SOUTHEAST ELECTRIC FLIGHT FESTIVAL
by Dave Terry
DREAMING OF a giant, inflated RC mosquito with camera-view technology, a Tetracam voice co‑pilot, tiny buzzing ornithopter wings, a body like the amazing Martian Spaceship, a VecJet XT thrust‑vectoring tail, and robotic legs pulling on his covers, my new flying friend Bo Lovell awoke. He opened his bedroom door, looked out across the still‑sleeping Ron Pinson and through the crowded RV’s picture window, and saw Dan Schwartz with Scott Hurley attempting to fly Dan’s recently constructed Flying Tank. “It isn’t getting off the ground yet!” he yelled. “I’ll work on it tonight.”
The three friends, who stay in touch on RCGroups, drove from Michigan, Alabama, and North Carolina to meet at Americus, Georgia. Dan had parked his rented RV in the middle of Mac Hodges’ farm, where nearly 450 other electric‑power pilots would experience the Southeast Electric Flight Festival, or SEFF.
Among the pilots were old and young friends from around the world who came to share electrons, tent space, shade, water, information, and new stories that had developed since they had seen each other last, and to fly some of the craziest electric contraptions ever to scare air molecules into having a more meaningful and lifting existence. Without a doubt, the electrons did flow.
A festival of fun
SEFF CD Jeff Myers said, “It’s a festival of fun! There was a need in the Southeast for a large electric event, so our original goal was to create an electric‑only event for this area. We started batting it around on RCGroups.com. It grew, and now it’s the world’s largest electric event.”
“Of course the event wouldn’t be what it is without Mac Hodges.”
Mr. Hodges was tinkering in a 5,000‑square‑foot shop filled with electric‑powered airplanes and one massive gas‑powered B‑29 with a 20‑foot wingspan, equipped with a remotely detachable RC model of the Bell X‑1. Chuck Yeager used the full‑scale X‑1 to fly beyond the speed of sound on October 14, 1947. Forty years later, Mac Hodges and his good friend Buddy Curtis honor the X‑1.
Mac’s brother, Billy, had been in a terrible accident. Mac said, “My brother, Billy, was flying the Cub and it quit. He made a bad decision, turned back and it went in and almost killed him.” But Billy appeared for the halftime show and got a huge round of applause from the crowd.
“I’m a farmer,” said Mac while selecting a tool in his shop. He was dressed in tan slacks, a freshly ironed shirt, and tennis shoes. He’d just finished stocking the public bathroom with paper rolls, and the night before at 10 p.m. he’d been restocking the soda machine on the front porch of Hodges Hobbies.
“We quit farming this area in ’98. All those sheds (that are now filled with RC model mall and event operations) had farm equipment underneath. The farm’s been in the family since ’bout 1905. We have about 2,400 acres. Now we rent the land for others to do the farming.”
Events and highlights
This gathering consisted of four days and nights of fun, May 1–4, with the Fayette Flyers of Atlanta, Georgia. The club works hard to give to almost everyone who attends, though this year was missing the full‑scale Cub rides.
- The sailplane contest started the event. There were good thermals, and Don Richmond sought them out with his buddy Paul Perret using a Super AVA‑E. It had a 147‑inch wingspan, 1,346 square inches of wing area, and a flying weight of 62 ounces; Don used a Picolario variometer thermal sniffer. He claimed victories in both Class A and Class B.
- Best in Show judging and awards were captured by builders Chuck Orrick and Gene Senkbeil with their Martian Spaceship.
- A record attempt: 99 models in the air at once for one minute broke the previous Guinness World Record for the most RC airplanes flying simultaneously.
- During the four days, thousands of prizes totaling more than $25,000 were given away. One pilot who purchased 1,000 raffle tickets was among the big winners.
- There was live music and a fantastic barbecue, coordinated by Ric Vaughn and Ernie Schlumberger with help from the Fayette Flyers.
The site and community
The environment at SEFF is unique. There’s Mac’s farmhouse, a windmill, and a huge shop full of electric‑powered models. Hodges Hobbies retail store overlooks a 1,700‑foot Bermuda grass runway. The site is divided into four flying fields and a massive playground where friends camp out, fly their latest creations, and take part in this fun‑filled get‑together.
“It’s like no other event I’ve ever attended,” said one experienced pilot. “There seems to be a different kind of brotherhood among the people who attend SEFF.”
“Yeah, imagine a group of Star Trekkers and a group of professional athletes, working, playing, and living in close quarters, having fun and interacting like best of friends,” said one of his buddies.
Locals pitched in: Fast Freddy and his wild bunch of Fayette Flyers supplied 346 bottles of “Loose Rudder Red Ale” and did much of the work. Ric Vaughn, Ernie Schlumberger, and the SEFF police wagon were on duty most of the weekend. They made sure everyone stayed in line (or in their flight zone) and might have subjected you to judgment by the dreaded Bad Bill!
Those who were there for the entire event were exhausted by the end of Sunday afternoon. Participants climbed into their gas‑powered vehicles and drove home realizing that the electric world of SEFF was not only an experience they would never forget, but one that might also bring changes to their future. They carried home new ideas, great experiences, and a few prizes. The question they could answer with certainty was, yes, they’d be back next year.
— Dave Terry [email protected]
SEFF Primary Sponsors
- Horizon Hobby
- Kool Flight Systems
- Hobby Lobby
- Radical RC
- Thunder Power
- AtlantaHobby.com
- Area‑5X
- Classic Flying Machines
- Team AirfoilZ
- Peak Electronics
Sources
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
