|
Fun in the Desert
Photo Gallery Video Gallery Vendors
The Arizona Electric Festival, (AEF) celebrated its fifth annual open electric fun-fly beginning Thursday, January 22, through Sunday, January 25, 2009.
On Wednesday, I drove 700 miles from northern California to Mesa, Arizona, to attend the event. Before dawn on Thursday, a friend and I headed out to the field, our van packed with models and equipment.
The Mesa flying field has a large, covered pit area with a number of tables. You use the tables to assemble your aircraft and then set them out on the tarmac so that others can use and share the tables with you. A generator was brought in and it powered electric lights in the pit area as well as power plugs to use for charging batteries. Four sets of three 12-volt batteries were placed around the pits to use for charging as well.
Open flying was scheduled each day beginning shortly before sunrise and lasting until 5 p.m. when flying stopped and everyone had to leave the field because of county park regulations. No overnight camping was allowed by the county. (Hopefully, they might be able to negotiate a waiver of those rules for this event in the future.)
Beyond the tarmac airplane-storage area there was a metal wire fence and then the pilot stations. Pilot stations were clearly marked, seven in all, and a low orange fence protecting the pilot area. A taxiway was in front of the pilot area with a nice, large runway beyond the taxiway.
The two pilot stations on either end of the taxiway had tall wire fences in front of bleachers to protect the crowd. These areas were designated for 3-D flying although they could also be used for standard RC flights. The central five pilot stations were for flying any style of airplanes.
The runway used for takeoffs and landings and all other flying was to be beyond the runway above the desert. This included circular flight patterns as well as 3-D flying.
Thursday had 86 pilots register and all had to contended with four short rain squalls that passed over the field. Thankfully, the covered canopy was large enough to protect pilots and aircraft. Andrew Jesky decided to fly rain or shine. The weather was a welcome change from the snow back in his home state of Michigan.
On all four days helicopters had a half hour to fly every morning and afternoon, during which time all airplanes were grounded. On Thursday morning a 14-year-old young lady named Cathryn was flying her Lil Banshee just past the runway area. Chad Halmrast flew his NitroPlanes Corsair in a large circular pattern that went through that same air space.
On one pass through the shared air space, the Corsair hit the Lil Banshee and there was a loud whack! Cathryn’s Banchee was instantly rekitted. Parts of the Banshee stayed on the Corsair’s right wing. The Corsair lost its canopy but Chad brought it home for a safe landing.
The pilots were good sports and even posed for a picture together. Innov8tive Designs stepped in and surprised Cathryn with a brushless motor to help her get back in the air.
On Friday, the weather improved and the number of registered pilots rose to 180 and Saturday the number reached 201 and the weather was partly sunny.
Both Friday and Saturday had an hour-long period of demonstration flights during lunch. The flying was diverse and spectacular. Demonstrations included helicopters, warbirds, electric ducted-fan aircraft, as well as large and small 3-D airplanes.
Saturday offered a pilot raffle. Every entrant won a prize worth at least the registration fee and many won expensive kits, engines, and other RC products. All pilots received a free airplane thanks to the Electric Jet Factory. The company brought the parts for hundreds of BabyCats and the pilots could choose the colors for their free model. Sunday’s weather was the best of the weekend. The event ended at 2 p.m. and the crowd was back to about the size seen Thursday.
The staff from Arizona Model Aviators was friendly and helpful. The Superstition Mountains form a beautiful backdrop for watching and photographing the airplanes.
My primary reason for attending the event was the enthusiasm, camaraderie, and friendships experienced in such a shared adventure. I enjoyed the passion all the pilots had for their models and the joy in sharing with others.
Barrett Hochhaus flew his scratch-built Concorde with unbridled joy that was heightened when he flew in tandem with Clark Hans and his even larger scratch-built Concorde with a working nose droop. Barrett also made numerous flights with his Multiplex Cargo that he had converted to the Sentimental Journey B-17 (the full-scale bomber based nearby).
Dave Payne brought and flew his scratch built 1/9-scale Nieuport. With a 36-inch wingspan, it was compatible with other commercially available World War I park flyers. Dave hopes to have a laser-cut partial kit available for the Nieuport soon.
I noticed a number of father-and-son teams at the festival and at least one father-and-daughter team. One father-son team was Richard Carlton and his 8-year-old son Alex. They both specialize in flying 3-D (DWFoamies) and spotted for each other throughout the festival. Both are good pilots and it was nice to see how well they worked together. One adult father-and-son team brought the father from one state and the son from another so the festival was a family reunion of sorts.
Saturday noon flying was a good time for many of the wives to come and visit. They enjoyed the barbecue lunch that was available and saw the impressive demo flights.
Larry Wolfe, from Jet Hangar Hobby, flew his prototype F9F-4 Panther ARF. It was an impressive model with a 72-inch wingspan and weighed 18.25 pounds. The 1/6-scale model sells for $995.
The Panther was powered by an E-Turbax fan with a NEU 1527/1.5Y motor and two 6S 6000mAh Li-Poly battery packs. Larry flew the jet both clean (wheels and flaps up) and dirty (wheels and flaps down), fast and slow. With its impressive sound from the ducted fan, it always got a lot of attention.
Capturing my attention every time it flew was Thunder Tiger’s Innovator MD-530 helicopter. This relatively new helicopter was stable in flight and Jeff Fassbinder even flew it with his hands off the transmitter at times. One innovation is the low-battery warning system. An LED on top of the aircraft behind the rotor is green until the battery gets low. It turns to red to indicate it is time to land. If the pilot doesn’t spot this change in color; the tail will move back and forth as a second warning that it’s time to land.
Pat Gagnon flew frequently during the festival. He put on a nice display of what his 6mm FlyRC F4D Skyray “Quickbuild” could do. The model is capable of everything from climbing fast to altitude to slowly spinning back to earth and much more. By mixing up the speeds, Pat made the top speed seem very impressive.
Multiplex was present demonstrating its Blizzard sport liner. It is an impressive airplane and after the demo I found myself wanting one. Electronic Model System, one of the many vendors at the festival, was happy to sell me one with all the goodies I needed for it at an excellent price.
Most of the vendors were offering good deals. I also got graphics for an upcoming project from Callie of Callie Graphics. I saw the new VecJet PF fly and it is an interesting park flyer. The vendors’ presences added to the fun because they are a good group of people who love this hobby.
While the weather could have been better—and it was the following week after the event—I found great hosts, enjoyable fellow pilots, interesting aircraft, helpful vendors, and some spectacular flying. I loved looking out and watching the airplanes and helicopters with the cactus and mountains behind them as a backdrop. I hope and plan to be back in 2010.
Photo Gallery Video Gallery Vendors
Sources:
Event Web site:
http://www.rccraze.com/azfestival
Club Web site:
www.azmodelaviators.com
|
|
|
