Micro-Flying - 2009/05

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.
Six major awards were given out, to
highlight some outstanding achievements.
Robert Guillot won Best Micro Aircraft
with his Ord-Hume. Ken Spencer of Webb
City, Missouri, won the Furthest Traveler
award.
Ed Andrews won the Best Scale Model
prize with his 1920 Transaero. It featured
nine wings and a wingspan of 21 inches.
Best Helicopter went to Jim Bumbaugh with
his T-Rex 500.
Azarr of E-Cubed RC won the Best
Night Flying Model award with his Hell
Raiser biplane. It had 80 LEDs underneath
the wings and 40 in the fuselage. The
Unique Performance award went to Peter
Sripol, with his large, 10-motor-ducted-fan
fantasy-scale transport.
Fun at the Keystone Indoor Electric Fly
May 2009 93
Micro-Flying Joe Malinchak | [email protected]
Del Ogren gets ready
to time as Bill Lyons
prepares to fly his
Korda Wakefield in
the KIEF Old Timer
Climb and Glide event.
Bob Selman (R) and Gary Jones flew a great demonstration with
their BSD GWJ Mega Sport and Super Spoil Sport models.
Tim Wolff flew this beautiful 35-gram Corbin Baby Ace built
from Peck-Polymers plans. It uses a GWJ 7mm drive for
Some of Robert Guillot’s
micro air force at the
Muncy Indoor Flyers’
KIEF in Pennsylvania.
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 beautiful Generations Sports
Complex in Muncy, Pennsylvania (near
Williamsport). This facility is huge, and it is
the largest fully air-supported dome in the
country.
The Muncy Indoor Flyers hosted the
KIEF, and 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.
The 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 the KIEF.
Flying started at close to 9 a.m. and
continued through the evening and into an
all-night flying session. The schedule
featured dedicated flying times for Scale
and Micro, 3-D, Helicopter, Jet, and plain
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. This was a great advantage,
because it prevented the larger models from
entering the airspace.
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 that
was held Sunday morning. Robert Guillot
05sig3.QXD 3/25/09 9:09 AM Page 93
Micro-Flying at
KIEF: My wife,
Cindy, and I were the
event coordinators
for the Micro area. I
was planning on
running separate time
slots, as I did at the
NEAT [Northeast
Electric Aircraft
Technology] Fair for
the ultra-light models
and the 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 of my
friends traveled from
all parts of the
country to support
Micro-flying at the inaugural KIEF. Bob
Selman, Gary Jones, and Ken Spencer drove
out from Missouri; Gordon Johnson made the
trip from Boston, Massachusetts; and there
were others. Bob and his crew arrived early
on Friday and put in several hours of flying
even before I arrived.
Mike Cross flew his amazing F-16 and
Sky Ray ducted-fan models, and he let me fly
his Sky Ray again. I piloted it at the NEAT
Fair’s indoor event but could fly it only in a
small pattern because of the limited space in
the gym. In the dome, I opened it up and saw
this outstanding airplane’s great performance.
I could easily loop it from level flight, and
rolls were effortless!
We ran several micro RC contests
throughout the weekend. Luke’s RC Planes
sponsored an E-flite Blade mCX helicopter
competition, which featured a timed obstacle
course.
It was fun, and the winner, Ben Haggerty,
received a full set of glow-in-the-dark
upgrade parts for the mCX. His Blade
completed the course in only 31 seconds.
There was also a Micro Fun Scale event.
The rules were the same as in AMA Fun
Scale, except that the models had to weigh 2
ounces or fewer. First place went to Bill
Lyons with his Jodel D.9 Bébé, which
weighed only 13 grams and used the
Plantraco system with a ParkZone motor and
70 mAh Li-Poly cell.
Second place went to Del Ogren with his
Gee Bee Ascender canard. It weighed 20
grams and used the RC system from the
ParkZone Cessna.
Third place went to Ken Spencer with his
Gee Bee R-1, which used the ParkZone Vapor
brick battery and BSD Micro RC GJW 7mm
drive. Ken designed the R-1, and the kit is
available from BSD Micro RC.
Del Ogren ran an Old Timer Climb and
Glide event, which was a blast in which to
compete. Each contestant flew a model for
30 seconds and then chopped the power,
and the airplane glided as long as possible.
Extra points were given for a full-fuselage
design and if the contestant’s model hit the
94 MODEL AVIATION
Joe Beshar (L) and Sergio Zigras got some of the great deals from the
KIEF vendors. Many attendees bought ParkZone Vapors and Blade mCXs
at bargain prices.
Luke’s RC Planes held a Blade
mCX contest featuring a
challenging obstacle course. Sue
and Luke of Luke’s RC Planes visit
many shows. What great support!
A few of the beautiful models that were flown in
the Micro Fun Scale competition at the
inaugural KIEF.
runway on a dead-stick landing.
Del had some beautiful and unique
awards made. He gave out belt buckles with
“KIEF 2008 Old Timer Climb and Glide”
imprinted on them. He said at least people
could wear them and use their awards.
First place went to Bob Selman with his
great-flying Baby Buzzard, which is a
reduced-size Buzzard Bombshell. He sells the
kit through BSD Micro RC. Second place
went to Ken Spencer, who flew a similar
Baby Buzzard. Bill Lyons took third place
with his half-size Korda 1938 Wakefield
design.
Next year we plan to run the Fun Scale
and Old Timer events again. We are also
planning on holding 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, 4mm motor, and the Full
River 10 mAh Li-Poly battery.
You can find rules for the other contests
on the KIEF Web site, where you can also
access Bob Aberle’s great review of the flyin.
The 2009 edition is scheduled for October
16-18. I hope to see you there!
Following is Cindy’s reaction to the KIEF.
“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:
KIEF
www.pafunfly.com
Luke’s RC Planes
(330) 448-6498
www.lukesrcplanes.com
BSD Micro RC
(417) 358-9521
www.bsdmicrorc.com
05sig3.QXD 3/25/09 9:21 AM Page 94