First Annual
Electrics
over Tidewater
NNPRCC
hosted our first Electric Fly-In on September 30, 2006. By all accounts it
was a resounding success! The fly-in was suggested by past president Jay
Jennings back in the early summer and the club voted to hold the event. Jay
volunteered to be the Event Director, and Bill Bullock was the Co-Director.
There was not enough time to have the event posted in the AMA magazine, so Bill
went online in some of the Electric Forums on the web to publicize the event and
to drum up interest. He was very successful, as we had over thirty registered
pilots! This is the highest attendance for any flying event we have had to date!
I would estimate the number of different models present to be well over one
hundred, as most pilots had at least three!
Great job, Jay and Bill!
Links to Event Coverage, Articles, and discussions.
Video | PDF of article in Quiet and Electric Flight international (PDF - 4MB's) |Read the RC Groups Event Coverage here |Watt Flyer.com Discussion
Below are photos taken at the event.
This is just part of the tents, cars and spectators...
This is one pilots
hanger of nice models.
John Philbrick and his
Tutor.
John's Moth flew nice and slow ....
scale-like.
This big foamy flew great!
It appeared to be a fun model. Colorful!
Sam Verlander brought his old Quaker.
It's first successful flight was made by
Joe Lupton at Copeland Park over thirty years ago and it was then powered by a
Fox .36. Now it's electric powered by LiPo's with a 4200 mah system!
It sure flies great with
electric power now! photo:
John Philbrick
There were several Lazy
Bees. This was the largest!
And
smallest!
A Purple one!
The smallest one......
Photo by: John Philbrick
Photo by: John Philbrick
This was perhaps the most unusual
model(?) there. It's a balloon!
And it
flies!
Photo by: John Philbrick
This large Telemaster converted to
Electric power flew very nice!
Bill Sorrell shows his EAM kit
built C-130. It's made of foam, balsa, & Lite-ply
and weighs 2.5 pounds. Power is by 3S 1650 mah battery. Photo
by: John Philbrick
Looks almost real doesn't
it? Photo by: John Philbrick
There was even combat!
and Midair collisions!
This small Pitts flew
great! Photo by: John Philbrick\
So did this one!
Another Biplane, an Ultimate!
A really big hit was the pot of chili
that Peter Dixon's wife Janet made. It was
very tasty and if you didn't get any, too bad. I don't think it lasted long once
the word got out. HINT! She also makes this for our Swap Meet in February!
These are the winners of
the Pilots Choice Awards and their models. Photo
by Philbrick
From
left: Eric Anderson -
P-51 Best of Show ( with
his Ultimate).
Sam Verlander -
Quaker.
Best Built-up
Bill
Bullock,
assistant event director.
David Cutchin - J-3
Cub.
Best Civilian
Jay
Jennings
Event Director
Sotos Patistas - Hyperractive 22. Best Foamie
Bill Sorrell -
C-130.
Best Military
If we
didn't include your name with your photo, please drop the web master an
email
with the details, and we will be happy to add it. Sorry we didn't get everyone's
name.
Thanks to John Philbrick for his photos and details on some of the models and
winners.
As promised, here
is a link to a video taken during the meet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXzAMSEYzDM
And here is a
link to some coverage in RC Groups.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=549468&page=7&pp=15
Here is
another link to event coverage.
http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10971
I think
it's safe to say that the club will plan to make this an annual event.
To all who came, Thanks for coming! Without you, an event of this type is
impossible.
See you all again next year!