136 MODEL AVIATION
An interview with Bobby Watts and Bert Kammerer
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Helicopters Mark Fadely
Clint Akins’ back yard (private 3-D arena). Bobby Watts has been
seen flying under these lights as late as 2:30 a.m.!
Miniature Aircraft USA’s Razor 50 electric R-and-D team (L-R)—
Bobby Watts, Eric Larson, Bert Kammerer, Clint Akins—at the
2006 IRCHA Jamboree.
Bobby Watts and Bert Kammerer wow the crowd
with a two-man demonstration flight at the 2007
Phoenix Fun Fly.
HELLO AGAIN, EVERYBODY. Good flying weather has
invaded the country. It is great to get outside and enjoy some nitro
flying again. The small electric-powered helicopters are fun for
indoors, but there is nothing like flying a big fire-breathing 90
outside to get you in the mood.
I thought it would be fun to hear from my good friends Bobby
Watts and Bert Kammerer for this month’s column. I E-mailed
these guys and asked them if they would like to do an interview
for MA. They hesitated for roughly one second and then said they
would.
Bobby and Bert are two of the hardest-working guys in the
hobby, and they put in an enormous amount of time. They do
research and development (R-and-D), testing, and product
development for Miniature Aircraft USA.
What makes Bobby and Bert unique is that neither has been
flying long and both are excellent pilots who have been invited to
the Extreme Flight Championships, or XFC (www.futabarc.com/
xfc-rc). This is the premier invitational contest for RC helicopters
and airplanes in the US. It is being held in Muncie, Indiana, at the
AMA site in June and should have just concluded by the time you
read this. I wish Bobby and Bert good luck in that event.
07sig5.QXD 5/23/07 10:04 AM Page 136
I asked the two the same series of questions to see how their
responses would compare. Let’s see how they replied.
MF: Bobby, let’s start with you. Thanks for doing this interview. I
think the readers will appreciate your sharing your thoughts. Tell
us a little about yourself. Tell us your age, where you live and go
to school, and how long you have flown helicopters.
BW: I am 18 years old from Baltimore, Maryland, and I have been
flying for almost four years now. I just completed my freshman
year at the University of South Carolina where I am studying to be
a mechanical engineer. In the summer I work at the Johns Hopkins
Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland, where I work with
UAVs [unmanned airplanes]. At the moment I would like to
continue working with UAVs once I graduate.
MF: Bert, I really appreciate your taking the time to do this. Let’s
get right to it. How old are you and what do you do for a living?
BK: I am 35 years old. I’m part owner of an Internet-access and
Web site-hosting firm located in Orlando, Florida. I have been
flying RC helicopters for 21/2 years.
MF: Why did you start flying helicopters, and did you have
previous RC experience?
BK: I started flying RC airplanes back in 1982 when I was 11 years old.
I flew airplanes off and on for many years, and one day back in October
of 2005 I walked into a local hobby shop in Orlando and saw a
Hummingbird collective pitch micro. I figured a smaller helicopter
would be easy to fly and bought it.
To my surprise smaller was not the way to go, but I didn’t have
anyone to guide me. I learned all my hovering and forward-flight basics
with the micro, and two months later I bought a 50-size machine. Before
I knew it I was hooked on helicopters. I haven’t touched an airplane in
about two years!
BW: I have always been into some sort of RC as a kid, whether it was
an RC erector set or nitro-powered RC car. I was always messing
around with something.
My uncle introduced RC airplanes to me when I was about 12 or so,
and I flew some park flyers occasionally for a few years. When I was 15
years old my godfather took me to Hunt Valley Hobbies in Maryland,
where he bought me my first helicopter and said the only way he would
get it for me was if I built it myself. It was a Raptor 30 V1.
days, and by the end of the weekend it was
complete. We didn’t tell my mom how
much it was either, which was a good thing
at the time. Soon after, she began to learn
that my new “toy” wasn’t the $50 Toys “R”
Us special we claimed it to be.
After that I became fascinated with the
RC helicopters, and it has been a major part
of my life ever since then.
MF: It is interesting that both of you started
flying airplanes first at about the same age
of 11 or 12 years old. That is about the
same way I started out in the hobby.
Beginning with airplanes builds a lot of
valuable experience and skills needed to be
successful in helicopters.
