Author: Joe Malinchak
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/05
Page Numbers: 93,94
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Micro-Flying - 2009/05

Fun at the Keystone Indoor Electric Fly

Event history and venue

The first Keystone Indoor Electric Fly (KIEF) was scheduled to be held in Jessup, Pennsylvania, in 2007 at the Playing Fields sports dome. However, a large winter storm damaged the dome beyond repair, and the event had to be canceled.

It was rescheduled for October 18–19, 2008, at the Generations Sports Complex in Muncy, Pennsylvania (near Williamsport). This facility is huge — the largest fully air-supported dome in the country.

The Muncy Indoor Flyers hosted KIEF. Many people did a wonderful job of making it a success. Many thanks to CD Mark Vukmanovich, Muncy Indoor Flyers President Tony Minnella, club Vice President Ron Angle, and all of the club members who put in many hours to make this fly-in possible.

Schedule and flying

Flying began on Friday, October 17, for club members and vendors after they set up. This was a great time to test models and do some casual flying.

The event officially started on Saturday, with Jessica Tobin singing the national anthem. She sang beautifully, and it was a wonderful way to kick off KIEF.

Flying started at close to 9 a.m. and continued through the evening into an all-night flying session. The schedule featured dedicated flying times for Scale and Micro, 3-D, Helicopter, Jet, and open fun-flying.

The flightline was divided into three sections: 3-D, Race Track, and Micro. The Micro area was separated from the others by a net, which prevented the larger models from entering the micro airspace.

Demonstrations and exhibitions

The noon demonstrations were entertaining and gave the vendors a chance to show off their latest products. Dave Lockhart did a great exhibition and introduction to F3P RC aerobatics (pattern) flying. He also won the F3P contest held Sunday morning. Robert Guillot flew his amazing 1.1-gram Ord-Hume; the crowd loved seeing this tiny model fly.

A Combat event was held Sunday afternoon. Spectators enjoyed seeing the swarm of airplanes battling it out.

Awards

Six major awards were given out to highlight outstanding achievements:

  • Best Micro Aircraft: Robert Guillot, for his Ord-Hume.
  • Furthest Traveler: Ken Spencer, Webb City, Missouri.
  • Best Scale Model: Ed Andrews, for his 1920 Transaero (nine wings, 21-inch wingspan).
  • Best Helicopter: Jim Bumbaugh, T-Rex 500.
  • Best Night Flying Model: Azarr of E-Cubed RC, Hell Raiser biplane (80 LEDs under the wings, 40 in the fuselage).
  • Unique Performance: Peter Sripol, for a large, 10-motor ducted-fan fantasy-scale transport.

Micro area coordination and participants

My wife, Cindy, and I were the event coordinators for the Micro area. I had planned to run separate time slots (as I did at the NEAT Fair) for ultra-light models and faster larger models. However, the Micro area was so large that we decided to try open flying for all models. It seemed to work well; we had no major conflicts.

Many friends traveled from around the country to support micro flying at the inaugural KIEF. Bob Selman, Gary Jones, and Ken Spencer drove from Missouri; Gordon Johnson came from Boston, Massachusetts; and others attended. Bob and his crew arrived early on Friday and put in several hours of flying before I arrived.

Mike Cross flew his impressive F-16 and Sky Ray ducted-fan models and let me fly his Sky Ray again. I had piloted it at the NEAT Fair's indoor event in a small pattern, but in the dome I opened it up and experienced the airplane's great performance — easy loops from level flight and effortless rolls.

Micro contests and winners

We ran several micro RC contests throughout the weekend.

  • E-flite Blade mCX helicopter competition (sponsored by Luke's RC Planes): Timed obstacle course.
  • Winner: Ben Haggerty — completed the course in 31 seconds and received a full set of glow-in-the-dark upgrade parts for the mCX.
  • Micro Fun Scale event: Rules were the same as AMA Fun Scale except models had to weigh 2 ounces (56.7 grams) or fewer.
  • 1st place: Bill Lyons — Jodel D.9 Bébé, weighed 13 grams, used the Plantraco system with a ParkZone motor and a 70 mAh Li-Poly cell.
  • 2nd place: Del Ogren — Gee Bee Ascender canard, weighed 20 grams, used the RC system from the ParkZone Cessna.
  • 3rd place: Ken Spencer — Gee Bee R-1, used the ParkZone Vapor brick battery and BSD Micro RC GWJ 7mm drive. Ken designed the R-1; the kit is available from BSD Micro RC.

Old Timer Climb and Glide

Del Ogren ran an Old Timer Climb and Glide event. Each contestant flew a model for 30 seconds, then cut power and glided as long as possible. Extra points were awarded for full-fuselage designs and dead-stick runway landings.

Del had unique awards made — belt buckles imprinted with "KIEF 2008 Old Timer Climb and Glide" so winners could wear and use their awards.

  • 1st place: Bob Selman — Baby Buzzard (a reduced-size Buzzard Bombshell); he sells the kit through BSD Micro RC.
  • 2nd place: Ken Spencer — similar Baby Buzzard.
  • 3rd place: Bill Lyons — half-size Korda 1938 Wakefield design.

Plans for next year

Next year we plan to run the Fun Scale and Old Timer events again. We are also planning a Peanut Scale pylon race and a Duration competition. The Duration rules are simple: the model must use the Plantraco GB05 drive with the supplied 13-ohm, 4 mm motor, and the Fullriver 10 mAh Li-Poly battery.

You can find rules for the other contests on the KIEF website, where you can also access Bob Aberle's review of the flying. The 2009 edition is scheduled for October 16–18. I hope to see you there!

Cindy's reaction

"What an event! Such an enjoyable time I had at the first annual KIEF fly-in. The look on everyone's face as they walked around this beautiful, large dome was amazing.

"Being the Micro Coordinator with my husband Joe was an honor, and also a lot of fun too. Becoming recent members of the Muncy Indoor Flyers, I have to say, I never met such a welcoming and friendly group of people. With plenty of hours to fly for two days, the pilots were able to mingle, relax, and have a super time.

"I am truly looking forward to the 2009 KIEF fly-in, and hope to see many new faces. Bye for now." — MA

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.