BORN TO FLY 2013/07

All photos courtesy of RCGroups.com
This year’s winners of the RCGroups.com ETOC (L-R): Christoph Lausberg
(third place), RJ Gritter (first place), and Gernot Bruckmann (second
place). The scores were amazingly close!
RCGroups.com’s 2013 Electric
Tournament of Champions
I remember the first
year of the Electric
Tournament of
Champions (ETOC). It was
held in a gymnasium with
low ceilings and few seats.
There was a line around
the building composed of
excited RC spectators who
were in town for the Toledo
R/C Expo.
Most of us had to sit on
the floor. If you looked
around you could see
fervent RC pilots mixed
in with owners of RC
manufacturing companies.
We were all excited to see
the world’s top RC pilots compete
with a new concept in RC flight: the
indoor foamie.
That was 10 years ago and I have
been to every ETOC since. The founder
of this event is Tom Kroggel. This
hobby is full of good pilots and Tom is
one of them. He calls the ETOC the
“foamie saga.”
This prestigious event attracts pilots
from around the world. There were no
indoor competitions and few people
flying indoors prior to the inaugural
ETOC.
How the ETOC Works
Fourteen of the world’s best pilots
compete for the top seven spots for
Saturday night’s finals. On Friday night,
there are two rounds of specific Known
maneuvers and two rounds of Freestyle
flown by all 14 pilots. The number of
pilots is later cut to seven.
On Saturday night, the top seven
pilots fly two rounds of Known and
two rounds of Freestyle to determine
the final three pilots. These three each
fly one round of Freestyle and one
round of Known to determine the
RCGroups.com ETOC champion.
The Known Sequence
Do you think you have what it takes
to compete? This is a real test of a
pilot’s skillset. You have to keep your
lines clean and do everything correctly!
This is the Known sequence routine:
1. Reversing Loop: Full roll, 3/4
loop with 3/4 roll integrated into 3/4
loop (full roll and 3/4 roll must be in
opposite direction), 1⁄4 knife-edge (KE)
loop to exit on KE.
2. Hammerhead: KE entry, 1⁄2 roll
on vertical upline, no rolls on vertical
downline, exit upright crossbox.
3. Double Humpty Bump: Two of
four-point roll on vertical upline, 1⁄2
inside loop, 3/4 roll on downline, 1⁄2
outside loop, two-point roll on vertical
upline, exit upright.
4. 11⁄4 Positive Spin: (Centered) 11⁄4
spin, vertical downline, exit upright
crossbox outbound (must exit away
from the pilot).
5. Butterfly: (Centered) 1/8 roll on
line immediately followed by a full
inside loop on a 45º plane (into wind
on Aresti), followed by a
full KE loop on a 45º plane
(downwind on Aresti),
followed by a 1/8 roll to
upright.
6. Figure 9: 1⁄4 roll on
vertical upline, push 3/4
outside loop, one negative
snap roll on exit to inverted.
7. 180° Rolling Circle:
One roll inside, one roll
outside, exit inverted.
8. Torque Roll: (Centered)
push to a vertical upline,
perform 11⁄4 torque roll,
opposite 11⁄4 Torque Roll,
continue vertical upline
and exit inverted. (Torque
Rolls must be centered on the vertical
upline—no entry slide into Torque Roll).
9. Reversing P Loop: Pull to a
vertical downline, perform a 1⁄2
inside loop and 1⁄4 outside loop with
11⁄2 continuous rolls integrated into
the looping sections, exit inverted
(integrated 1⁄2 roll per quadrant of the
loop).
10. Split S: 11⁄2 rolls, 1⁄2 outside loop,
1⁄4 roll, opposite 1⁄2 roll, opposite 3/4 roll,
exit upright.
11. Shark’s Tooth: Vertical upline
with one roll, inverted 45º downline
with two-point roll, exit inverted.
12. Lay Down Humpty Bump:
Inverted 45º upline with 1⁄4 roll and
same direction 3/4 positive snap roll,
push 1⁄2 outside loop to 45° downline,
exit upright.
Freestyle
Freestyle is my favorite part of the
show. It is composed by the competitor,
and there are no mandatory maneuvers.
This event shows how much foamie
flight has advanced.
