Born to Fly - 2010/05

72 MODEL AVIATION
Jim T. Graham | jgraham@Born to Fly rcgroups.com
Tips for great flying events
Steven “SleepyC” Cinch and the FlyingGiants.com crew have a blast at the Ohio
Huckfest. This year’s event will be September 9-12.
E-Fest, in Champaign IL, is an indoor event that has it all. Various disciplines of the hobby
unite there, and the outcome is a good time.
IF YOU HAVE been to even one RC fly-in,
you might know how much fun one can be. I
have been a part of events that have had as
few as 20 people and shows as large as the Joe
Nall Fly-In—one of the world’s largest
outdoor events. I also host an annual gathering
and we usually have roughly 100 pilots as
well as spectators.
There are many ways to go about hosting
an event. Each show has its own character and
appeals to pilots in different ways.
With the warm months coming, this is a
good time to talk to some event coordinators
and pass on tips to you in case you are
thinking of hosting an RC event. Following
are mine.
Jim T. Graham, founder of the Profile
Brotherhood and admin deluxe for
RCGroups.com, RCCars.com, and
CrackRoll.com, hosts NashBro each year.
• The first RC event I attended was the one I
hosted! That is a baptism of fire, but the
interesting thing was that I had no
preconceived ideas about what was supposed
to happen. I think that was instrumental in
creating a unique event that brings back more
pilots each year.
• My rule is to let the pilots fly! I don’t put on
an event for spectators. If they want to come
see the show that is fine, but my main priority
is creating an event that is the most fun
possible for a pilot.
We start flying when the sun comes up and
continue until I turn the lights out near 10 p.m.
each night. Many of us don’t get the time we
need during a busy workweek to fly as much
as we want. I want my event to be the place
where you have all the stick time you need.
• I don’t allow specific demo time at my
events. If you have an airplane that you
want people to see, fire that baby up and
mix it up with our pilots. Demo time is
downtime, and downtime is frustrating to
my pilots.
Some shows emphasize different things,
and that is great, but I know what my pilots
want, and that is to fly.
• The flying style of choice for all of my
pilots is 3-D. Many of them are limited to
how often they get to hover over the runway
and 3-D low and slow at their own fields. I
understand why this could be an issue at a
club, but 3-D is what it is about at NashBro.
It is also a great place to learn from other 3-
D pilots.
• I have been hosting NashBro for seven
years and each year has been a learning
experience. Bryce and Liz Custer have
helped me, and we have it down to a science
at this point. Our pilots bring money to the
town’s economy, and Leipers Fork,
Tennessee, is happy to provide portable
toilets, lighting, and anything else we need.
It is a group effort, and fairly easy on us
after all these years. The great part is that we
get to enjoy our event—something that is
easier said than done. We usually have
roughly 100 pilots and hundreds of
spectators, but it always feels like a group of
ProBros getting together to fly, and that’s the
way I like it.
Steven Cinch, administrator of
FlyingGiants.com, is responsible for the
Huckfest events, which take place across the
US throughout the year.
• Have enough drinks on hand. If you want to
keep a show going, make sure to have
enough water; otherwise people start leaving.
• Have enough portable toilets available, or
people won’t stay.
• You have to have a great team. You need
various people who are good at different
things, or your show will fall apart.
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SEFF is an amazing outdoor electric-only RC event. Come and see new products,
innovation in the hobby, and models from the past.
With thousands of people and multiple flightlines, the Joe Nall Fly-In is the granddaddy of
outdoor events. There is so much to see and do, plan to stay the week.
Each year, the best of the best compete at the ETOC in Toledo, Ohio. To see cuttingedge
3-D electric flight, be sure to attend.
• A Huckfest tends to be a place where pilots
can throw it down. There is hard-core flying
and our pilots go all out. This makes it
exciting and fun for the pilots and the
spectators. A Huckfest is a full-on aerobatics
show from sunup to sundown. This aspect of
the event draws pilots and a good crowd.
• Never pay attention to the weather report.
If you are planning an event, just do it. The
weather forecast isn’t dependable.
Tom Krogel, who owns TnT Landing Gear
Products, is responsible for the Electric
Tournament of Champions, or ETOC. See
the company’s Web site for information
about the event.
• When you go to people to rent a venue,
they seldom understand what you are talking
about. You have to bring an airplane to
show them and make them understand that
you aren’t going to damage their facilities.
• Appeal to the fact that this is another way
for revenue managers to generate income.
That’s how I have found our great location
in Toledo, Ohio. Such places are always
looking for ways to bring in money. Your
show will help contribute to the school or
the facility.
• I work with local clubs and give them
donations. The club members are happy to
help with the event. You don’t need many
people to make a show work.
• Charge a nominal fee to offset the cost of
giving back to the facility and the club, and
cover your expenses.
• To find sponsors, contact companies that
are related to your type of event. If it’s an
electric event, find companies that sell items
related to that segment of the hobby.
Offer different levels of sponsorship that
will appeal to different companies. It doesn’t
always have to be money; vendors can give
away products or sponsor contests.
Jeff Meyers, owner of Kool Flight Systems,
is the event coordinator for the Southeast
Electric Flight Festival, or SEFF. Go to the
company’s Web site for information about
this gathering.
• The most important thing is to organize a
group of staff members and delegate
authority. I have captains for different parts
of the event: check-in, flightline boss,
special events, and more. Utilize them and
let them do their jobs. Allow them to recruit
volunteers to help.
This is an easy way for you to find more
people to help. We give incentives to our
staff to help say thanks. This could be free
T-shirts, dinners, etc.
