Radio Control Helicopters
Mark Fadely [[email protected]]
Action aplenty at the Lexington, Kentucky, fun-fly
WELCOME BACK. I hope you all had a great 2007. This year was certainly a high point for the RC helicopter world. The IRCHA (International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association) Jamboree broke all records for an RC event. That is big news for sure.
I believe that's because helicopters are becoming so much more accessible to so many more people. More people are finding out what we have known all along: helicopters are really cool!
The difference is that now the average Joe can give helicopters a try without breaking the bank. And guess what? Joe likes it. That is so cool for the hobby.
Lexington Fun-Fly: Each year I look forward to September
because of this event. Bill Pirschel and Blake McBrayer put on the show. They are great guys and they have a passion for the hobby.
Last year the turnout was a bit light, with only 20 or so pilots. This year was different; attendance was doubled, with 41 registered pilots.
We had a scare with the weather forecast showing rain. It ended up being perfect flying weather, albeit a bit hot. Temperatures climbed into the mid-90s on Saturday. It was not a big deal since everyone in the Midwest had been used to the heat all summer. The club volunteers grilled brats and hamburgers all day. That was some awesome food! It was practically the perfect setting for a perfect fun-fly.
The field faces north, and it is so picturesque that it doesn't look real. There is an old barn off in the distance, and the whole area looks like something you would see on G3 (the flight simulator). The field had a freshly paved blacktop runway. I arrived early Saturday morning and got out my sound system. Many of you know that I love music and probably could have been happy as a DJ. I set up the speakers and amps and let my iPod play the Rock directory while I got my helicopters ready. The hard techno was saved until later, when some special guests arrived. Blake gave me the signal to crank it up, so everyone got to know ZZ Top a little better that morning.
There was a diverse mixture of models at this event:
- Several 50-size nitros
- A couple of 400 electrics
- Quite a number of 90-size nitros
It seems like the smaller helicopters are fairly popular, but when pilots really want to lay it down they pull out their 90s. And lay it down they did! Our special guests, Matt Botos and Jim Stark, pulled in after a much-needed beauty sleep. That is when things got interesting. Matt promised to thrill the crowd, so I pulled out some radical techno mixes and cranked the system level to “extreme hardcore 3-D.” He did not disappoint the crowd. Several times during the flight I knew the helicopter was trashed, but in typical Botos style it was miraculously saved just as it was going in. In addition, he demonstrated some cool crack rolling.
In case you have not heard, there is a new flying technique called “crack flying.” It is done by wiggling the ailerons back and forth extremely fast to make the helicopter shake. Then, as it is shaking, you fly your normal maneuver. The stick wiggling makes it hard to fly while keeping up the movement. The most common moves are a crack roll and a crack flip. You are going to see a great deal of this style of flying in the next couple of years. It looks cool if you do just a bit of it during your flight. The new faster and more powerful servos are allowing this to be done.
Nice job, Matt. I really enjoyed seeing you fly.
Bill "Make it Hot" Donovan and Danny Arnet traveled to the event from Louisville, Kentucky. Danny, aka "Wildman," showed us the best moves his Miniature Aircraft Stratus had. It was great to see them again.
Matt brought Sean Hall with him to the fun-fly. They live and fly together in Atlanta, Georgia. Sean is pleasant and a good helicopter pilot too. I had a blast hanging out and flying with them.
It is a great idea to have a flying buddy. Most of the top pilots or those who are improving rapidly have one. I just hooked up with a new buddy and am seeing more progress in my flying.
A flying buddy literally works on the buddy system. It is someone to push you to learn that next move, and that person is there to watch out for you and keep you accountable. A few guys I know are successful flying by themselves, but not many reach the level of pilots who fly in pairs.
Sometimes there is no one around your area to fly with or the other pilot is far below or above your level of flying. Be patient; new pilots are sprouting up everywhere. The fields of RC helicopter pilots are fertile right now.
Next up to run the gauntlet was Jim "Jrock" Stark. His model blasted off into the stratosphere, and he locked it into a perfect tailslide that terminated in a warp-speed pullout. It was total "Jrock." He wowed the audience with large, fast, powerful maneuvers for the next eight minutes.
Jim used to fly RC aerobatic airplanes, so much of his precise style comes from that. Not many of the newer pilots fly the way he does. His helicopter is always in fast motion when he flies. His models are in perfect condition at all times, and they run in an ultra-smooth and powerful manner.
Great flying, Jim. You are always fun to watch.
Mike Trueblood was another top pilot in attendance. The talent at this fun-fly was extraordinary. Mike won the autorotation contest with Jim Stark's helicopter. Now that hurts when you loan a guy your model and he beats you in the competition. Mike won $50 for his accomplishment.
He flies for Team Mikado and uses a Logo helicopter. I gave the Logo a try, and I will say that it flies exceedingly well indeed. The electrics are getting so much better. The power-to-weight ratio is increasing at a fast pace.
I met Jamie Edwards at the event. He is an excellent pilot even though he has only a few years of experience. Jamie is not one of the young kids, either; I mean he is not old like me, but he is 30-something! He flew his T-Rex 600 nitro well in a smooth, controlled manner, but he had some more extreme moves to go along with it.
Brandon Crosier, another excellent pilot from the area, was in attendance again this year. He was ripping it up with his T-Rex 600N.
The level of flying at this event was astounding. It used to be that I would go to a small local fun-fly and there might be one person there I would call an "expert" pilot. That is no longer true. At Lexington this year approximately 30 of the 41 pilots were flying at an extreme level. That is a great reflection on the hobby because I know how long it takes to build those skills.
It may seem as though some pilots get good really quickly. In a couple years they are flying exceptionally. If you could track their progress you would probably learn that they have burned some midnight oil to get where they are. Some do learn faster than others, but it is usually the time invested that makes the pilot.
There was a great scale helicopter presence at the fun-fly this year. Event CD Bill Pirschel is putting the finishing touches on his turbine-powered Huey. This thing is huge, and the sound of the turbine is spectacular. Bill flew it numerous times during the day, and it was flawless in the air.
Blake McBrayer had a beautiful Augusta 109 with his old Raptor mechanics inside. It was a new model, and Blake made it look as if he had been flying it for years.
Wayne Mason took his incredible Indy Helis Apache to the event. The electric-powered model requires two pilots to fly; one to handle the flight controls and the other to work all the features, such as turning the pilot's head and gun, operating the lights, and working many of the other scale details. It is truly a work of art.
Picture of the Month: I thank everyone for submitting pictures for the monthly photo contest. To check out past winners and entries, go to RunRyder.com and click on the "Photos and Movies" section.
Some incredible pictures have been entered. They will be printed each month in MA, so keep a look out for that.
That wraps it up for this month. I hope all of you get a new helicopter or two during the holiday season. I am really excited about what 2008 will look like in the RC helicopter world. See ya next month. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
