Radio Control Helicopters - 2007/11

November 2007 101
Experiences from, and thoughts about, the Hoosier Heli Rumble
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Radio Control Helicopters Mark Fadely
Nick Maxwell puts his Miniature Aircraft Razor through the paces.
This electric-powered model has wicked performance.
Ron Ozinski uses reflective tape on rotor blades to help visibility. When the sun hits
the tape it makes a cool-looking disk. This is helpful for orientation while flying.
John Adams is the product-development guru at
Horizon Hobby (the RC helicopter distributor).
He has roughly 50 helicopters ready to fly. Wow!
Paul Soha is an icon in our hobby. The former XFC competitor
and 2007 judge is a wealth of information about RC helicopters.
THANKS FOR CHECKING in with the helicopter department. This
month I will share my experiences at an awesome fun-fly in Lafayette,
Indiana.
The history of this event goes back to a time when pilots such as Pete
Niotis and Dave Story were front-page news. They put on quite a
show at the first Hoosier Heli Rumble. That was five years ago,
and a great deal has changed in the hobby since then.
The Rumble is the second largest fun-fly in Indiana. The
International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association (IRCHA)
Jamboree is the largest.
The Rumble was held the third weekend of July, and the fun
was stretched to three days. You could show up early Friday and
enjoy helicopter-only flying until Sunday evening.
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102 MODEL AVIATION
Paul Soha pilots his Aurora. He used neon MonoKote trim tape
to spice up the colors. It is one of the most visible helicopters the
author has ever seen.
Erik Anderson takes a moment to relax. He is the man behind the
Hoosier Heli Rumble and an accomplished pilot.
Erik Anderson organizes the event. Ron Kovach, Rob McGuire,
and many other members of the hosting Lafayette Cloud Jockeys club
help make it happen.
They have a beautiful facility. You enter the field by driving past a
golf course. Then lush grass and woods line the road as it winds down
and around, finally opening up to a vast RC dream field with no
distractions. The site is located along the banks of the Wabash River in
Northeast Indiana.
The weather this year was beautiful, with blue skies, light winds,
and temps in the 80s. Erik rented a killer sound system to play music
while everyone flew. Any pilot could bring up his or her own CD or
MP3 player and then go fly.
There was a full-course barbecue dinner for all registered pilots. All
the food was fantastic.
Put this event on your calendar for next year if you can. It puts the
“fun” back in “fun-fly.” Way to go, Erik! The music was a big hit.
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Following is how Erik describes the
origins of the Hoosier Heli Rumble.
“The fun fly began about 6 years ago. The
IRCHA Jamboree had not moved to Indiana
yet and we thought that the pilots from
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and
Kentucky would appreciate having a good
large-scale heli event. The Lafayette Cloud
Jockeys had a great site for the event so we
decided to go for it.
“The first year we had Curtis Youngblood
as a guest pilot. Seventy-five pilots showed up
that year and everyone had a great time.
“Unfortunately the next year I got called
away with the military. The fun fly was run
one more time but then on the third year there
was a lot of flooding and the event had to be
canceled. It kind of died out after that.
“I was away for about 5 years and then I
came back to Lafayette. When I returned
everyone was asking about the Rumble and
when would it start up again. So I thought,
why not? Let’s get it going again. We decided
to run it just the same way we had before.
“The focus of this fun fly is just on fun.
We have a few impromptu contests during the
weekend but nothing too formal. There was a
night fly with a cash prize.
“There is a lot of work involved in putting
on a fun fly. It is worth it though to see how
much the pilots enjoy coming. There is a lot
of camaraderie in this hobby and I like to see
everyone having fun. It would be a shame to
have this beautiful field and not use it for a
heli event.”
I noticed that Erik had stepped up his
flying a few notches. I asked him how
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much he had been practicing, to which he
replied:
“My available practice time was cut short
when I was in the military but since returning
to Lafayette I have been flying for Team JR
and Horizon. That has helped a bunch. I have
a lot more free time now and with this nice
field so close to home it makes it very
convenient.”
Jared Granzow was at the event. He is
getting better by the day and is one of the most
exciting new pilots to watch. His technical
skill is impressive. Pirouetting tic-tocs and
pirouetting funnel 8s are part of Jared’s game.
He flew in the Extreme Flight Championships
(XFC) this year and will be someone to watch
in 2008.