Airplane pilots who are reading this
should think about trying helicopters
sometime. It is no longer an airplane vs.
helicopter thing. You can fly both and still
have friends.
It is never too late to pick up helicopters
either. Many senior pilots are having a blast
learning the ways of these models. AMA
President Dave Brown started flying
helicopters just last year.
What helicopters are you guys flying
now?
BW: Bert and I are currently flying for
Miniature Aircraft USA, mainly flying the
90-sized nitro machine, the Stratus. We also
fly the new Razor 50 nitro, as well as the
90-size electric, the Ion-X2. Both Bert and I
have been testing these machines for a few
months now, and they are all flying really
well.
MF: Both of you will be flying in the XFC
this year. What are your thoughts on that?
BW: Last year I had the opportunity to
compete in the Extreme Flight
Championships in Troy, Ohio. I placed
ninth out of 21 pilots and I was pretty happy
with my performance.
Besides some motor issues at the time, I
followed my routine as planned, and things
worked out well for my first year. I had a
blast competing in 2006 and I am really
looking forward to this year’s competition.
I will also be competing in the 3D
Masters this year in London, England. I
look forward to competing with different
pilots from all over the world and hope to
place well there.
BK: I have been practicing quite a bit, and
since I live within minutes of the
Miniature Aircraft factory, I have also
been testing on a daily basis, which has
allowed me to practice even more!
MF: What pilots do you like to watch fly?
And why?
BK: I enjoy watching many pilots. It is
very hard to say who I enjoy watching the
most because every pilot has a different
flying style, and even though the basis for
maneuvers is the same, flying style, speed,
etc. varies from pilot to pilot.
I enjoy watching you fly at XFC; your
ability to choreograph music to your flying
is superb. I also enjoy Matt Botos’
innovative flying style, as he likes to come
up with new moves all the time.
Jason Krause, Alan Szabo, and Marcus
Kim, to name a few, are amazing to watch,
as they all have their own signature style. I
also enjoy watching Bobby fly; Bobby has
a very unique “smack” style of flying.
BW: I enjoy watching many pilots all over
the world, but a few in particular are
always coming up with something new. I
think Matt Botos is probably the most
creative pilot in the hobby. He is always
coming up with new maneuvers or
showing off a different style, which is an
awesome thing to see.
I have always been a fan of Alan Szabo
Jr.’s flying style, and I really like his mix
of “smack” and precise maneuvers.
Also, my good friend Marcus Kim is
another great pilot to watch, just to see
how low a helicopter can go without
crashing. He is always inches off the
ground doing crazy maneuvers and
usually manages to keep the machines in
once piece.
Bert has also come a long way within
the past two years and always seems to get
better whenever I see him fly. I don’t think
I have ever seen anyone progress as much
as he has only within a few years.
MF: Unfortunately we have to finish up
already. It has been a pleasure hearing
from you guys. I want to thank both of you
on behalf of the entire helicopter
community for the diligent work you put
into R-and-D to make our hobby better.
Last, could you both tell our readers
what is the best way for a serious
helicopter pilot to progress as fast as
possible?
BW: For the newer pilots out there, I
would highly recommend getting a flight
simulator and practicing on that as much
as possible. I am currently using
RealFlight G3, and it is probably the best
out there.
Just like the guys back home taught me
as I was learning, I really stress learning
the basics of flight before getting into any
3-D flying. Everything builds on the
basics, and if you don’t have a good
foundation, it will come to hurt you later
on when trying to learn a new maneuver.
Last, don’t be afraid to take your
machine up high and practice new
maneuvers. The more daring you are to
try new maneuvers (within or slightly
beyond your abilities), the faster you will
learn. Unfortunately this involves crashing
at times.
BK: Practice, practice, practice. Stick to
the simulator in the beginning as much as
possible. Try to make a trip to the field
several times a week, and, most important,
learn to fly all your basics before
advancing to 3-D.
Mastering your basics [forward,
backward, inverted forward, inverted
backward, hover in all orientations,
inverted, and right-side up] before
jumping into 3-D maneuvers can make all
the difference in the world down the road.
MF: Thanks, guys. I will see you at the
next fun-fly.
Special thanks to ClayK and Helifreak for
supplying the pictures. MA
