Radio Control Helicopters - 2008/08

KEEP THOSE CARDS and letters
coming—I mean E-mails. I appreciate all
the good information you have been
sending me.
This month I have the pleasure of
introducing you to my friend Terry
Dawson. He is from Texas and runs the
Southern Rotary Classic. It has grown into
a major event, and the 2008 edition is
scheduled for September 19-21.
Terry wrote:
“History of the Event: Bill Crain and
Weldon Freeman started the Southern
Rotary Classic RC helicopter event in Mt.
Pleasant Texas in 1987. This year’s 2008
SRC will be the 22nd edition of the event
and it is now one of the largest RC
helicopter events in the Southwest part of
the United States. For many years it was
held in the early part of October, but for a
few years we had really bad weather, so
we decided to move the event to the latter
part of September.
“The first event started rather small but
it has continued to grow in attendance and
attracts a number of well-known pilots.
The list of pilots that have attended reads
like a who’s-who list. Over the years we
have had Curtis Youngblood, Dave Story,
Bob Simms, Gary Wright, Len Mount
from England, Anthony Jager, Eric Larson,
Jason Krause, Todd Bennett, Alan Szabo
Jr., Dwight Shilling, Larry Bergen,
Malorie Zastrow, Vic Campbell, Ron Lund, and Nathan Spencer.
“Last year we had Curtis, Alan, Ron
Lund, and Nathan Spencer returning along
with Anthony Jager. We also had first
timers Scott Gray, Bert Kammerer, Bobby
Watts, Andy Rummer from Germany,
Tyler Bonta, Leon Luke, and Jamie
Robertson.
“I am sure there are some names I have
probably forgotten but we have enjoyed
hosting all the well-known pilots and
everyone else that has attended our event
over the years and we look forward to
seeing them continue to come year after
year.
“I have been the event director for
three years and have been going to the
event for over 12 years, and the most
registered pilots I remember was 156. I
have been told there were over 170 pilots
one year.
“The Fun-Fly is not just for the wellknown
pilots, it is for everyone to come
and have fun. We work hard to have a
variety of contests, demos, and pilot
prizes for everyone.
“Speaking of past history, Vic
Campbell of V-Blades got his start selling
blades at the Southern Rotary Classic
some years ago. Vic had been making
stronger blades using carbon fiber and
brought some of them to our event. Ron
Lund saw them and placed the first order
to sell them. Vic has been one of the
major blade manufacturers ever since.
“Local Field: We are fortunate to have
a really nice field situated right behind a
big beautiful lake. The field and
surrounding area around stretches nearly
two miles from one end to the other, and
extends a couple of hundred yards out
front.
“The lake is named Lake Bob Sandlin.
It’s a 9,000 acre lake and it has a power
plant on the edge of it that lights up like a
city at night. That is a really nice
background for night flying.
“Mount Pleasant, Texas: The town of
Mt. Pleasant is a small city of nearly
20,000 people and there are a number of
local area attractions. In late April they
have speedboat racing, and there is an
annual Rodeo, County Fair, Circus and a
number of other fun things to do along
with the annual Southern Rotary Classic
RC helicopter event.
“2007 event: About three years ago we
invited Alan Szabo Jr. to come to our
event. In case you didn’t know, Alan is
one of the hottest young pilots in the RC
hobby. When Alan came, our event was
able to raise its profile even more so if
you are reading this Alan, many thanks.
“Last year’s event was one of our best,
we had 112 registered pilots and that is
pretty good considering the influx of new
Fun-Flys, and the price of gas. One of the
things we have done the last few years to
promote the event is to run an article in
the local paper and last year the response
was outstanding.
“There must have been two to three
hundred spectators that came out last year
to watch the demo and night flying part of
our program, and I think the pros like
having a lot of people enjoying their demo
flights. Mark Ryder was also there to
report on the event and he provided us
with a lot of good coverage with his
photos and videos.
“2008 event: This year should be one
of our best ever. Our commitment list of
top pilots includes Curtis, which everyone
knows just by his first name. Alan Szabo
Sr. said they plan to come this year as a
family, so maybe we will have Danny and
Alan together.
“With Curtis, Alan Jr., and Jason
Krause coming, we have three of the
biggest names in the hobby headed our
way September 19th through the 21st of
this year. Bobby Watts has confirmed for
this year as well.
“Our event is not just about top pilots.
We try to have a number of activities for
everyone. We encourage the Scale guys to
attend. Weldon, who is one of our Contest
Directors, really enjoys the Scale part of
the event and we try to encourage others
to participate. This year we are going to
emphasize the Scale activities even more.
“We also have a number of other
contests that include novice, an auto
contest, and a really unique competition
called the Target Drop. Our well-known
club member, Michael Prewitt, proprietor
of raptortechnique.com, developed the
Target Drop. He made a device that you
can attach to your helicopter and drop
objects onto a designated target. You need
both a pilot and someone to operate the
target drop device. It is a lot of fun.
“We also have something new that we
started last year. A Non-Sponsored Demo
contest. It gives the up-and-coming pilots
that might like to be sponsored a chance
to be viewed by the audience. We don’t
guarantee sponsorship to the winner but
the last two winners soon were sponsored.
“After the Non-Sponsored guys finish
then the sponsored pilots show everyone
how it is done by doing demos of their
product. This is typically the highlight of
the fun-fly.
“We plan to have at least 4 or 5
seminars this year. Nathan Spencer and
Ron Lund are two of the best autorotation
pilots in the business—they plan to do an
auto seminar. Gary Travis plans to do a
turbine seminar and Jason Krause, Matt
Botos and Carl Bonta have said they
would do aerobatics seminars as well.
This will give people a chance to hear
directly from some of these top pilots.
“We also plan some night flying. Last
year Bobby, Bert and Andy Rummer put
on a great show.
“ ... we will be posting more
information on the forums as the event
grows near. The price of gas is still going
up but we feel that this event is so special
and everyone will enjoy coming. It should
be a really great event. See ya there.”
Thanks for the great write-up about your
fun-fly, Terry! I hope you can set a new
attendance record this year. Thanks for all the
hard work you guys put into making this an
enjoyable weekend for everyone. Write back
and let us know how it went. MA