e-fest Electric Festival - 2006/06

EVERY HOBBYIST OWES it to himself or herself to go to at
least one fun-fly a year. If you can commit to only one, I highly
recommend that you consider going to a different one each year.
You never know who you might meet or what events might be in
store.
A fun-fly is like
your favorite
restaurant; find a
good one and
you’ll be back
often. What I
wouldn’t give for a
good Chicken
Marsala and a little
tiramisu with a
cappuccino right
now. Yummy! I’ve
visited many
restaurants, and each one does things slightly different;
sometimes that can be part of the fun.
When you find a flying event that is well organized and
entertaining, your tummy gets full and you just know you want to
come back for more. Many clubs host fun-fly events, and the mix
of games, contests, and prizes combine to obtain a critique with
many stars as the rating.
Consider how good a flying event could be if the biggest
June 2006 25
by Michael Ramsey
AMA Education Director Jack Frost designed this Flutter-By
electric model for three channels. It’s a blast to fly.
Angelo Lomeli coaches his 3-year-old son Sebastian while hovering
an E-flite Blade CX.
An option for the E-flite Blade CX is a
replacement body finished in blue.
Edge 540 and
Reflection FlatOuts
hover side by side.
AeroModel’s
prototype Aerosport
was flown by Jeff
Heitman.
Jason Cole flew this
Hacker Super Zoom
on floats.
Mike Fuller’s Hydrofoil was built from a Hangar One Hobbies kit.
The bottom of his Miss Hangar One is coated with a special Teflon
material.
An array of aircraft took to the air in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Armory track-and-field facility while winter’s wrath roared outside
Fix-It stations were positioned at the center
of the flightline as a courtesy to pilots with
ailing aircraft. Foam material and adhesive
were provided gratis.
The Armory was spacious enough for a large number of models to fly at one time. This
view depicts some of the Combat action.
David Johnson designed and built this all-wood S.E.5a finished in
Litespan covering. It’s powered by a RimFire motor.
Jason Noll, with his father Frank (Frank’s model shown), designed
and built a pair of Shorts Sky Vans from 3mm and 6mm Depron.
A pair of RimFire motors fly this 11-ounce model.
26 MODEL AVIATION
Indoor Flying Rules
• Always range check.
• Always fly with a spotter.
• Fly as close as possible—even if
you think there’s more room.
• Never fly toward the flightline.
• Expect the flight speed to be higher
because of a lack of headwind.
2006 E-Fest Winners
Ultimate Combat
Larry Marky ($100)
Heli Smackdown
Nick Maxwell ($500)
E-Style Contest
1. Jason Noll ($2,500)
2. John Glezellis ($1,500)
3. Sean McMurtry ($750)
Visit www.gpe-fest.com for more
information.
Del Ogren maneuvers his electric-powered
ornithopter with the assist of rudder
deflected by a magnetic actuator.
E-flite’s Ultimate Fx 3D has a threedimensional
molded foam fuselage, improving
its looks and making it much stronger.
Photos by Ben Lanterman and Michael Ramsey
June 2006 27
Devin McGrath demonstrates just how “locked” his Nikitis Animal is in a hover; he
needed only rudder and power to maintain position.
Based on a popular kid’s toy, Tom Cleland
created the RC Hoverdisc. It’s powered
with a 14-turn CD-ROM motor and a 3S
Li-Poly battery.
Tables secured the L-shaped flightline and were a welcome advantage to pilots for
assembling and keeping their models safe.
E-Fest Sponsors
Great Planes
ElectriFly
Futaba
Heli-Max
Ultrafly Model
Carl Goldberg Products Ltd.
RCGroups.com
Hobby Lobby International, Inc.
JR
Fly RC magazine
Backyard Flyer magazine
Model Airplane News magazine
Quiet Flyer magazine
3-D Flyer magazine
E-flite
Spektrum
Testors
Pactra
ZAP
Billy Hell RC
RC Universe.com
Shulman Aviation
FMA Direct
Castle Creations
manufacturers and distributors in the
country hosted it. It would be like going
to New York City and knowing 100% that
you were going to find a great Italian
bistro, complete with fine wine and
candlelight (okay, the candle depends on
the guest[s]).
