AMA News: District III-2007/02
Hillside Aeromodelers RC Combat Meet (Bryan, Ohio) — Report forwarded by Sean Rupp
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-nighter tradition, a local social event where we grill out and relax before the competition. 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 downtime. This approach worked well and allowed us to complete all the rounds 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 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 barbecue hosted by the Snyders for an evening of telling lies and recapping the events of the day. Roughly 12 of the day’s pilots hung around for the evening’s festivities.
Sunday morning roared to life with cooler temperatures, clearer skies, and the unmistakable sound of Open C Combat. There is nothing more exciting than the smell of 30% nitro 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. Many 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 dogfighting 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-hour 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.
Events held
- Friday: Steak-nighter social
- Saturday: Slow, Survivable Combat (SSC) — 5 rounds; Limited B — 5 rounds
- Sunday: Open C Combat — 4 rounds; Bomber Patrol; Grudge match (one-on-one duels); high-wind Combat
Acknowledgments
- Pack 25 Scouts: ran lunch both days (approximately $300 raised)
- Hosts: the Snyders (Saturday evening barbecue)
- All pilots and spectators for their participation and support
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
