The SubCommittee was formally invited to participate in the Academy of Model Aeronautics’ eighth annual Grand Event held in Waco, Texas, August 26th - 28th, 2005. As this event would be held in our neck of the woods, SubRon 5 sent members to man the display booth.

The AMA's goal for the event was to provide hands-on modeling experience by offering demonstrations of radio control aircraft, cars and boats, as well as kite flying, rockets, and control line. Opportunities for “make-and-take” items like kites and rockets made this an interactive event. Entrance was free and attendance was close to 1000.

Gail and I packed up our boats and spent the weekend in Waco doing show and tell to a crowd heavily populated by r/c flight enthusiasts. The response was pretty amazing. We heard many comments of, "I didn't know anyone did SUBS!" We patiently gave answers to the endless loop of questions about what we do: "How deep does the signal reach?"... "Where do you run?"... "How do they go down and come back up?"... "Where do you get the kits?"... We talked the SubCommittee to hundreds of people and gave out literature until we were red in the face -- literally. The temperature on Saturday reached 103°F.

Fortunately, it wasn’t all talk. We got to do several demonstrations each day in the pond built especially for the event. An 80’ x 40’ basin was dug in the ground, lined with plastic sheet and filled with well water. Depth averaged 30 - 40 inches. Not much room to wrangle, but we managed periscope depth without difficulty. We ran until the target drivers, who gave free turns to the kids skippering plastic race boats, couldn't stand it.

The AMA people were very nice and took great care of us. As this event travels around the country each year, the SubCommittee should make an effort to have local people there. Preferably solid sub drivers with a background in sales. Who knows when the next r/c flyboy, helo jockey or target driver will come over to the dark side and start flying underwater?

Respectfully,
P. H. Crozier