February 11-12 in Champaign, Illinois,
was the opportunity to experience an
indoor flying event hosted by the largest
hobby distributor in the country: Great
Planes Model Distributors (Hobbico).
Are your eyes popping yet? They
should be; just imagine the door prizes.
The first 50 registered pilots received a
free Great Planes FlatOut kit.
However, Great Planes didn’t hog all
the glory of this event; after all, it isn’t
the only quality hobby distributor in town.
Horizon Hobby was welcomed to display
at and participate in the event, and other
top companies in the hobby joined in as
28 MODEL AVIATION
Nathan Lansing and Pete Whitley were well prepared for a full weekend of flying. Box
storage simplified transportation.
James Fasino focuses intensely on his Precision Heli Micron. Its
rotor diameter is only 8.25 inches.
John Boren built this Paper Airplane from white foam using a hot
wire. Power is a three-cell Li-Poly battery and IPS gear drive with
the Feigao brushless motor.
This well-advertised event had the floor filled with spectators. Among
the products displayed the G3 flight simulator was popular.
Jason Noll stole the show during his E-Style
routine by incorporating environmentally
safe smoke effects into his Eclipse biplane.
The Butterfly from Plantraco Hobbies is slow enough to fly in an
average living room. Ron McGrath gives it a light toss.
at the event reminded me that we’re all in
this for the love of aviation. Sure, everyone
is competing to make a buck, but when you
get down to it that little bit of competition is
the incentive from which everyone benefits.
New ideas and technology are what keep
this sport so vivacious and enjoyable. It was
rewarding to see these friendships flourish.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign Armory field house is
enormous. The arched ceiling over the
approximately 100- x 300-foot open space
tops out at 100 feet. The floor surface is a
textured rubber-type material—not so hard
if you crash your model.
Skylights in the ceiling rain daylight
down while large, arched windows flank the
ends of the facility. Three large light fixtures
are spread across the length of the walls, and
their bright light is about the only
inconvenience; flying past them can make a
pilot squint.
There were enough vendors and experts
at the event that if you wanted to get started
in the hobby, by the end of the two days
you’d be flying 3-D aerobatics solo. The
back wall of the building reminded me of
the Toledo Weak Signals’ trade show, there
were so many vendors.
More than 200 pilots were registered
Saturday alone, and they logged more than
500 flights; that’s judging by how many
times the frequency pins went out. Count the
pilots with Spektrum spread spectrum radio
systems (there were a ton), and I’m sure the
flight count takes a big leap.
The flightline was extremely busy, and
there was a line of pilots waiting for a pilot
station during many parts of the day.
Officials at the event kept things rolling, and
I admired their attention and consistency in
fairly giving everyone a turn to fly.
Flightline boss has got to be a thankless job.
Lead organizers Frank Noll and Amanda
Price did a great job of running things
smoothly.
Many times during the day specific types
of aircraft were scheduled their own times to
fly; slow flyers, Scale models, helicopters,
and jets got a turn to show off. Open flying
filled time slots between and at noon and 5
p.m., and demonstration time premiered
some of the hottest and newest aircraft.
Great Planes, Horizon, and other companies
had their share of surprises to contribute.
From a spectator’s point of view the EFest
could be described as a circus (not
meant in a bad way). Center stage is a wild
vision of flying artistry. All the while,
“Mouth of the South” Bob Sadler is the
ringmaster under the Big Top with
impromptu interviews, humorous
commentary, and insight that is simply
brilliant.
Special events were scheduled for
Saturday evening, beginning with Ultimate
Combat. This hammerhead contest was fastpaced
and gripping. The pilots didn’t do
anything silly, like try to cut streamers or
something typical such as that. This was a
full-contact event in which the last airplane
to touch the ground was the champion.
