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... one event
that every pilot needs
to put on his or her "Bucket List."
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If
the recession has hit southeast Georgia, you
couldn't tell it by the 487 pilots
participating in the Southeast Electric
Flight Festival (SEFF) that was held April
30-May 3, 2009, in Americus, Georgia. The
Fayette Flyers of Atlanta, Georgia, and
volunteers from many other clubs put on one
of America's premier electric-flight events.
Held at event director Mac Hodges' field—of
B-29 and Bell X-1 fame—outside of Americus,
this venue features a flat, 1,700-foot
Bermuda grass runway. Additionally, Mac's
field features a full-service hobby shop if
you should need a replacement part while
flying.
All aspects of electric flight including
sport aircraft, park flyers, 3-D, Giant
Scale, slow flyers, gliders, pylon aircraft,
ducted-fan jets, helicopters, Scale, and F5B
were flown during the event.
The festival is primarily open flying with
noontime flying demonstrations by
accomplished electric-flight enthusiasts,
sponsors, and show teams. Horizon Hobby, JR,
and Sport RC Flyer sponsored SEFF.
One of the many events during the festival
was the SEFF Foamy Challenge. The challenge
was to build the most unusual "flying thing"
from foam. The rules were simple. The
aircraft:
1. Must be made from foam.
2. Must demonstrate safe, stable,
controllable flight.
3. Must have flown before SEFF; no maiden
flights.
More than 30 "flying things" took to the sky
and the judges selected a Star Wars starship
as the winner. One had to look hard to see
if Luke Skywalker might be on the sticks.
Another twice-a-day crowd pleaser was SEFF's
Extreme Speed demonstration. Open to
aircraft 100 mph and faster, all disciplines
of flight were represented from turbines to
propeller-driven models.
All pilots received a briefing on the rules
for extreme speed and a flight path was
altered to make sure there was sufficient
separation from the crowd.
SEFF's Ultimate Destruction Combat was—as it
could only be—a one-shot happening during
the festival. Any airworthy model could fly
in the event, with a battery limit of two or
three cells and 1320 mAh maximum power.
More than 50 models in the air made the
flying site look like a swarm of mad
hornets. After 15 minutes of continuous
mayhem, approximately 10 survivors were
judged winners for their aggressiveness and
number of "hits." Some spectacular hits
brought applause and laughs from the huge
number of spectators.
No fly-in would be complete without a
Saturday night barbecue dinner that featured
its own special SEFF minibrew. The bottles,
complete with the SEFF logo, are collectors'
items.
AMA set up a booth to distribute literature
and answer pilots' and spectators'
questions. Steve Berhm of Rhode Island, a
District I associate vice president and a
frequent flier at SEFF, pitched in to lend a
hand at the booth and was a tremendous help.
Also helping staff the AMA booth were Mark
Smith, AMA's executive vice president, and
Jack Kallevang and Jim McCarthy, both of
Detroit.
Along with the Joe Nall Fly-In, the
Southeast Electric Flight Festival is one
event that every pilot needs to put on his
or her "Bucket List."
The Membership Drive is in full swing. You
can check its progress at
www.modelaircraft.org/membershipdrive/leaders.aspx.
If you're not yet involved, there is still
time to win prizes and special recognition
for your club and district. The top
individual producer will win an AMA Lifetime
Membership.
MA
In the spirit of
flight.
Jeff Meyers, CD of SEFF, leads the pilot
briefing every morning at
one of the best-run events of the year.
Roughly 500 pilots attended this year's
event!
Packing the trailer at AMA HQ was done in
record time by AMA members
Tom Kallevang (R) and Jim McCarthy (L)
before heading south.
Jim Cherry, Executive Director
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