Sean Rupp forwarded the following report
about the Hillside Aeromodelers’ RC
Combat meet in Bryan, Ohio.
“The first of the pilots started showing
up for the Hell over Hillside September
Shootout on Friday evening for the
opening festivities. Seven pilots and a few
of our local club members took part in the
Friday steak-niter tradition, a local thing
we do. We get together Friday nights and
grill out in a purely social event. While all
Combat events are fun, they often lack a
little time to kick back with your fellow
competitors and talk.
“Saturday morning we went to the
beautiful field of the Hillside
Aeromodelers and set up for the five
rounds of Slow, Survivable Combat (SSC)
and the five rounds of Limited B that were
on the books for the day. The weather was
warm, windy, hazy, and humid—not ideal
conditions for Combat but we made the
decision to fly with forestry tape and pick
up the pace to get the event in before the
afternoon rains hit.
“All weekend we flew three heats per
round to keep the sizes of the heats down
and the event moving with minimal down
time. This seemed to work well for us and
allowed us to get all the rounds in between
the rains. The forestry tape made the
scores a little more even for the day since
there were no slop points awarded for
drapes all day. The SSC event was clean
with some midair bumps but little damage.
“After the lunch break, we started up
the Limited B aircraft and went for five
rounds of three heats of Combat. Again,
with the forestry tape scores were even and
there were always streamers to chase right
up until the final buzzer. Midair frequency
seemed to increase slightly with the
bigger, faster airplanes but damage was
lighter than I have seen in previous events.
The higher-powered aircraft also worked
much better in the windy conditions.
“The rain settled in on the last heat of
Limited so we packed up and headed to the
Saturday evening chicken barbeque hosted
by the Snyder’s for an evening of telling
lies and recapping the events of the day.
Roughly 12 of the day’s pilots hung
around for the evenings festivities.
“Sunday morning roared to life with
cooler temperatures, clearer skies, and the
unmistakable sound of Open C Combat.
There is nothing more exciting that the
smell of 30% and the sound of an engine
turning ridiculous rpm. Four rounds of
Open C were flown and the damage was
high.
“Most of the airplanes were B models
with larger engines so the weight was on
the light side of C but the speeds were
high. Most of the airplanes involved in
midairs were finished for the day or just
plain finished. It was
exciting to watch
and even more so to
fly but it’s a good
thing we only do the
Open C once a year.
“Next we went to
the Bomber Patrol—
one B aircraft,
draped in three
streamers, flying
circles with three
aircraft protecting it
and three attacking.
It was an interesting
contest, much
different than
normal since you
really had to change
your focus to dog
fighting in teams and attacking the
bomber. I think everyone enjoyed it.
“We moved on to the ‘grudge match’
which is one-on-one three-minute duels.
Not many winners were declared in this
event since it proved to be difficult and
had a high midair rate. Many of the pilots
took the opportunity to call out someone
and settle a score.
“The day finished with a couple rounds
of half of a high-wind Combat. It was
interesting to fly a small airplane full
speed into the wind and not have it move.
Streamer cuts were a game of posturing in
the wind and very steady hands. It was
almost like a video game where the action
always stayed right in front of you.
“The Hillside Aeromodelers wish to
thank all who made the drive out and spent
the weekend flying with us. Thanks to the
Pack 25 Scouts who did the lunch both
days for us. Our generous donations to the
Scouts raised approximately $300 for the
den.
“Thanks to the pilots and spectators for
your support as well. We enjoyed having
you all here and hope to see you again at
the next event in the spring.”
Keystone Indoor Electric Fun-Fly: Joe
Malinchak, one of our top microflighters
in District III, has informed us that his club
is hosting a new event. It is planned for
March 2-3, 2007 at the Playing Fields
Sports Dome in Jessup, Pennsylvania,
which is near Scranton.
The heated sports dome is large—400 x
200 feet—and will have dedicated areas
for 3-D and microflight. In addition to fun
flying there will be demonstration flights.
Initial planning is for flying to begin on
Friday afternoon then continue all through
the night and through Saturday morning
and afternoon.
For additional information E-mail the
event CD Mark Vukmanovich at
[email protected].
The Hillside Aeromodelers had a great time at the club’s Combat
event in Bryan, Ohio.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/02
Page Numbers: 162