Rules like this separate the men from the
boys; 20 pilots entered the contest for a
single cash prize.
Combat lasted three rounds. The first
five pilots to crash in the two preliminary
rounds ousted themselves from the money.
In the third round the 10 remaining fliers
battled until the last model was left. The
event unfolded where each of the first two
rounds was finished in less than a minute. It
was over too quickly to really enjoy the
thrill.
However, in the third round there wasn’t
a single contact made for at least the first
three minutes of the heat. (Three minutes is
like three hours in Combat time.) The
crowd members began to let out their
enthusiasm and really started cheering on
the pilots. Soon the pilots began plinking
each other out of the air, and it was down to
just two.
Those two aircraft did everything they
could but make contact with one another.
The contract between them was as obvious
as the battle between the tortoise and the
hare. One of the aircraft was a foamie
biplane (light and slow) and the other
aircraft was a Combat flying wing (fast and
sturdy).
The Combat wing had a distinct
advantage in that it could probably ripthrough anything it came up against and
keep flying onto its next victim.
However, the foam aircraft was basically
floating tissue paper. And if that wasn’t
handicap enough, its battery was deeply
drained.
All bets were in, and eventually the
victor looked to be the Combat wing.
Many “oohs” and “aahs” voiced the
narrowness of the near-miss collisions.
Just when you thought it couldn’t go on
any longer, crash! The Combat-wing pilot
lost orientation and smashed his steed into
the floor. Larry Marky won that joust and
landed his aircraft safely.
In the spirit of good sportsmanship,
Larry waved in acknowledgement of his
triumph and then flew his foamie again.
He took it high into the rafters and then
pointed his winning airplane straight
down on the far side of center stage. Bam!
The gallant aircraft took its last bow.
How’s that for valor?
Following the Combat event, the
evening moved into the Heli Smackdown:
a freestyle contest in which six pilots put
their best, and only, flight forward. The
audience members were the judges. This
is where I lost my voice, rooting for the
pilots as their models did their dances.
All the helicopter pilots flew intensely,
and in a few cases you could tell how hard
they were pushing themselves; three of the
six pilots had “incidents” with their
machines. The top three fliers were the
best of course, but they also finished with
their helicopters in the same condition they
were in at the start of the flight.
In addition to winning the contest,
Nick Maxwell was honored by Wendell
Adkins (Extreme Flight Championships
[XFC] committee chairperson) with an
invitation to fill the last pilot slot in the
XFC Helicopter contest. Nick gladly
accepted, and the best of luck to him in
Dayton, Ohio, in June.
The E-Style event was special for me
because the director of the contest—Mark
Jorgenson—asked me to be one of the five
judges. I was honored by the invitation
and gave Mark some well-deserved
reverence in appreciation. This was my
chance to put all those IMAC
(International Miniature Aerobatic Club)
judging classes to work.
Ten pilots were invited to participate in
this freestyle contest with their indoor
electric-powered aircraft. Given one flight
per pilot, they would perform a twominute
program with a diverse yet
specific set of criteria.
This was like an RC Aerobatics
contest, only the maneuvers weren’t
absolute. The pilots were responsible for
composing a flight sequence that explored
the flight envelope by demonstrating a
variety of aerodynamic and gyroscopic
maneuvers. If they spent the whole two
minutes doing rolling maneuvers, a large
part of their score would be lost.
The individual maneuvers had to be
skillfully executed. You may be thinking,
If you don’t know what the flight is
supposed to look like, how is a judge
supposed to score whether or not it was
done correctly?
The way I looked at it, if any of the
maneuvers looked like they were aborted,
they would get a downgrade. I wanted to
see many upright and inverted maneuvers,
as well as knife edge and vertical
sequences. Aircraft equipped with
variable-pitch power sources gained extra
points, but only if the use of the system
was well executed and emphasized the
choreography.
Jason Noll devised a way to add smoke
contrails to his flight sequence. That was a
unique approach to personalizing his
sequence, but a full two-minute fight with
the smoke on was a bit much for me. He
did earn top marks from me for his
execution, versatility, choreography, and
positioning; therefore, I feel his first-place
standing was well deserved.
