F3C Blowout in the Midwest!
It's rare for an official to host one world-class event, much less two, as IRCHA President Dave Millner has done. As event director for the 2001 and 2009 F3C World Championships, both held at the AMA's International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana, it was great to see competitors and teams help each other.
Pilots were focused on the flight line. But when the flying was finished, they became friends, helped each other, and enjoyed each other's company.
Dave said: "After being involved in the model helicopter community for more than 20 years now, I was able to witness some of the most impressive flying ever seen. The dedication, beauty, and grace that the top world team competitors provided was nothing less than magical. When you walk away from something like this, you can't help but reflect and reconsider what you think to be top-level flying up to that point."
Dave was assisted by a group of dedicated people from around the world, the IRCHA community, and the people of the Muncie area who work full-time for the AMA but found it in their hearts to volunteer after hours. It was a pleasure working with all of them.
The AMA Publications Department bent over backward to put together a daily newsletter that everyone at the event received. It is also something the entire modeling community can enjoy at www.modelaircraft.org/events/f3cwc.aspx.
Also on site for the entire tournament was the RunRyder crew of Mark and Jocelyn Ryder. Check out www.runryder.com for tons of photos and video taken of almost every pilot at the contest.
Dave Millner and I talked at length after the F3C World Championship and the IRCHA Jamboree, which began August 11, were finished, and he was excited.
"Interest in contest flying appears to be on the rise," said Dave. "The international flare of the Jamboree was evident with registration signatures in no less than four languages."
Next year, the AMA Nats will end with RC Helicopter in August and lead directly into the IRCHA Jamboree. If you've been tossing around the idea of coming to Muncie for the Jamboree or the Nats, you can do both in 2010.
Following is a list of people who had integral roles in putting on the F3C World Championship and a partial results list. Directing the contest was a tremendous amount of work, but it was all worth it. Would Dave do it again? In a heartbeat!
FAI Jury:
- Horace Hagen (US)
- Dag Eckoff (Norway)
- Jo Hallman (Great Britain)
FAI Judges:
- Phil Noel (Canada)
- Manfred Dittmayer (Austria)
- Lucio Della Toffola (Italy)
- Shigetada Taya (Japan)
- Carl Otto Strandh (Sweden)
- Dave Sellars (US)
- Giovanni Lo Furno (Belgium)
- Stefan Wolf (Germany)
- Frits van Laar (Netherlands)
- Juerg Schmitter (Switzerland)
Assistant Event Director:
- Chuck Birt
Flightline Coordinators:
- Tom Johnson
- Tom Erb
Officials:
- Matt Kolarik
- Daniel Hiatt
- Gordie Meade
- Ben Minor
- Dan Monroe (also scoring)
- Steve Herring
- Tim DiPeri
- John Zankl
- Tim Dawson
- Steve Barredo
AMA Headquarters Personnel:
- Greg Hahn, Technical Director
- Colleen Peirce, FAI coordinator
- Michelle Lamb, Competitions Department
- Jim Cherry, Executive Director
Individual Standings:
- Hiroki Ito (Japan), World Champion: 2,974.49
- Scott Gray (Canada): 2,969.811
- Ennio Graber (Switzerland): 2,949.987
Team Standings:
- US
- Japan
- Austria
—Craig Bradley
AMA Expo Features Aviation Pioneers Bitten by the Flying Bug as Youth
What do speed, testing, and stealth have in common? AMA Expo 2010!
If you’ve never been to the Academy’s huge West Coast event and have been waiting for a “good” year to go, 2010 is it. If you have been to one before and expect the January 8–10 extravaganza in Ontario, California, to be identical to those in past years, think again!
“For just the price of admission, we’re offering the chance for attendees to listen to and interact with several aviation luminaries,” said Jeff Nance, AMA’s director of marketing and programs. “And there will be things to see and do that will thrill modelers and anyone interested in aviation and space.”
Featured speakers
- Robert “Hoot” Gibson — five-time NASA space shuttle commander and inductee to the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
- Jon Sharp — pilot, designer, and builder of the record-setting Nemesis NXT full-scale racer.
- Capt. Tom Huff — commander of the Naval Test Wing, Patuxent River, Virginia.
- Dan Kreigh — senior structural engineer for Scaled Composites.
