Chuck's rebuilt "X-Cell 60" looks even better than ever
Ever wonder what a "Rappa Hawk" looked like? Check out Alvin's
Take a deep breath and Goose the throttle.
Frits and his illuminated Night Hawk chopper all ready for some night flight.
- Events -
Saturday, October 6, 2001 - ACMA's 2nd Annual Heli Fly-In
On this Saturday, ACMA's 2nd Annual Helicopter Fly-In was to be held at Irvington Field. I had been watching the weather channel for several days, and it didn't look too promising. And sure enough, the skies were cloudy and gray with rain in the forecast. But when I got to the field around 8:30, even before I drove through the gate I could see a couple of choppers in the air. There were several vehicles in the parking lot and a number of people were already set up in the pits...
The chopper bunch from Florida had arrived early, as they had promised. They included: Jon Saleska (Navarre), Klaus Thane (Pensacola), Mike Kapotsyphoto (Mary Esther), Douglas Suhre (Mary Esther), Ronald Bramblett (Destin), Scott MacMurray (Pensacola) and Scott Critch (Fort Walton Beach)...
Rusty McClintock of Frisco City, AL showed up. This very capable heli pilot had visited our field once before and we were all looking forward to his air show...
By 10:00, the official start of the fly-in, many more people showed up, including several from Louisiana: Florian Geissler (Prairieville), Scott Moss (Baton Rouge), H. V. Vu & Judy (Prairieville) (these four in photophoto), Randy LaFleur (Gonzales), and Michael Blackburn (New Orleans)...
Contest Director Marty Jones was busy getting things in order. A total of 27 pilots ended up signing in! Scott Gaylephoto was cooking sausages for breakfast. Donuts were on the table. Rob Bakerphoto, owner of Mobile's HobbyTown USA, had brought a large box with many great prizes that included a Jr. Ergo helicopter kit valued at more than $400! Alvin Reed and Marty had arranged for donated items from other rc manufacturers and distributors, including Horizon Hobbies, Tower Hobbies, Rick's RC Helicopters (two $50 gift certificates), Century Helicopters, Morgan Fuels and Futaba. The prize table was full!...
A light rain didn't dampen the spirits. Several people flew before and after the light rain. Flying actually never stopped. Most of the pilots from out of town were extremely skilled pilots! Several put on awesome flying demonstrations. Some of the maneuvers flown could boggle one's mind! I know mine got boggled several times. It was unfortunate that Rob lost his chopper, as did one participant from out of town, early...
The first event on the agenda was the Hovering event where contestants had to knock over four tall plastic soft drink bottles partially filled with water. The shortest time would win. This event is usually reserved for beginning heli pilots who wouldn't have a chance in the other two contests - Drag Racing and Autorotation...
Hovering sounded easy enough to me so I entered it... A total of ten pilots entered the Hovering event. Michael Hocks was the time keeper. Johnny Turner took 149 seconds (what happened, Johnny?), Evon Smithphoto 104 seconds, Roger Geil 103 seconds, Marty Jonesphoto 80 seconds, Frits Jetten 78 seconds (not too bad!), Scott Gayle 69 seconds, Mike Kapotsy 68 seconds. There were cheers and applause when young Justin Peacock knocked the bottles down in under one minute - it took him only 52 seconds! But the undisputed winner was Michael Blackburnphoto - "Fritz the Cat" - who finished the event in just 38 seconds. There were several exciting moments and unfortunately there was one crash. James Bramblett'sphoto chopper contacted one of the bottles, breaking off one of the tail rotor blades, causing him to lose control. It was sad to see his fine helicopter crash from such a low altitude...
The Drag Race event was next. Only four pilots were brave enough to enter this one: Jon Saleska, Scott MacMurray, Chuck Stanton (his first time to enter a Drag Race) and Alvin Reed. Jonphoto and Alvinphoto both won two out of three heats, eliminating Scott and Chuck respectively. Jon was the overall winnerphoto of this event. This is a great spectator event!...
The last competition event on the schedule was the Autorotation event, where a contestant has to get to a high altitude, throttle down his engine and autorotate down to a target - a small piece of carpet - about ten feet in front of them. Measurements were from the main shaft to the center of an X painted on the carpet. Each pilot would made three attempts, their three distances were added, and the smallest total would be declared the winner...
