Southeast Electric Flight Festival
A weeklong celebration of electric flight
by Jay Smith
The Southeast Electric Flight Festival (SEFF), or SEFF Week as the event has come to be known, was held April 7–13, 2014, in Andersonville, Georgia. Mac Hodges hosts the event, which is run by the Fayette Flyers.
This year SEFF immediately followed the Toledo R/C Expo, which made it challenging to attend both. The festival was hampered by heavy rains and some early-week flooding, but by Thursday things had dried out and the field looked good.
It had been three years since I last attended SEFF and many changes had taken place. Matt Klos has taken over as event director, a pond was dug on the field to support float flying and model boating, and Mac Hodges closed his hobby shop in late 2013. The vacated hobby shop building was used for pilot registration and the raffle.
Thursday featured the "Ric Vaughn No Excuses" Sailplane Limited Motor Run (LMR) competition. Ric was an avid sailplane pilot and an integral part of the SEFF team. Sadly, cancer took Ric in September 2012, and it was fitting to see the contest named in his honor.
The Fayette Flyers and SEFF family lost another close-knit member last year. Event Director Matt Klos shared the following:
"Each year we have our resident graphic artist, Dave Zeigler, create a new design for our shirts. This year the Corsair theme was selected to honor Dave McConnell, a very good friend and staff member who passed away last summer from complications from a brain tumor. Dave was well loved and respected by all who knew him. We all miss him very much!"
By Thursday afternoon it was apparent the pond was an excellent addition to the venue. A multitude of aircraft and a few boats enjoyed traversing above and on the waterway throughout the day. The addition of a multirotor area revealed strong interest in FPV; many aircraft carried FPV equipment and/or cameras. After flying wound down a large group gathered to share FPV experiences—people huddled around LCD screens and goggles were passed around to provide the "in-the-cockpit" experience.
Another change since my last visit was that the vendor malls were set up at the Sport, 3-D, and park flyer flightlines instead of in a single common area. This allowed vendors to be closest to the flying their products most closely support. The AMA Mobile RC Experience trailer was located near the registration building and was flooded each day with spectators interested in trying model flying in a virtual environment.
An upgrade I appreciated was the addition of more bathrooms equipped with showers, a nice improvement over the usual portable units.
Friday and Saturday
Friday and Saturday are typically the largest two days of the event, featuring the noontime demonstrations and drawing the most spectators. Saturday evening is reserved for the awards presentation and the traditional barbecue dinner.
We were graced with fantastic weather on both days, although Friday was slightly cooler and windier. Early mornings were an excellent time to exercise my thumb skills after a long inactive winter. Although I didn’t bring any of my own aircraft, I flew a few models other pilots had brought, including Great Planes' new Kunai sport glider.
Several large RC companies—Hobbico, Horizon Hobby, Hitec/Multiplex, and HobbyKing—had booths to showcase their latest products, offering a chance to see upcoming models in flight.
I tracked down John Morgan, who always brings fantastic scratch-built foam models. One of his newest designs, a Curtiss Helldiver, was of special interest because my great aunt built Helldivers during World War II. In addition to a foam version, John brought a 100-inch wingspan SB2C Helldiver built from Jerry Bates plans; it was still under construction but coming together nicely. John has a build thread on RCGroups.
The noontime shows were entertaining as always. Pilots such as Joe Smith, Daniel Holman, and Seth Arnold performed aerial ballets. On Friday Daniel and Joe flew a routine together demonstrating close formation hovering only inches off the grass—Joe even dunked his rudder into the pond while hovering. Horizon Hobby again demonstrated it is possible to fly more than 50 aircraft in less than 20 minutes, a feat that required plenty of work but looked effortless thanks to the company's team.
Each year Mac Hodges closes the event by flying his big B-29 with the X-1 in tow. The routine is always a crowd pleaser and leaves many in disbelief at the maneuvers he performs.
Both days included a pairing of two hobbies—paintball and model aircraft. Five registered pilots were randomly selected as shooters while other pilots flew their aircraft in front of them; the goal was to have the aircraft with the most hits. The laughter suggested it was popular with pilots and shooters alike. If they hold the event next year, I hope the spectator line will be moved farther back from participants.
Dan Malone again ran full-contact combat—called Ultimate Destruction Combat. The only thing more fun than watching it is flying in it, and many pilots took part.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a respectable group of discus launch glider pilots enjoying evening flying on the corner of the property. Bill Greet even provided a little instruction and some test flights on his Libelle.
Although some events shut down as darkness looms, SEFF is not one of them. Darkness merely means it's time to switch to your light-equipped night flier. Several evening events provided entertainment late into the night, including night flying, night combat, and night bowling.
It's Over Already?
SEFF Week 2014 drew 353 pilots, several vendors, and a sizable contingent of spectators to enjoy a week of electric flight. The addition of the pond and support for helicopters, multirotors, and FPV made it a well-rounded event. The staff did an excellent job and the event was as enjoyable as always. My only complaint was that it was over too quickly!
I asked Matt Klos if he would like to comment about this year's event. He shared:
"We are grateful to and wish to acknowledge Mac Hodges for allowing us the use of his field. SEFF is and will always be a pilot event and we welcome all types of aircraft. It was great to see the level of participation from the FPV and multirotor community. We wish to thank Jessy Symmes for bringing the AMA simulator trailer [Mobile RC Experience] again this year.
"The Fayette Flyers are extremely proud to hold an event such as SEFF, and could not do so without the help of our dedicated staff. Most have been with us for many years and some are new, but all deserve recognition for their contributions:"
- Mark Terrick
- Ernie Schlumberger
- Phill Roey
- Emma Roey
- Mike DeBoer
- Stew Moore
- Dave Keller
- Katherine Keller
- Dave Zeigler
- Eileen Zeigler
- LaVerne Jones
- Dave Mason
- Tommy Vinci
- Bob Barnard
- Steve Kubit
- Fred Francis
- Rockwell Smith
- Jay Skinner
- Mark Murdock
- Nigel Harman
- Den Harman
- Esther McConnell
- Alan Taylor
—Jay Smith [email protected]
Sources
SEFF — www.seffweek.com
RCGroups Helldiver build thread — www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2033785&highlight=helldiv
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
