NoWingsAttached
Unobtainium Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2006
- Messages
- 4,897
- Location
- Columbia, SC
- Aircraft
- Air Command Tandem w/ Arrow 100hp; GyroBee w/ Hirth 65hp; Air Command Tandem w/ Yamaha 150hp
- Total Flight Time
- >350
After being on the Board of Directors of the Popular Rotorcraft Association for two years, I was elected to the officer's seat of Secretary Friday July 31. With this position also comes responsibility for the club's private airport at Mentone, Indiana along with the other 3 PRA officers.
Mentone is the birthplace of Lawrence Dale Bell, founder of the infamous Bell Helicopter company. They have produced several military helicopters with American Native names. The most famous is the Bell UH-1 Iroquois (or Huey) used in Vietnam extensively.
Next comes the Bell 207 Sioux Scout (which morphed into the 209 Cobra attack helicopter), then the Bell OH-58 Kiowa (these and many other Army helicopters fly over our Savannah Mohawk Aero shop daily) and Bell ARH-70 Arapaho.
Other makers also used American Native names. Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne and AH 64 Apache; Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, Boeing CH-47 Chinook, the famous twin-rotor (these fly us over daily also); Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee; Hughes OH-6 Cayuse & TH-55 Osage; Kaman H-2 "Tomahawk"; Sikorsky S-67 "Blackhawk" (another daily sight), H-19 Chickasaw (S-55), CH-37 Mojave (S-56), H-34 Choctaw; Vertol H-21 Shawnee; Westland Sioux; I may have missed a few others here.
I may not be able to produce a Mohawk Helicopter in my time, but I will do my best to serve you all well on the PRA BOD, while at the same time seeing what I can do about building Mohawk Aero Corp into an enterprise worthy of my ancient family legacy.
When I was elected to the BOD in 2013 I waited until everyone else had spoken before I put before the board my agenda: (1.) Bring back the print magazine and (2.) build a new website, complete with a private forum suitable to carry on PRA business day-to-day instead of once monthly via phone conferences and email.
We have accomplished both, and John Rountree (sounds like a Native name to me) is coming close to finishing up a revamped, all-new, PRA website which is looking to be like the difference between Windows 95 and your brand new Mac.
I have a renewed confidence in the PRA and the direction it is now heading. The BOD team has been working very hard to bring us to where we are today, having finally turned the corner and now increased membership for the first time in I don't know how many years. John gets much of the credit for his hard work and putting in so many crazy hours to bring these plans to fruition.
The BOD implemented many other new ideas, changes, and business plans that the PRA is already benefitting from financially in just these past few months alone.
We are going to be recruiting help along the way going forward, so I am looking forward to the many folks out there who will happily come forward and give us a hand - especially when it comes to putting on the Mentone show next year.
Your participation - no matter how small or large it may seem to be - is going to be the next key to making the PRA a continued growing success in the year ahead.
None of us can do this alone. Not even the six of us can do it without more help and participation from outside the BOD. This is a lot of work, and without help the directors get burned out very quickly and lose momentum. We have got the ball rolling, it is now up to everyone to pitch in and keep pushing the ball up the hill.
Thank you for your support, and your money, communications, ideas, and participation.
Mentone is the birthplace of Lawrence Dale Bell, founder of the infamous Bell Helicopter company. They have produced several military helicopters with American Native names. The most famous is the Bell UH-1 Iroquois (or Huey) used in Vietnam extensively.
Next comes the Bell 207 Sioux Scout (which morphed into the 209 Cobra attack helicopter), then the Bell OH-58 Kiowa (these and many other Army helicopters fly over our Savannah Mohawk Aero shop daily) and Bell ARH-70 Arapaho.
Other makers also used American Native names. Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne and AH 64 Apache; Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, Boeing CH-47 Chinook, the famous twin-rotor (these fly us over daily also); Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee; Hughes OH-6 Cayuse & TH-55 Osage; Kaman H-2 "Tomahawk"; Sikorsky S-67 "Blackhawk" (another daily sight), H-19 Chickasaw (S-55), CH-37 Mojave (S-56), H-34 Choctaw; Vertol H-21 Shawnee; Westland Sioux; I may have missed a few others here.
I may not be able to produce a Mohawk Helicopter in my time, but I will do my best to serve you all well on the PRA BOD, while at the same time seeing what I can do about building Mohawk Aero Corp into an enterprise worthy of my ancient family legacy.
When I was elected to the BOD in 2013 I waited until everyone else had spoken before I put before the board my agenda: (1.) Bring back the print magazine and (2.) build a new website, complete with a private forum suitable to carry on PRA business day-to-day instead of once monthly via phone conferences and email.
We have accomplished both, and John Rountree (sounds like a Native name to me) is coming close to finishing up a revamped, all-new, PRA website which is looking to be like the difference between Windows 95 and your brand new Mac.
I have a renewed confidence in the PRA and the direction it is now heading. The BOD team has been working very hard to bring us to where we are today, having finally turned the corner and now increased membership for the first time in I don't know how many years. John gets much of the credit for his hard work and putting in so many crazy hours to bring these plans to fruition.
The BOD implemented many other new ideas, changes, and business plans that the PRA is already benefitting from financially in just these past few months alone.
We are going to be recruiting help along the way going forward, so I am looking forward to the many folks out there who will happily come forward and give us a hand - especially when it comes to putting on the Mentone show next year.
Your participation - no matter how small or large it may seem to be - is going to be the next key to making the PRA a continued growing success in the year ahead.
None of us can do this alone. Not even the six of us can do it without more help and participation from outside the BOD. This is a lot of work, and without help the directors get burned out very quickly and lose momentum. We have got the ball rolling, it is now up to everyone to pitch in and keep pushing the ball up the hill.
Thank you for your support, and your money, communications, ideas, and participation.