• Sponsors are critical. The big question is
how we get so many prizes. We try to make
it clear that there will be a big bang for the
buck through the event’s Web site. We have
pictures of prizes with links to the products.
Last year we had 300,000 unique IPs visit
that page alone.
• There is no trick to making everyone
happy. We try to please the most people we
can most of the time. The event has become
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as big as it is because we try to gear it
toward regular pilots. We want them to feel
that they can fly as often as they want.
• By doing preregistration online, we can
gauge how attendance is going to be. In our
meetings, we try to anticipate new
challenges. Every year something has
obvious room for improvement. The trick is
figuring out what isn’t obvious.
• The way to have a good time at your event
is by delegating authority. You have to work
like a dog, but a great staff allows you to
have fun.
• Advertise in as many ways as possible—at
a minimum in the forums. You have to let
people know your event is happening.
Tom Hunt, who works for the Northrop
Grumman Corporation, is the event director
for the NEAT (Northeast Electric Aircraft
Technology) Fair.
• Listen to your pilots; make sure you are
getting input on what they like and don’t
like.
• Give the people what they want. With the
NEAT Fair, we let it grow into what it wants
to become. It is the easiest path to attracting
as many people to your show as possible.
We don’t have to model ourselves after
other shows.
Do you want it to be a social event,
attract the best pilots, or be the average
event? It’s up to you. Fun-flys attract the
most people.
74 MODEL AVIATION
• For raffles, develop a rapport with
vendors throughout the year. I’m fine if
you want to donate a prize or not.
Sometimes just having sponsors there helps
draw people. We have not seen raffle prizes
as a huge draw.
• We encourage demonstration flying. The
crowd loves to see a good exhibition. Most
of the noon demos run longer than an hour.
You have to balance that, but we have
such an extended time to fly that it is no
problem for us. We have gone as long as
two hours out of a day if we have a bunch
of interesting airplanes. The crowd doesn’t
seem to mind at the NEAT Fair.
• It takes a significant effort to run a show
our size, but it does get less complicated as
each year passes. Renting portable toilets
and tents is easier each year. Starting a
show is daunting, but it becomes more
hassle-free as you continue. You do more
work at the show than in the 11 months
before it.
Christopher Hockaday is in research and
development and design at East R/C. He is
involved with the Raleigh Durham Radio
Control (RDRC) Fly-for-Tots Charity Fly-
In.
• The most important thing is to figure out
a way to have your show benefit someone
or something other than the club. Our club
doesn’t make anything off of our event.
The last three years our fun-fly has
benefited Victory Junction, which is a
camp in North Carolina for children with
chronic medical conditions or serious
illnesses. Kyle and Patty Petty started
Victory Junction in their son’s honor.
• The event’s raffle generates 90% of our
money. Many in our club have industry
contacts. They make phone calls and most
people are willing to help because they
know it’s for a good cause. We keep our
sponsors’ logos on our Web site until the
following year’s event.
• Our show is different every year. We
have full-scale airplanes that come by and
fly for the audience. Many great,
spontaneous things occur. One year a
group of kids from a local church raised
$3,000-$4,000 on its own to give to
Victory Junction, which was great.
• We bring in people, such as Chris Hinson
of Extreme Flight RC, to put on exciting
halftime shows. That helps keep things
interesting. Each year it gets better; there is
always something new.
• After a show we have an awesome
feeling of accomplishment. When the
event is winding down and everyone is
leaving, we are amazed that we put on
another great fly-in. It also blows us away
that we are able to raise money that
changes children’s lives. All the hard work
is well worth it.
Blaine Austin owns the Extreme
Aerobatics Club (EAC), which holds
events across the country each year. Visit
Blaine’s Web site for more information.
• The first thing to do if you want to put on
an event at a local club is recruit people to
work. Get them excited about it.
I do my events at clubs sometimes 10 hours
away. I have a local contact to help me prepare
for the event. I send out a set of guidelines to
help make sure that the show is successful. (A
link is provided in the “Sources” listing.)
• Have good people to help the pilots, make
them feel welcome, and facilitate people
enjoying themselves.
• You want people to want to come back. I try
to have a laid-back atmosphere, make it easy
to register, and have an emcee on the
microphone to compliment and acknowledge
the airplanes that are in the air, to make the
show more enjoyable.
• Some of my biggest events were the easiest
because I had great people working with me.
Buddy Laughter was my go-to person in the
Memphis, Tennessee, area. He was totally
reliable, and I knew he would bring in great
people to help.
If you make sure everyone is having fun,
you are going to have a super event and they
might want to come back. That is what makes
a show. It boils down to that one person in the
club who can keep things moving and keep
people upbeat.
• The goal of a show is not to make a ton of
money. You need to make some money, but
the goal is to give people an excuse to get
together, share ideas, and have fun.
This is all great information from people
who not only love this hobby, but have also
been putting on successful events for years.
I thank everyone for taking time to be a
part of this column, and I challenge you to
get out there and create your own event. It’s
a great deal of work, but it’s also a lot of fun!
Fly it like you stole it! MA
Sources:
NashBro
www.theprofilebrotherhood.com
Huckfest
www.flyinggiants.com
TnT Landing Gear Products
(419) 868-5408
www.tntlandinggear.com
Kool Flight Systems
(770) 716-7578
www.koolflightsystems.com
NEAT Fair
www.neatfair.org
RDRC Fly-for-Tots Charity Fly-In
www.flyfortots.com
Blaine Austin
www.blaineaustin.com
Blaine Austin’s “Guidelines for a Successful
Show”:
www.ama.rcgroups.com