The Start of a New Year!

With the start of 2019, we have a new Regional Director.  I am humbled by your faith in me.

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Rich Whitlow.  Glad to meet you and hopefully I will meet many of you throughout the year!  I have been involved in RC since 1992.  This was a special year, as my daughter was born.  My wife told me shortly after she was born, that I needed a hobby!  I am sure I wasn’t driving her crazy??  In the late 90’s I was introduced to Aerobatics (with Pattern) and then later IMAC.  I truly fell in love with the Scale Concept (and the big planes).  I joined IMAC, but only lurked as I became a coach for everything my kids were into.  Basketball, Baseball, Football and finally Tennis.  I coach High School Tennis and we achieved 2 State Championships, which I am extremely proud of!  I retired from coaching when my youngest graduated from High School.

After that graduation, my life slowed way down.  I soon got back into RC pretty heavily.  Then I spent some time on the phone with Doug Pilcher (the SCRD at the time) and the rest was history!

Another love I have is photography.  I naturally started taking pics at the events I attended.  With all these pics, I wanted to use them in a constructive way and I believed that IMAC could use a revival of the Newsletter.  So, I became the Newsletter Editor.  I put out 4 Newsletters a year (one for each quarter).  I get a lot of positive feedback from this effort and plan to continue to produce this, though I am always looking for content, event coverage and pics.

I am certainly excited to get the year started!  We have the International Judging School, a local judging school in Sherman to schedule and a skills clinic to be scheduled.  I will also be helping with an Aerobatics Fun Day, which will give our local area an introduction to Pattern and IMAC.  I would also like to try to get a “Dual Contest” scheduled, where pilots can fly both Pattern and IMAC at the same event!  How fun would that be??

So, have a great New Year, get those planes ready and hopefully I will see you at one of our many contests scheduled for 2019!

Rich