fliers, and the Arizona Model Pilots Society.  My participation in r/c building and flying began in 1964 with the El Paso Radio Controllers using a Citizenship super-regen single channel escapement driven radio.  I do build some of my own models from kits, but haven't built a competitive scale model lately and I intend to get back to that.  I do fly competitively in SM qualifiers in classes appropriate for my aircraft.

It is my hope that you will feel comfortable in contacting me if you have suggestions for improvement in the Scale Masters program.  We are well aware that many of us competing in scale r/c are getting older and fewer in numbers.  An excellent example of that trend is the number of pilots that participated in the 2010 Championships at Rosewood, IN.  We expected a much higher turnout due to a center of the country location, an excellent flying site, and a fully supportive local club in the Ohio River View Flyers who did an outstanding job in promoting and running the event.

To that end, our USSMA Director of Administration has sent an e-mail to each person that was qualified to fly in the Championships, whether they attended or not.  Mitch's e-mail asked that if you were qualified and did not attend, please let us know why.  If you were qualified and did attend, let us know what you liked and what you may not have liked about that Championship event.  Our goal is to determine what we are able to do as an organization to make it more attractive for qualified pilots to attend the annual Championships.  Your name will be kept confidential unless you specifically ask us to share it, but we do need your input.  If e-mail and typing is not your thing, pick up the phone and call me at 623-872-0176.  I'll be happy to relay your information to Mitch.

Mike