After the contests were completed it
was time for some night flying. For one
hour the lights were turned off and the
“ghost” aircraft took to the air. The
variety of aircraft didn’t seem to change
for the lack of sight. There were foamies,
helicopters, slow flyers, and even a flying
saucer. You name it, and if it blinked or
glowed in the dark it was flown.
That concluded Saturday’s events.
Whew!
Sunday had a much more relaxed format.
The flightline was a bit less crowded—
perhaps because this was a traveling day
for many people, including myself. I was
even able to squeeze in a few flights with
my Honey Bee helicopter.
Flying indoors will spoil you quickly,
especially when hovering practice is
planned. We all long for those calmweather
days, and where else can the
conditions be better than inside?
Flying at the Armory didn’t feel any
different from flying at the local ball park;
after all, the available space was as large
as a professional soccer field.
The foamies and slow flyers were the
most popular type of aircraft flown. There
was surely was enough space in which to
fly any of the GWS scale models and even
some of the more popular Speed 400-sized
models. Jets were a popular speed choice;
many ducted-fan and propeller designs
were flown with regularity.
Many aspects of this event made me feel
that it would be worth attending again. I
liked that there was a large number of
tables available at which pilots could pit
and set up work stations. Along all the
tables there were extension cords with
power strips every 10 feet or so.
The most courteous pilot comfort was
the two worktables at the flightline
entrance designated the “Fix-It” areas.
Depron-foam sheets and glue were
provided so that aircraft involved in
mishaps could be made right for flying
again.
“Oh the weather outside was frightful,
but inside it was so delightful ... ”
Although it wasn’t the holiday season, the
cold winds and snow flurries made me
glad to be indoors. This is a fun-fly event
I’d like to make into an annual reunion.
Congratulations to Great Planes for
organizing such a great weekend. Come
summertime I hope there is thought about
getting together for another fun occasion
in Champaign. How about an outdoor funfly
this time? MA

EVERY HOBBYIST OWES it to himself or herself to go to at
least one fun-fly a year. If you can commit to only one, I highly
recommend that you consider going to a different one each year.
You never know who you might meet or what events might be in
store.
A fun-fly is like
your favorite
restaurant; find a
good one and
you’ll be back
often. What I
wouldn’t give for a
good Chicken
Marsala and a little
tiramisu with a
cappuccino right
now. Yummy! I’ve
visited many
restaurants, and each one does things slightly different;
sometimes that can be part of the fun.
When you find a flying event that is well organized and
entertaining, your tummy gets full and you just know you want to
come back for more. Many clubs host fun-fly events, and the mix
of games, contests, and prizes combine to obtain a critique with
many stars as the rating.
Consider how good a flying event could be if the biggest
June 2006 25
by Michael Ramsey
AMA Education Director Jack Frost designed this Flutter-By
electric model for three channels. It’s a blast to fly.
Angelo Lomeli coaches his 3-year-old son Sebastian while hovering
an E-flite Blade CX.
An option for the E-flite Blade CX is a
replacement body finished in blue.
Edge 540 and
Reflection FlatOuts
hover side by side.
AeroModel’s
prototype Aerosport
was flown by Jeff
Heitman.
Jason Cole flew this
Hacker Super Zoom
on floats.
Mike Fuller’s Hydrofoil was built from a Hangar One Hobbies kit.
The bottom of his Miss Hangar One is coated with a special Teflon
material.
An array of aircraft took to the air in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Armory track-and-field facility while winter’s wrath roared outside
Fix-It stations were positioned at the center
of the flightline as a courtesy to pilots with
ailing aircraft. Foam material and adhesive
were provided gratis.
The Armory was spacious enough for a large number of models to fly at one time. This
view depicts some of the Combat action.
David Johnson designed and built this all-wood S.E.5a finished in
Litespan covering. It’s powered by a RimFire motor.