Eight pilots signed up for the Auto event: Jon Saleska, Scott Moss, Scott MacMurray, Florian Geissler, Rusty McClintock, Chuck Stanton, Alvin Reed and Scott Critch. Well, there were some really fine autos! Alvin did a great onephoto, and everyone applauded when he got only 8 inches away from the target. And his third one was a spiraling auto, which impressed the spectators also. This was Chuck's first Auto competition, and he didn't come close enough, but he tried. And he was consistent, landing only within feet from his first landing spot every time! Scott Critchphoto, Florian Geisslerphoto and others did better. The one who came the closest was Jon Saleskaphoto, who landed 16 in., 7 in. and 3 in. from the target! Nice job! And if there had been an award for the most impressive and graceful auto it would have to go to Rusty McClintockphoto, who, while inverted and with the nose in, cut his throttle, rapidly descended to about half the altitude he started at, flipped it forward and away from him and then swooped it in backwards to a landing about two feet from the target! It looked great!
Club President Andy Anderson did the cooking, and as always, he did a great job. He started out with hot-dogs and hamburgers. But later in the day he barbecued the chicken legs that Ray Brown had brought. Hungry pilots, including Mike Kapotsy, had no trouble finding the food tablephoto!
Because of the Rally of the Eagles in Navarre, FL, club member attendance was down, but several did show up to see what those crazy chopper guys were doing. Joe Krebs, Tom Barrett and George Kloke were just threephoto that came to visit.
After the competition events were over you could catch several great shows put on by some of the pilots. Rusty did some awesome things with his Bergen Intrepidphoto helicopter. He lives in Frisco City, Alabama and is a sponsored pilot for Bergen R/C Helicopters (you can e-mail him at rambow@frontiernet.net). And does he know how to handle a chopper! I compare his performance to a virtuoso musician who has become one with his instrument. Incredible!...
Florianphoto did repeated sideways rolls and sideways loops close to the ground (forgive me if I have the names of some of these maneuvers wrong...) which got some of the spectators excited... There were others that were great too. (By the way - don't feel slighted if your picture is not in this report. Your picture may appear in our next month's newsletter. I took many pictures, but then again, I may have missed some of the pilots.)
Later in the day Alvinphoto manned the microphone and awarded the prizes. He did pretty well except for that awful singing every now and then. Fortunately he finished singing soon after he got started... "Fritz the Cat" Michaelphoto won the Hovering event and picked out a gyro. Michael is the Web Master of a nice rc Web site, "Fritz the Cat"link. And Jon Saleskaphoto placed first in both the Drag Race and Autorotation events (...and our "8ball" Alvin thought he was pretty hot stuff!...) Jon selected both $50 gift certificates donated by Rick's RC Helicopters.
A pretty young miss, Darian Minicaphoto, helped Alvin and Marty draw numbers for the rest of the prizes that were piled up on the prize tablephoto. I believe just about everyone won something. Michael Hocksphoto - who did an excellent job keeping time and measuring distances during the events - won the OS .61 heli engine donated by Cyber Helilink of Hong Kong (yes - when Scott Gayle asked Cyber Heli for a donation, they sent that engine immediately!) Florian Geissler won the Ergo .46 CCPM chopper, donated by HobbyTown USAlink, compliments of Rob Baker. Other prizes were donated by Horizon Hobbies, Tower Hobbies, Rick's RC Helicopterslink, Century Helicopters, Morgan Fuels and Futaba. (Most can be accessed from this Web site, Main Page, Favorite Links.) The organizers and all participants really appreciate all the prizes that were donated.
It got colder and windier toward the end of the afternoon, so the scheduled night flying was canceled. What a shame - but many pilots didn't dress for 50 degree temperatures, so it was best to end the fly-in on a good note. After a group photophoto taken by Andy, many packed up and headed for home. Everyone seemed to have had a great time, and already several people could be heard talking about "the next one", hopefully in the spring. I for one will be looking forward to it! Happy Flying! (Frits Jetten)
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