BRODAK FLY-IN
Sixteen years of flying in circles
by Allen Brickhaus
A total of 141 CL pilots and their families traveled to Carmichaels, Pennsylvania, for the 16th annual Brodak Fly-In, held June 12–16, 2012. A whopping 626 scored flights were completed throughout the week, with a multitude of practice and fun-type models in the air over the six well-prepared circles most of the time.
John and Buzz Brodak graciously allowed this family of modelers to come to their home and spent the entire week ensuring that all was ready for the pilots. Brodak Manufacturing and Distribution Company provided the support to hold another fine event in the southwest corner of Pennsylvania.
I pulled into the parking lot at noon on Monday, June 11, and found that Tom Hampshire and the Brodak staff had the circles properly marked and ready for the following day’s competition. The grass was pruned to a comfortable height for wheel pants on the Classic models. Perhaps one or two found the grass tough to take off from, but for the other 139 pilots, the surfaces were ready to go. The Carmichaels Chamber of Commerce sign welcomed 141 CL pilots, their pit crews, and their families. It’s great to get this much participation in a model airplane event.
The six circles were touched up at least three times during the week with early morning mowing. The event opened Tuesday with four Control Line Precision Aerobatics (CLPA) classes of Profile Stunt competition. Intermediate tends to have the most competitors, and we decided to have the pilots fly in front of two sets of judges on two circles to save time and safely complete the flights. Both scores were averaged on the respective circles, and then the two separate scores were averaged to finalize the list of winners. The competitors had to have two good scores to accomplish a win in this manner. In the evening, John Saunders ran the Foxberg Racing event on the southwest circle. All flights concluded with daylight left to practice for Wednesday’s competitions.
Wednesday focused on the four classes of Classic and Nostalgia 30 models. Models in the Classic category must have been designed before midnight on December 31, 1969. The Nostalgia 30 designs must be at least 30 years old from the date of the contest. Each contest was flown based on skill levels, but the pilot had to choose in which event he or she would fly. At the end of the day, scores were distributed to whichever model age group the pilot flew in. John Saunders again took the reins for Clown Racing at the end of the day. John Vlna got the Carrier Squadron going on the top of the hill at circle six, and he got the first flights off in the late morning.
On Thursday, Old-Time Stunt (OTS) allowed the pilots to choose to fly either Phase One (those with no flaps) or Phase Two (those with flaps) at the start of the event. As with Classic and Nostalgia 30, the scores were split between the pilots' respective choices at the end of the day. Only Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert skill classes were flown; there is no Beginner OTS at the Brodak event.
The crème de la crème of pretty Stunt models made their way to the front lawn at 3 p.m. for the Appearance Points session. At the same time, Ladies and Youth Basic Flight began on the Advanced circle at 3:30 p.m. John Brodak and his crew began the Scale Static judging shortly after noon.
A 5 p.m. memorial service to honor those CL modelers who have passed away since the summer of 2011 was well attended. Immediately after the memorial service, Ken Armish jump-started the Junk Yard Wars building session.
Many Scale models were flown on Thursday evening, and more were flown by Friday night. Fun, Sport, Profile, and 1/2A Scale dominated the asphalt circle on the top of the hill.
Scale flying and the first round of CLPA Stunt continued Friday, with all four skill classes flown in front of four pairs of judges. Speed Limit Combat began and had 18 pilots to fill the matrix, with event CD Phil Cartier completing the contest shortly before dinnertime. Nearly everyone settled down to view the flying portion of the Junk Yard Wars and all had a great time.
We cannot forget the individual flights with strange, unique models, such as those flown by Joshua Harel and his "Wild" Bill Netzeband 1,600-square-inch Fierce Arrow; Ed Mason and his flock of B-17s, a B-29, and his C-124; and Dan Banjock, who put in attention-getting flights with his Dyna-Jet Stunt model, his double-size Bi-Slob, and his double Fox .35 (now a .70) Bearcat.
Buzz Brodak and her helpers served more than 200 people at the banquet on Friday night. This annual meal, sponsored by Brodak Manufacturing and Distribution Company, is a nice addition to the contest.
Saturday was the culminating day for the event, and we had all classes flown and trophies handed out by 2:45 p.m. Visit the Brodak website and search for the final placements for the week's competitions. This comprehensive list makes for good (but long) reading.
My thanks go to John and Buzz Brodak for their work to make this a wonderful annual event, and for allowing me to help them accomplish the goal of a good week.
Tom Hampshire is retiring from the contest this year after 13 years of service. He has been a joy to work with, and I treasure his counsel, advice, and support these past years. We look forward to him bringing his grandchildren to the event next year.
The event directors, judges, pull testers, food-stand servers, and general maintenance staff during the week were polite and efficient. The long list of workers is daunting, but I appreciate everyone who helped make this event one to add to the bucket list of places to go and have a great time. Sandy Bruce, Anna Noska, Charlie Ward, and Tom Noska quickly solved any problems during the week.
Mark your calendars for the five days before Father's Day in 2013 for the next outing in southwest Pennsylvania. See you there!
—Allen Brickhaus [email protected]
Sources
Brodak (724) 966-2726 www.brodak.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
