League of
Silent Flight

Jim 'JT' Thomas

I have been an active modeler since the early 1960's (still hold AMA 39511, my original number), starting with 1/2A free flight and Nordic A2 glider models. I began to fly RC power (scale, Quickie, pattern) in 1978, moved on to sailplanes in 1981, and added electric conversion of older gas powered designs and some custom conversions in the last 5 years.

I have been a Contest Director since 1981, serving at both the local and national level, and have been a regular AMA/LSF Nats volunteer, mainly running the flight line, for nearly 20 years. I was the CD for the 2000 F3B Team Selection Finals in Sacramento, and further supported the USA F3B team as Team Manager in 2003.

I am an LSF level 5 (#68, completed in August 1988), and primarily enjoy flying thermal duration and cross country. I am a prodigious builder, and have built hundreds of sailplanes and electrics, both for myself and others. I have reviewed a number of power and sailplane designs since 1986 for various publications.

Currently in my soaring quiver are: Supra, Onyx JW, Laser 2MC, Super SBXC, Super V 100, Heithecker Challenger, Maestro Mark III, Grand Esprit, Aquila Grande, Flair ¼ scale K-8, and my 1990 Nats winning Falcon 800.

I have belonged to a number of different RC clubs during my 29 years flying RC, including Benton County RC (Oregon), Southern Alameda County RC (California), Corpus Christi RC and Corpus Christi Condors (Texas), Grand Valley RC (Michigan), Lafayette Cloud Busters (Indiana), Seattle Area Soaring Society (Washington) and Sacramento Valley Soaring Society (California). This is a sidelight of moving around a bit over the years.

I am a professional chemist and worked in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries for nearly 22 years. I then moved to the high level Sterilization/Disinfection industry, where I have been since 2002. I’m married (Tricia, who CD’d the 1992 LSF Nats), with two children.