Jason Noll, with his father Frank (Frank’s model shown), designed
and built a pair of Shorts Sky Vans from 3mm and 6mm Depron.
A pair of RimFire motors fly this 11-ounce model.
26 MODEL AVIATION
Indoor Flying Rules
• Always range check.
• Always fly with a spotter.
• Fly as close as possible—even if
you think there’s more room.
• Never fly toward the flightline.
• Expect the flight speed to be higher
because of a lack of headwind.
2006 E-Fest Winners
Ultimate Combat
Larry Marky ($100)
Heli Smackdown
Nick Maxwell ($500)
E-Style Contest
1. Jason Noll ($2,500)
2. John Glezellis ($1,500)
3. Sean McMurtry ($750)
Visit www.gpe-fest.com for more
information.
Del Ogren maneuvers his electric-powered
ornithopter with the assist of rudder
deflected by a magnetic actuator.
E-flite’s Ultimate Fx 3D has a threedimensional
molded foam fuselage, improving
its looks and making it much stronger.
Photos by Ben Lanterman and Michael Ramsey
June 2006 27
Devin McGrath demonstrates just how “locked” his Nikitis Animal is in a hover; he
needed only rudder and power to maintain position.
Based on a popular kid’s toy, Tom Cleland
created the RC Hoverdisc. It’s powered
with a 14-turn CD-ROM motor and a 3S
Li-Poly battery.
Tables secured the L-shaped flightline and were a welcome advantage to pilots for
assembling and keeping their models safe.
E-Fest Sponsors
Great Planes
ElectriFly
Futaba
Heli-Max
Ultrafly Model
Carl Goldberg Products Ltd.
RCGroups.com
Hobby Lobby International, Inc.
JR
Fly RC magazine
Backyard Flyer magazine
Model Airplane News magazine
Quiet Flyer magazine
3-D Flyer magazine
E-flite
Spektrum
Testors
Pactra
ZAP
Billy Hell RC
RC Universe.com
Shulman Aviation
FMA Direct
Castle Creations
manufacturers and distributors in the
country hosted it. It would be like going
to New York City and knowing 100% that
you were going to find a great Italian
bistro, complete with fine wine and
candlelight (okay, the candle depends on
the guest[s]).
February 11-12 in Champaign, Illinois,
was the opportunity to experience an
indoor flying event hosted by the largest
hobby distributor in the country: Great
Planes Model Distributors (Hobbico).
Are your eyes popping yet? They
should be; just imagine the door prizes.
The first 50 registered pilots received a
free Great Planes FlatOut kit.
However, Great Planes didn’t hog all
the glory of this event; after all, it isn’t
the only quality hobby distributor in town.
Horizon Hobby was welcomed to display
at and participate in the event, and other
top companies in the hobby joined in as
28 MODEL AVIATION
Nathan Lansing and Pete Whitley were well prepared for a full weekend of flying. Box
storage simplified transportation.
James Fasino focuses intensely on his Precision Heli Micron. Its
rotor diameter is only 8.25 inches.
John Boren built this Paper Airplane from white foam using a hot
wire. Power is a three-cell Li-Poly battery and IPS gear drive with
the Feigao brushless motor.
This well-advertised event had the floor filled with spectators. Among
the products displayed the G3 flight simulator was popular.
Jason Noll stole the show during his E-Style
routine by incorporating environmentally
safe smoke effects into his Eclipse biplane.
The Butterfly from Plantraco Hobbies is slow enough to fly in an
average living room. Ron McGrath gives it a light toss.
at the event reminded me that we’re all in
this for the love of aviation. Sure, everyone
is competing to make a buck, but when you
get down to it that little bit of competition is
the incentive from which everyone benefits.
New ideas and technology are what keep
this sport so vivacious and enjoyable. It was
rewarding to see these friendships flourish.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign Armory field house is
enormous. The arched ceiling over the
approximately 100- x 300-foot open space
tops out at 100 feet. The floor surface is a
textured rubber-type material—not so hard
if you crash your model.
