AMA News-District V - 2009/01
As we reach the Christmas season, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and New Year! I have a couple of reports sent in to include this month.
Bushwhacked '08½: The Fall Furball (Combat contest report)
For weeks leading up to this contest, the weather was so bad that everyone was pleasantly shocked when all the tropical systems passed just in time to grant two beautiful days of perfect blue skies and light winds.
Contestants began arriving early on Saturday morning, including two from out of state who drove in Friday afternoon — one from Ohio and one from Georgia.
The RC Bush Pilots, located in the Dyer Park recreational facility in West Palm Beach, Florida, hosted the club’s third annual fall Combat contest. Twelve contestants competed across a field that included three separate classes of RC Combat:
- Open B
- SSC (Slow Survivable Combat)
- 2548 Scale Combat
While the parameters for each class are different, they share the same general directive: cut your opponent’s streamer off!
The fast-paced action was exciting for pilots and spectators. Two rookie contestants were flying in their first-ever Combat event. At halftime, a demonstration flight by Tom Jenkins piloting a fast electric-powered, ducted-fan jet was impressive.
One outstanding result was 14-year-old Eric Laukien’s win in Open B. He has been flying Combat for three years now.
When the Combat flying concluded at mid-afternoon each day, normal sport flying resumed at the field. Awards were presented and donated merchandise was given away.
Special thanks to our sponsors:
- 3G’s Hobby
- Radio Controlled Revolution
For more information about RC Combat and an event debriefing including results and many more photos, visit the RCCA (Radio Control Combat Association) website at www.rccombat.com and read the Combat Forums under Event Reports.
Flying Griffins IMAC event — Allen Taylor Memorial
The Flying Griffins hosted the club’s first-ever IMAC (International Miniature Aerobatic Club) event, named in honor of the late Allen Taylor, on March 28–30, 2008. This short article is almost as much about the young man pictured, Kevin Garland, as it is about the event itself.
At the time of the event, Kevin was finishing his senior year in high school. He made time to serve as Contest Director for this inaugural event, and was also slated to be one of the contestants at the 2008 Extreme Flight Championships in Muncie, Indiana. By the time this report is printed, Kevin will have matriculated to Embry-Riddle University. Kevin had plenty of help from his Flying Griffins clubmates.
The event was held at a huge ultralight flying site owned by club member Mark Murdock. By huge, I mean big enough to run multiple, fully independent flightlines with no overlapping flight patterns. Roughly 30 pilots and even more models attended.
The pictures give an idea of the size of the venue: the house in the background is more than a quarter mile to the west, and there are no other homes in sight except Mark Murdock’s — his house is effectively a hangar. No walls. If you get up from the dinner table you can walk right over to the vertical milling machine (or the lathe, or the pedestal grinder, or any of the other model-building necessities). Mark said his home is “modestly equipped for the model builder.” Yeah, right.
Many more photos of this event can be seen at www.flyinggriffins.org/allenimac08/allen_taylor_imac.htm.
Look for future IMAC events hosted by the Flying Griffins of Griffin, Georgia. Also look for more modeling accomplishments from Kevin Garland, even though his future will be filled with full-scale aircraft.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