Freestyle allows a pilot’s personality
to show through. If I find myself
www.ModelAviation.com July 2013 Model Aviation 87
born to fly
Jim T. Graham
[email protected]
087-089_MA0713_GrahamBornToFly.indd 87 5/20/13 12:14 PM
This airplane belongs to Christoph Lausberg of Germany. Christoph came in third. Note the propellers and thin foam construction.
yelling in excitement, then I know a pilot is doing a great job. I caught myself pointing at RJ Gritter’s airplane because of a maneuver he was doing at ETOC. That’s a first!
The Airplanes
All ETOC aircraft must be operated by battery-powered electric motors. There is a 20-ounce weight limit.
Pilots can use multiple airplanes during the competition. Airplanes 10 years ago were vastly different from the ones used today. Many are hand cut and designed by the pilots. Some aircraft have creative ways to slow them built into the designs. They are works of art.
This year’s winner, RJ Gritter, flew an airplane with twin co-axial, counter-rotating propellers and special air brake devices on the TEs. This allows the aircraft to fly slowly and consistently in any attitude.
RJ’s Freestyle aircraft had variable-pitch propellers and thrust vectoring in the yaw axis. This allowed it to fly insane maneuvers such as backing up vertically from the floor to the ceiling and hanging in the air. The weight on these airplanes is amazing. RJ’s Pattern airplane weighed 3.06 ounces, and his Freestyle airplane 6 ounces.
Past ETOC Winners
Some of the best RC pilots in the world have competed in this contest. Here is a list of the previous winners:
2004: George Hicks
2005: Scott Foster
2006: Jason Noll
2007: John Glezellis
2008: Andrew Jesky
2009: Seth Arnold
2010-2012: Gernot Bruckmann
The E-X Games
ETOC pilots fly their model aircraft in an obstacle course which typically turns into a free-for-all! For each task that isn’t completed, 10 seconds are added to the competitor’s total time on the course. The lowest time wins the prize money.
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Model Aviation
July 2013
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BORN TO FLY
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This is a great example of an ETOC airplane. The side-force generators and air brakes are
noticeable. These works of art perform miracles in the air.
Some of the many obstacles are the
“Table Tamer,” “Octonator,” “Wind
Generator,” “45 Vortex,” “Angry Foul
Poles,” “Salome Gates,” “Midwest
Tornados,” and many more.
On the following night, one pilot
starts on one side of the gymnasium,
while the other begins in the opposite
corner. Both are allowed to follow their
airplanes around the obstacles and, at
times, have to share the airspace.
Each pilot finishes the event where
the other pilot started by backing his or
her aircraft, tail down, into a trash can.
This is a one-run, one-time, winnertakes-
all competition.
Lights After Dark—Open Fly
At this year’s RCGroups.com ETOC
there were two gymnasiums for open
flying. In the back gym there was “lights
out” flying both nights. There was
another gym for general open flying.
Everyone had a blast!
Give Autism the Boot
Each year during the Toledo Show,
the RCGroups.com ETOC has a
special raffle to benefit local charities.
The focus this year was on the
fight against autism with our “Give
Autism the Boot” campaign. There was
a special raffle to benefit the Great
Lakes Collaborative for Autism. Many
vendors donated great items.
2013 Winners
This year’s contest was as exciting
as any I have attended. Gernot
Bruckmann was the returning
champion. After winning three years in
a row, the big question was whether he
could do it again.
The contest went smoothly. The
crowd loved the E-X games. It was
an entertaining and fun way for the
competitors to cut loose.
The scores were the closest they had
been in 10 years. The amount of talent
in this year’s contest might have been
the best, so it was incredibly exciting
for the crowd.
Returning champion Gernot
was leading Saturday with RJ and
Christoph Lausberg close behind. One
mistake could mean the championship
to any of them.
Gernot had two mistakes in the final,
moving him into second place. RJ flew
flawlessly and it showed in his scores.
It all came down to a few tenths of a
point.
This year’s champion, RJ, said, “If
you have an interest in competition
flying, jump in and try it out! ETOC
was only the second contest I ever
flew. I watched it live online on www.
FlyingGiants.com in 2006 and knew
I had to try to fly there. I practiced all
year and got an invitation to compete in
the 2007 ETOC.”
The TnT Landing Gear crew is
already gearing up for next year’s
competition, so be sure to mark your
calendar to see the foamie saga in
2014.
SOURCES:
TnT Landing Gear Products (ETOC event site)
http://bit.ly/109ibkm
RCGroups ETOC Event Coverage
www.rcgroups.com/rcgroups-com-etoc-2013-821
ETOC memories come
alive at www.ModelAviation.com
and on our tablet app.
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