I caught up with Paul Soha out on the
flightline. He was hot-fueling his helicopter and
letting every pilot have a turn with his Aurora.
Hot fueling is when you keep the helicopter
running while you refuel the tank. Wow!
You normally have to ask to fly another
pilot’s machine. Not Paul’s.
His model had an awesome color scheme;
it was so easy to see. He told me that his
granddaughter picked out the colors. Oops,
sorry Paul! Just kidding about that one, but he
is three years older than I am.
I asked him to tell us about his Aurora and
his history in the hobby. He said:
“The Aurora is under 10 pounds, it’s got
the O.S. SZ engine and Futaba 9351 servos
with a 601 gyro and SAB blades. The hardest
thing about flying it is keeping it low because
it is so light and responsive. When you put in
just a little power it wants to really take off. It
hovers like a dream and flies like it’s on rails.
My first helicopter was the Heli-Baby by
Schluter. It was a fixed-pitch machine I flew in
the late ’70s. I splattered rotor blades all over
the field with that thing. Ha! Ha!
“I fought with the early helis for a long
time. The first 10 years I was in the hobby I
didn’t really fly; I just tried to rebuild crashes
so I could go again.
“The Heli-Baby was first, and then I had
the 505 and 707 Hirobo models, and then a
GMP Competitor. I upgraded to an Elite after
that. This is all during the ’80s. In 1991 I went
with Miniature Aircraft and flew them for a
good while.
“A couple of years ago I switched to
Carbon Extreme and the Avant. This year I’m
flying the Avant Aurora. It’s just been a
constant progression of helicopters over the
years.
“If we had these nice helicopters 20 years
ago, it sure would’ve made things easier. Of
course back then we didn’t fly with mixing or
gyros, and a lot of the stuff you had to figure
out on your own.”
Paul had flown in the XFC every time until
this year, when he agreed to judge. I asked
him to tell us a bit about that experience.
“Well, this is the first year I’ve walked
away from the XFC with money. They pay the
judges!
“The XFC is really the defining
measurement for pilots. It’s all about precision
3-D and choreography. It was an honor to
be asked to judge the contest.”
When we spoke at the XFC Paul gave me
some insight into what the judges were
looking for. At the Rumble I asked him to go
over it one more time. He said:
“It’s extremely easy to judge when you
have been both an FAI and 3-D pilot. You
know the bobbles and the bail-out moves. You
know when the pilots are doing things with the
timing that they planned and in the orientation
they want to be in. You can really see
everything so well from where the judges’
chairs are.
“You have to be fair with everyone and
maintain your scoring grades throughout the
day. Everyone makes mistakes in their flights.
The ones who make the least mistakes are
generally going to score better.
“This year it was the top three guys
running away with it. Then there was a contest
between everyone else. Alan Szabo, Bobby
Watts, and Daniel Jetschin just really threw it
down.”
Thanks, Paul. It was enlightening to hear
your take on the XFC and the helicopter
hobby in general.
Tim Redelman, the CD for the Winamac
club in Northern Indiana, was at the Rumble
as well. He has been flying helicopters for 20
years but has been more serious for the last
one-and-a-half years.
“We have just a few active fliers in our
club,” he said. “We have a fun-fly September
14 and 15 this year.”
Tim invites any pilots to his fun-fly. If you
are in the area it would be a great one to check
out.
John Adams, the technical director for
Horizon and Spektrum, was also in
attendance. He is extremely pleasant; I spoke
with him for quite awhile. I watched John put
in a great flight with his micro helicopter and
then asked him how he liked the Rumble. He
said:
“I’m having a great time here. The thing I
enjoy about the little helis is I can fly right in
my yard about 5 times day. The Spektrum
system is so great for the small models. No
frequencies to worry about.
“I’ve been at Horizon for about 20 years
and the advancements over that period have
been amazing. We’re seeing so many new
pilots be successful with the Ready-to-Fly
small electric helis. We hope that these pilots
will move up to the larger 30-, 50-, and 90-size
nitro helis. The performance of the helis and
the flight skills of the pilots are incredible
today.”
Thanks, John. It seems like his would be a
dream job for many of us. Product
development at an RC helicopter company
does not sound too bad.
Thanks again, Erik, for putting on this event.
Many are still talking about how much fun
they had. I have it on my calendar for next
year already.
That is it for this time. I will be back next
month. MA