rc helicopters - 2012/06
E-Fest recap
Everything at E-Fest is laid out with safety in mind. Two years ago, special netting was installed around the 3-D helicopter area. In previous years, a couple of out-of-control helis entered the pit area but, fortunately, no one was injured. The organizers should be complimented on their attention to the new safety measures.
Several new helicopter pilots showed their 3-D skills in the helicopter airspace. Patrick Hruswicky, from the Chicagoland area, was really ripping it up with his Blade mCP X. Patrick has been flying for eight years, starting with helicopters. He switched to flying airplanes, but went back to helis a year ago. He apparently has been brushing up on his helicopter skills, because he was doing nearly every possible 3-D heli move at E-Fest.
Forrest Pilkenton is another pilot who was hanging out in the helicopter pit at E-Fest. He has been a heli pilot for two years and is already flipping his mCP X all over the place. He had a cool, custom canopy made from paper. That's right—paper. It was downloaded from www.helifreak.com.
Forrest explained that there are several of these printable canopies available on that site. The canopy design needs to be downloaded and printed on some firm paper. Forrest said he flew airplanes for 14 years and was looking for a change when he tried helicopters. Now he's hooked and flies helis all the time. The rotor blades on his aircraft were upgraded to the KBDD 3-D blades, which track better and transfer more power to the rotor system.
E-Fest is a great place to meet people and make plans for other events in the upcoming outdoor season. Many of the techniques and the knowledge that a pilot needs to be successful can be learned on small, safer electric models such as the ones flown at E-Fest before moving to larger, outdoor nitro machines.
It is great for a helicopter pilot to have an upgrade path of electric helis: from a beginner coaxial platform all the way up to a monster 700-size outdoor model. At E-Fest, a beginner can see and learn about all park-size electric helicopter models in one place. It is almost like being at a Heli 101 class with master professors mingling around you.
Mark E-Fest 2013 on your calendar. You will be happy you did. I will see you back here next month.
Sources
- E-Fest: www.hobbico-efest.com/index.html
- International Radio-Controlled Helicopter Association: www.ircha.org
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Interview with Quique Somenzini, Part One
Byline
by John Glezellis [email protected]
Introduction
It will always be my goal to provide you, the reader, with the tools needed to become successful in this wonderful sport.
I first became interested in both Scale and Precision Aerobatics at the age of 10, after attending the 1994 Tournament of Champions (TOC) with my parents. After seeing a world-class event such as that, I was addicted!
It is important to have a role model in life, someone whom you can look up to. In my competitive career, I have always admired a few pilots such as Hanno Prettner, Christophe Paysant Le Roux, and Quique Somenzini. These pilots are amazing and have had a huge impact on aerobatic airplanes as we know them today.
For more than two decades, Hanno designed many airplanes and won many world-class events including the TOC in Las Vegas. Christophe has won the F3A World Championship multiple times, as well as the TOC in Las Vegas in 2000.
Quique Somenzini won the TOC in Las Vegas in 1994, 1997, 1998, and 1999, and has been in the top three several times. Additionally, he won the Don Lowe Masters three times, was two-time Tucson Shootout Freestyle Champion, XFC Champion in 2004, four-time US F3A National Champion, Freestyle World Champion, as well as F3A World Champion. Quique currently works for Horizon Hobby Distributors, where he designs airplanes.
This month I will cover something special that has been a pleasure to write. I interviewed Quique, and the interview will be split into two parts. The first portion is in this column. It covers how he became interested in flying and competition, and gives some advice for you in your aerobatic endeavors.
To view the second half of the interview, visit the Model Aviation website at www.ModelAviation.com. The online segment will cover Quique’s personal life, as well as his daily tasks at Horizon Hobby Distributors to provide you with many excellent-flying airplanes.
Without further delay, let’s get started!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