Skylights in the ceiling rain daylight
down while large, arched windows flank the
ends of the facility. Three large light fixtures
are spread across the length of the walls, and
their bright light is about the only
inconvenience; flying past them can make a
pilot squint.
There were enough vendors and experts
at the event that if you wanted to get started
in the hobby, by the end of the two days
you’d be flying 3-D aerobatics solo. The
back wall of the building reminded me of
the Toledo Weak Signals’ trade show, there
were so many vendors.
More than 200 pilots were registered
Saturday alone, and they logged more than
500 flights; that’s judging by how many
times the frequency pins went out. Count the
pilots with Spektrum spread spectrum radio
systems (there were a ton), and I’m sure the
flight count takes a big leap.
The flightline was extremely busy, and
there was a line of pilots waiting for a pilot
station during many parts of the day.
Officials at the event kept things rolling, and
I admired their attention and consistency in
fairly giving everyone a turn to fly.
Flightline boss has got to be a thankless job.
Lead organizers Frank Noll and Amanda
Price did a great job of running things
smoothly.
Many times during the day specific types
of aircraft were scheduled their own times to
fly; slow flyers, Scale models, helicopters,
and jets got a turn to show off. Open flying
filled time slots between and at noon and 5
p.m., and demonstration time premiered
some of the hottest and newest aircraft.
Great Planes, Horizon, and other companies
had their share of surprises to contribute.
From a spectator’s point of view the EFest
could be described as a circus (not
meant in a bad way). Center stage is a wild
vision of flying artistry. All the while,
“Mouth of the South” Bob Sadler is the
ringmaster under the Big Top with
impromptu interviews, humorous
commentary, and insight that is simply
brilliant.
Special events were scheduled for
Saturday evening, beginning with Ultimate
Combat. This hammerhead contest was fastpaced
and gripping. The pilots didn’t do
anything silly, like try to cut streamers or
something typical such as that. This was a
full-contact event in which the last airplane
to touch the ground was the champion.
Rules like this separate the men from the
boys; 20 pilots entered the contest for a
single cash prize.
Combat lasted three rounds. The first
five pilots to crash in the two preliminary
rounds ousted themselves from the money.
In the third round the 10 remaining fliers
battled until the last model was left. The
event unfolded where each of the first two
rounds was finished in less than a minute. It
was over too quickly to really enjoy the
thrill.
However, in the third round there wasn’t
a single contact made for at least the first
three minutes of the heat. (Three minutes is
like three hours in Combat time.) The
crowd members began to let out their
enthusiasm and really started cheering on
the pilots. Soon the pilots began plinking
each other out of the air, and it was down to
just two.
Those two aircraft did everything they
could but make contact with one another.
The contract between them was as obvious
as the battle between the tortoise and the
hare. One of the aircraft was a foamie
biplane (light and slow) and the other
aircraft was a Combat flying wing (fast and
sturdy).
The Combat wing had a distinct
advantage in that it could probably ripthrough anything it came up against and
keep flying onto its next victim.
However, the foam aircraft was basically
floating tissue paper. And if that wasn’t
handicap enough, its battery was deeply
drained.
All bets were in, and eventually the
victor looked to be the Combat wing.
Many “oohs” and “aahs” voiced the
narrowness of the near-miss collisions.
Just when you thought it couldn’t go on
any longer, crash! The Combat-wing pilot
lost orientation and smashed his steed into
the floor. Larry Marky won that joust and
landed his aircraft safely.
In the spirit of good sportsmanship,
Larry waved in acknowledgement of his
triumph and then flew his foamie again.
He took it high into the rafters and then
pointed his winning airplane straight
down on the far side of center stage. Bam!
The gallant aircraft took its last bow.
How’s that for valor?
Following the Combat event, the
evening moved into the Heli Smackdown:
a freestyle contest in which six pilots put
their best, and only, flight forward. The
audience members were the judges. This
is where I lost my voice, rooting for the
pilots as their models did their dances.