- Burt Rutan — founder of Scaled Composites (speaking Sunday, January 10).
All of these accomplished aviators started out as preadolescent aeromodelers and continue to enjoy the hobby.
Capt. Tom Huff
“I never let go of the modeling bug. I still enjoy RC and Control Line and sharing that with my kids and my brother’s kids,” said Capt. Tom Huff.
Tom graduated from the Naval Academy, became a fighter pilot and test pilot, and is now a captain in the Naval Test Wing at Patuxent River. He was licensed to fly an airplane before he could get his driver’s license. Tom’s club, the Patuxent Aeromodelers, works with local youth guided by STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) principles and even brings rocketry activities to his air base.
“In talking with youth, the conversation often goes to the sUAS (small unmanned aerial systems),” Tom said. “If I had known how far the technology could go when I was flying RC models, I would have retired early to sell sUAS equipment to the military! Things are being done now that we couldn’t have ever dreamed of back then.”
Robert “Hoot” Gibson
Hoot flew combat missions in the F-4 jet and graduated from TOPGUN. Selected by NASA in 1978, he flew five shuttle missions (STS-41-B, STS-61-C, STS-27, STS-47, STS-71) and participated in the Space Shuttle Challenger investigation and redesign of the solid rocket boosters.
Hoot encourages families to get involved: “I encourage all parents to get in there with your kids, spread some glue, make the parts, put it together, and go out and fly airplanes. It's a community thing, a family thing that's educational, fun, and keeps your brains spinning trying to make things go faster, fly better.”
In 2008, Hoot was the first contestant to reach the $1 million question on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? without using any cheats; though he answered incorrectly, his prize money ($25,000) went to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
Jon Sharp
Jon’s aeromodeling roots go back to the late ’50s. He built and flew many models and later worked at Lockheed Martin on aircraft such as the F-117, U-2, F-22, and F-35. Jon credits his career to those early days: “We’d load up the station wagon, and on Saturdays and throughout the summer, it was down to the park, eating peanut butter sandwiches and flying all day long. All that I’ve done started with that.”
Jon has set numerous speed records with his model racers, won three consecutive Reno National Championships, and achieved speeds over 409 mph. He and his wife build the carbon-fiber parts in their hangar.
Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites
Burt Rutan is noted for original designs that are light, strong, and energy-efficient. He was an AMA control-line national champion in 1959 and 1960 and is famous for Voyager (first nonstop, unrefueled around-the-world flight) and SpaceShipOne (first privately funded spacecraft to reach space twice within two weeks). He has four aircraft in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: SpaceShipOne, Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, Voyager, and VariEze.
“I don’t ask someone to design something unless he’s capable of going out in the shop and building it with his own hands,” Burt said. He added that competitive modelers and home-built airplane enthusiasts tend to be “doers” who go to the front of the line.
Dan Kreigh
Dan Kreigh (pronounced “kray”) is a longtime AMA member and Scaled Composites engineer. He once showed up for an interview with a van full of models and got the job because of his passion for building. Dan is pursuing a “roadable airplane” (a workable flying car) and has also designed one of the first aerobatic indoor model airplanes, the IFO (Indoor Flying Object). He recalls the first indoor demo: “They’d never seen an outside loop done indoors. I did a few rolls and landed it, and they were just, like, quiet. Then everybody just broke out into applause.”
Joe Boc and the Curtiss‑Wright engine
Joe Boc builds authentic models of full-scale aircraft and restored the models used in the 2004 movie The Aviator. He restores old airplane engines and will display a massive 18-cylinder Curtiss‑Wright engine at the Expo. Built in the mid-1950s for Howard Hughes’ TWA Lockheed Constellation, the turbo-compound power plant produced about 3,800 horsepower; it was the pinnacle of piston technology before the turbine and jet age took over.
In addition to guest speakers and more than 200 exhibitors, Expo goers will have the opportunity to see a 1/3-scale F-117 stealth fighter built by AMA member Rich Crupi of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and many other engaging displays.
With more than 200 exhibitors, numerous engaging displays, and a cadre of aviation trailblazers, the 2010 AMA Expo will have something for everyone to see, learn, and do. It is the largest aeromodelling exposition in the country and should not be missed by anyone who has a love of flight.
—AMA Headquarters
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
