176 MODEL AVIATION
Executive Director Jim Cherry
f the recession has hit southeast
Georgia, you couldn’t tell it by the 487
pilots participating in the Southeast
Electric Flight Festival (SEFF) that was
held April 30-May 3, 2009, in Americus,
Georgia. The Fayette Flyers of Atlanta,
Georgia, and volunteers from many other
clubs put on one of America’s premier
electric-flight events.
Held at event director Mac Hodges’
field—of B-29 and Bell X-1 fame—
outside of Americus, this venue features a
flat, 1,700-foot Bermuda grass runway.
Additionally, Mac’s field features a fullservice
hobby shop if you should need a
replacement part while flying.
All aspects of electric flight including
sport aircraft, park flyers, 3-D, Giant
Scale, slow flyers, gliders, pylon aircraft,
ducted-fan jets, helicopters, Scale, and
F5B were flown during the event.
The festival is primarily open flying
with noontime flying demonstrations by
accomplished electric-flight enthusiasts,
sponsors, and show teams. Horizon Hobby,
JR, and Sport RC Flyer sponsored SEFF.
One of the many events during the
festival was the SEFF Foamy Challenge.
The challenge was to build the most
unusual “flying thing” from foam. The
rules were simple. The aircraft:
1. Must be made from foam.
2. Must demonstrate safe, stable,
controllable flight.
3. Must have flown before SEFF; no
maiden flights.
More than 30 “flying things” took to
the sky and the judges selected a Star Wars
starship as the winner. One had to look
hard to see if Luke Skywalker might be on
the sticks.
Another twice-a-day crowd pleaser was
SEFF’s Extreme Speed demonstration.
Open to aircraft 100 mph and faster, all
disciplines of flight were represented from
turbines to propeller-driven models.
All pilots received a briefing on the
rules for extreme speed and a flight path
was altered to make sure there was
I
sufficient separation from the crowd.
SEFF’s Ultimate Destruction Combat
was—as it could only be—a one-shot
happening during the festival. Any
airworthy model could fly in the event,
with a battery limit of two or three cells
and 1320 mAh maximum power.
More than 50 models in the air made
the flying site look like a swarm of mad
hornets. After 15 minutes of continuous
mayhem, approximately 10 survivors were
judged winners for their aggressiveness
and number of “hits.” Some spectacular
hits brought applause and laughs from the
huge number of spectators.
No fly-in would be complete without a
Saturday night barbecue dinner that
featured its own special SEFF minibrew.
The bottles, complete with the SEFF logo,
are collectors’ items.
AMA set up a booth to distribute
literature and answer pilots’ and
spectators’ questions. Steve Berhm of
Rhode Island, a District I associate vice
president and a frequent flier at SEFF,
pitched in to lend a hand at the booth and
was a tremendous help. Also helping staff
the AMA booth were Mark Smith, AMA’s
executive vice president, and Jack
Kallevang and Jim McCarthy, both of
Detroit.
Along with the Joe Nall Fly-In, the
Southeast Electric Flight Festival is one
event that every pilot needs to put on his or
her “Bucket List.”
The Membership Drive is in full swing.
You can check its progress at www.model
aircraft.org/membershipdrive/leaders.aspx.
If you’re not yet involved, there is still
time to win prizes and special recognition
for your club and district. The top
individual producer will win an AMA
Lifetime Membership. MA
In the spirit of flight.
… one event that every pilot needs
to put on his or her “Bucket List.”
View From HQ
Jim Cherry
Executive Director
[email protected]
Jeff Meyers, CD of SEFF, leads the pilot
briefing every morning at one of the bestrun
events of the year.
Roughly 500 pilots attended this year’s
event!
Packing the trailer at AMA HQ was done
in record time by AMA members Tom
Kallevang (R) and Jim McCarthy (L)
before heading south.
07sig6.QXD 5/22/09 3:09 PM Page 176
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/07
Page Numbers: 176