MAAA Wingspan

33 AUGUST WING SPAN MAAALogo. Lindsay Frank Petersen Member 17452 Joined 1990 South Coast Model Aero Sports Club. Citation: Mr. Petersen is amember of the South Coast Model Aero Sports Club. He has been President of the club for many years and an activemember of the MASA Committee. Lindsay lives approximately 85 Kilometres south of Adelaide in the small township of Goolwa. Although residing some distance fromAdelaide he was until recently a regular attendee at the MASAmonthly committeemeetings. The South Coast Club for many years flew fromprivate property owned by a local farmer. As the farmer restricted the number of members allowed to fly at the field Mr. Petersen has over many years tirelessly looked for a permanent flying site to provide the club stability and allow growth. Many prospective sites were located and on two occasions contracts between the MAAA and Vendor were signed. These transactions did not proceed due to formal objections. Mr. Petersen eventually located a flying field at Finniss south of Adelaide which was purchased by the MAAA. Mr. Petersen also assists in running a regular indoor flying event at Goolwa to whichmany locals attend as spectators and potential members. School education programs are also conducted through this venue. Mr. Petersen is well deserving of the award. Lindsay has provided the following overview his aeromodelling journey: I first took up aeromodelling inmy early teen years in the 1950’s. Early models I can remember include the Hearns Hobbies Hotrod control line with Frog 150motor and two early free flight models Veron Cardinal and Kielcraft Gypsy rubber poweredmodels. As I lived on an orchard at Upper Sturt in the Adelaide hills a lot of my early control line flying occurred in the Belair National Park until a small club was formed at Blackwood when control linemoved to Hawthorndene. Free flight moved to what is now almost the centre of Elizabeth, in those days construction of the city was progressing on the left side of themain road as you headed North with open paddocks on the other side of the road. Inmy early twenties I got married and aeromodelling came to a halt for a number of years while renovating an older house, the arrival of three children, and returning to study to obtain a degree in accounting. I returned tomodelling in amore casual fashion inmy late thirties and forties with free flight at a field on private property somewhere North of Roseworthy and indoor at a hall in the northern suburbs. Frommemory I think the club was called South Australian Antique Aero Modellers. In 1989 I moved to Kapunda and shortly after joined the Barossa club. This is where I learned to fly radio-controlled models, an early one being a second handmark one Hustler which stood up to a lot of abuse as I became reasonable proficient. Duringmy time at Kapunda I was also amember of the Yorks Peninsula club. In 2005 I moved to Goolwa and then joined the South Coast Model Aerosport and the Goolwa Indoor Model Flyers clubs; I amstill an activemember of both clubs. I only consider myself as an average pilot and I fly a range of reasonably basic aircraft including gliders, i/c power and recently have added a few of the “off the shelf” electric powered foamies. Throughout my flying career I have always had a number of old timers inmy fleet as I enjoy flying them and they also remindme of my free flight days.