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Corky's Corner Summer 2005 by Corky Heitman FS-6 I.M.A.A. Vice-President Hello Big Bird Lovers, This is being written as I am on the way to the Joe Nall meet... easily the largest I.M.A.A. Sanctioned Fly-in in the world. As I have said many times before, if you haven’t been to the Nall... GO! Pat Hartness opens up his “backyard”, and for most of a week, nothing but great fun and great flying happens. As always, Thank You to Pat, Mike Gregory, Bob Sadler, and all of the rest of the Confederate Air Farce members who put on the ‘Big Dog’ of I.M.A.A. fly-ins. There will be complete photo coverage of the Nall in the Fall issue. The I.M.A.A. is now in its 26th year (hard to believe.... I haven’t gotten any older, how did this organization get so old?) The Corky's Corner Columns   • Summer 2004   • Fall 2004   • Winter 2004   • Spring 2005   • Summer 2005   • Fall 2005   • Winter 2005   • Spring 2006   • Summer 2006   • Fall 2006   • Winter 2006   • Spring 2007   • Summer 2007   • Fall 2007 organization was conceived to promote fun and fellowship, without the stress and aggravation of competition. And guess what? The formula was a success. I.M.A.A. is the largest Special Interest Group under the Academy of Model Aeronautics. We’ve worked with the AMA and have resolved the safety and insurance issues of flying Big Birds. We continue to be the single voice to represent the large scale modeler’s interests. It’s always interesting to hear from the “doom and gloom” crowd. “Everything is going to the dogs... nobody cares about anything... blah..blah...blah...” Do you believe it? Just look at the Event Schedule in this issue of HighFlight. There are 98 events listed there... spread all across the United States and Canada. That’s probably 5000 pilots...probably 10,000 airplanes. Some of these naysayers run around claiming that the Giant Scale industry is in decline. Interesting... considering the manufacturers who are back-ordered into 2006...and can’t supply the demand. Our HighFlight editor tells me that we have actually had advertisers back out of the magazine...because they are so behind that they cannot supply current customers. There are a LOT of new people coming into the R/C hobby... starting with park flyers, and the hundreds of small, inexpensive ARF’s that have flooded the market. This is OUR opportunity to meet the newcomers... and share the fun of Big Birds with them. It’s great that they can learn to fly inexpensively... now, let’s broaden their horizons, and share the excitement of flying something bigger and more challenging! How about the great new look of HighFlight? We’ve found a way to run the entire magazine on coated stock. Do you notice how much better the Chapter Report photos look? Before I run out of space, let me remind everybody that the District III Mini-Fest will once again be at the Thistledown Flyers field in Napoleon, Ohio this September. You’re all invited...and this year we’ll have a Very Special Guest. Mr. Matt Chapman will be there.... Hmmm... do you suppose he’ll bring his full size CAP 580? Guess you will have to come to find out... Fly Safe! Fly Often! –Corky Web site by DeTray Associates www.DeTray.com