Due to Covid, it has been 3 years since the last Syracuse Model Aircraft Forum (MAF) was held in the Spring of 2019. This past weekend broke that long dry spell. The MAF is hosted by 5 Syracuse area model airplane clubs: the Syracuse Thunderbirds Aero Radio Society (STARS), the Camillus Indoor Aviators, the Aero Radio Club of Syracuse (ARCS), the Voltaires of CNY (Central New York), and the Central New York Indoor Flying Society. The event was held at the Syracuse Academy of Science with event proceeds being donated to the school.
I had started to work up this FlyBoyz Event Report when I received an email from one of the MAF attendees. Michael Graham is a STARS member and is the ‘Official’ club photographer. When I received his ‘Event Report’, I gained his permission to not only plagiarize his email but to use it as a ‘Guest Post’! Thank you, Michael!!!
Along with a few of my own photos that I’ve thrown into the mix, here is Michael’s MAF Event Report:
Good Morning from Central New York!!
The 2022 MAF was a success!!
Herb Ziegler (Event Coordinator) said in his email:
‘We had a very successful event! This is due to the hard work and effort of all of you! We had about 71 attendees. Last forum had 61. We took in a total of $912.00 after expenses. This compares with $458.00 in 2019. Many expenses have already been reimbursed. If you have any expenses to be reimbursed let me know soon. After settling up we will write a check to the school. Thanks for all you do!‘
The day’s events were:
(Click on photos to zoom in on them)
Donuts and Coffee in the morning. For lunch, we had sandwiches and salad from Brooklyn Pickle and Pizza available for purchase, chocolate chip cookies, and various bottled fluids.
Paul Volcko (STARS President) and his wife ran the food line. Awesome job!!
We had the Swap shop (no commission), usual raffles and indoor flying throughout the day. I sold my Lanzo Bomber and an old (but unused) Wing Tote bag.
Jeffery La Porte wanted four of my smaller Hitec servos and I brought them with me for him…
Above is Jeffrey’s new STARS shirt!!
Paul did an excellent job discussing AS3X technology, covering both Gen1 and Gen2 systems. I didn’t even know that Spektrum had two different systems!! Gen2 is like the telemetry system that Jeti has…
Joe Chovan’s slope-soaring presentation was a big crowd-pleaser, just like the last time. This time, his wife was with him and ran the PC for his presentation.
The presentation by Tyler Dobbs, the AMA’s main government affairs liaison, was a good opportunity to hear about what’s coming for the hobby as Remote ID starts to phase in and what the Model Aviation PAC is that he helped start, as well as ask questions and get answers on all things AMA and government! Gary Brown asked questions, of course!!
Tim Smarzo gave a rundown on Micro models. I didn’t get to that presentation and, therefore, didn’t take pictures.
Al Metz did a nice demo on soldering. I’ve learned that I need a newer flux for metal soldering. His work comes out very bright, mine looks dull.
Phil Artese had a fun paperboard airplane construction demo going during the afternoon:
Mike O’Neill had his FlyBoyz Store items for sale and display:
Tom Polovick was there with his new F/A-18 turbine:
But he didn’t bring his new F/A-18 airplane!!
But he did bring one of his current jets! (FlyBoyz photos)
Peter’s photos were finally posted near the STARS booth area:
The Chinese Raffle items went on forever!!
These are the continuation tables of the Chinese Raffle items!!
The raffle team at work (another awesome job!!):
The display area was relatively small but great:
Some additional static display photos. (FlyBoyz photos)
Flier participation was down this year:
But there was plenty of flying throughout the event. (FlyBoyz photos)
But we got to see and play with Mike Gosson’s new Jeti Tx:
Having this event in March is way better than in January!! But I’m sure that some would still want the event when it is blowing snow outside!!
It started raining when we wrapped up the show….
So, that’s a quick overview of the 2022 MAF.
My thanks to Michael Graham for his great contributions to this Event Report!
I’ll end with some FlyBoyz photos of the sponsoring clubs:
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