All the helicopter pilots flew intensely,
and in a few cases you could tell how hard
they were pushing themselves; three of the
six pilots had “incidents” with their
machines. The top three fliers were the
best of course, but they also finished with
their helicopters in the same condition they
were in at the start of the flight.
In addition to winning the contest,
Nick Maxwell was honored by Wendell
Adkins (Extreme Flight Championships
[XFC] committee chairperson) with an
invitation to fill the last pilot slot in the
XFC Helicopter contest. Nick gladly
accepted, and the best of luck to him in
Dayton, Ohio, in June.
The E-Style event was special for me
because the director of the contest—Mark
Jorgenson—asked me to be one of the five
judges. I was honored by the invitation
and gave Mark some well-deserved
reverence in appreciation. This was my
chance to put all those IMAC
(International Miniature Aerobatic Club)
judging classes to work.
Ten pilots were invited to participate in
this freestyle contest with their indoor
electric-powered aircraft. Given one flight
per pilot, they would perform a twominute
program with a diverse yet
specific set of criteria.
This was like an RC Aerobatics
contest, only the maneuvers weren’t
absolute. The pilots were responsible for
composing a flight sequence that explored
the flight envelope by demonstrating a
variety of aerodynamic and gyroscopic
maneuvers. If they spent the whole two
minutes doing rolling maneuvers, a large
part of their score would be lost.
The individual maneuvers had to be
skillfully executed. You may be thinking,
If you don’t know what the flight is
supposed to look like, how is a judge
supposed to score whether or not it was
done correctly?
The way I looked at it, if any of the
maneuvers looked like they were aborted,
they would get a downgrade. I wanted to
see many upright and inverted maneuvers,
as well as knife edge and vertical
sequences. Aircraft equipped with
variable-pitch power sources gained extra
points, but only if the use of the system
was well executed and emphasized the
choreography.
Jason Noll devised a way to add smoke
contrails to his flight sequence. That was a
unique approach to personalizing his
sequence, but a full two-minute fight with
the smoke on was a bit much for me. He
did earn top marks from me for his
execution, versatility, choreography, and
positioning; therefore, I feel his first-place
standing was well deserved.
After the contests were completed it
was time for some night flying. For one
hour the lights were turned off and the
“ghost” aircraft took to the air. The
variety of aircraft didn’t seem to change
for the lack of sight. There were foamies,
helicopters, slow flyers, and even a flying
saucer. You name it, and if it blinked or
glowed in the dark it was flown.
That concluded Saturday’s events.
Whew!
Sunday had a much more relaxed format.
The flightline was a bit less crowded—
perhaps because this was a traveling day
for many people, including myself. I was
even able to squeeze in a few flights with
my Honey Bee helicopter.
Flying indoors will spoil you quickly,
especially when hovering practice is
planned. We all long for those calmweather
days, and where else can the
conditions be better than inside?
Flying at the Armory didn’t feel any
different from flying at the local ball park;
after all, the available space was as large
as a professional soccer field.
The foamies and slow flyers were the
most popular type of aircraft flown. There
was surely was enough space in which to
fly any of the GWS scale models and even
some of the more popular Speed 400-sized
models. Jets were a popular speed choice;
many ducted-fan and propeller designs
were flown with regularity.
Many aspects of this event made me feel
that it would be worth attending again. I
liked that there was a large number of
tables available at which pilots could pit
and set up work stations. Along all the
tables there were extension cords with
power strips every 10 feet or so.
The most courteous pilot comfort was
the two worktables at the flightline
entrance designated the “Fix-It” areas.
Depron-foam sheets and glue were
provided so that aircraft involved in
mishaps could be made right for flying
again.
“Oh the weather outside was frightful,
but inside it was so delightful ... ”
Although it wasn’t the holiday season, the
cold winds and snow flurries made me
glad to be indoors. This is a fun-fly event
I’d like to make into an annual reunion.
Congratulations to Great Planes for
organizing such a great weekend. Come
summertime I hope there is thought about
getting together for another fun occasion
in Champaign. How about an outdoor funfly
this time? MA