Heli pilots given the Big Finger at this years AZ Electric Festival

[fogger]

So, apparently, the powers that be decided that this year they wanted the event all to themselves with thier boring warbirds and scale planes flying around in nice neat ovals, back and forth, back and forth. Oooo, sooo exciting to watch.

This year helis get one hour in the morning and maybe a little more time in the afternoon depending on demand, etc. What a complete crock. Who is going to pay full admission to only get 1/8 of the day to fly?

Oh well, it was fun last year, lots of good vendors and demos, but this year it's for the birds. :mad:

Gotta get some good heli events fired back up here in the valley of the sun.

-Fog

[BarracudaHockey]

I don't know the layout of the field, but one would think, with the high number of SS systems in use they could set aside an area for helis and not cause a flight pattern or frequency problem but people have to want to make things like that work and if its an airplane only guy running the show they may just not care enough to go to the effort.

Maybe finding and making contact with the CD in the friendliest manner possible you could convince him to work something out.

[Rodan]

I brought this up here a couple of weeks ago. There's a discussion on RCGroups here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=789006

Feel free to put in a word over there. I expressed my opinion, and tried to bring up alternatives, but didn't make much headway.

It's one hour total per day, 30 min. in the morning and again in the afternoon.

Oh, and Align (and their pilots) pulled out and will not be attending.

[fogger]

Sorry to duplicate, didn't see your post here.

I did contact the CD verry respectfully requesting clarification of the new rules, and I respectfully bemoaned the answer given. The reply? Sorry you won't be there then... (basically). They seem not to care. I suggested setting up heli pads out off the ends of the runway, there is a lot of space, after last years event. They should re-name it the Electric R/C Plane Festival if that's what they want it to be...

-Fog

[Rodan]

They should re-name it the Electric R/C Plane Festival if that's what they want it to be...


I wanted to say exactly that...:thumbdown:

I got pretty much the same response as you did. I'm going to pass....

[DebianDog]

You ought to tell them to call it the Electric PLANE festival and be done with it.

This is exactly why the Freaks started having their own helicopter events :thumbup:

[ClayK]

You ought to tell them to call it the Electric PLANE festival and be done with it.

This is exactly why the Freaks started having their own helicopter events :thumbup:
There is a big helicopter event in the works right now, I'll post more on it when we get everything nailed down.

[wjvail]

Can I be the friendly decenter here?

My experience is that planes and heli do not mix well. I mostly fly heli and I do so at my small local AMA club. On most weekends I am the only one flying a heli and it pains me to say it but the flight patterns of fixed wing and heli don't mix well.

Look at the flight line of a heli event and a fix wing event and you will see difference. Both typically have a long strip but at a heli event, we set up numerous stations and fly in an airspace in blocks along the line. At a fixed wing event they all stand closer to each other and fly along the strip (runway).

Apparently the organizers of this event have decided this will be a (nearly) all fixed wing event. Is that any different than a heli event with time set aside for a few fixed wing demo's?

As for Align pulling out, that is their decision. They have to weigh the cost and benefits. One the one hand you have a gathering of folks obviously interested in model aircraft that may enjoy seeing your product and that can only be good. Lets face it, many heli pilots still fly fixed wing and many new heli pilots will be converts from another aspect of the hobby. On the other hand, most business have limited time and funds to support their product. Apparently they believe there efforts would be better spent somewhere else.

As others pointed out, the name is a little broad for a fixed wing only event but what are you going to do? At least they got electric in the name so us "smokers" knew we weren't welcome right from the beginning.:wink:

Flame Suit -- On.

Bill

[rstacy]

Looking for something to do in Phoenix???
I guarantee that you will be welcome

http://www.efexpo.com/home.aspx

[Greg Alderman]

Bill unfortunately I have to agree with you...I used to be a strong proponent of heli’s and planes flying in harmony together. It used to be a little easier about 18 years ago when I got my first heli...didn't know what else to do with it...so you saw a lot of race track pattern flying with a roll, loop and the occasional auto thrown in...The club I was president of at the time had a fantastic relationship between the heli and plane flyers...

But things are much different now with EVERYONE doing 3D and having planes and heli’s together can quickly become a problem...I can think of 3 or 4 incidents off the top of my head where just heli’s and foamies have mixed it up and feelings and pocket books were hurt...

Just my 2 cents….FWIW…

[DavidH]

...I can think of 3 or 4 incidents off the top of my head where just heli’s and foamies have mixed it up and feelings and pocket books were hurt...



Yep witnessed a few of those myself. The pilots almost coming to blows over it also.
It is amazing when a heli hits a foamie. Looks like it is snowing for about 5 mins. LOL

David

[Greg Alderman]

yep David...I believe all of the events that I was thinking about you were at also...The one I really remember was the Raptor 90 and the foamie...and the smoking battery! Believe that was your event in B-ham...wasn't it? Maybe it was Chatty...they all seem to run together in my brain these days!

[Rodan]

Apparently the organizers of this event have decided this will be a (nearly) all fixed wing event. Is that any different than a heli event with time set aside for a few fixed wing demo's?

Bill


The problem is they didn't exactly promote it that way...

Honestly, the real deal-breaker for me is the vendors pulling out. That's one of the main attractions for me to travel to an event.

Also, it's not that difficult for helis and planes to co-exist. With a flight area off to one side, you can fly everyone at once. We do it at our field all the time, and the biggest problem we have is planes coming into the heli area on a bad takeoff run...

You may only get to fly one or two at a time, but at least there would be more opportunity than with only one hour per day available to all the heli fliers.

The 'Big Finger' in this case is the attitude of the plankers (I can call 'em that 'cause I fly 'em too) over at RCG. What a bunch of jerks. You try to have a discussion about something and they dogpile you and start namecalling...:roll:

[fogger]

This is an "Electric powered" only event.
EDF, Prop and Helicopters aircraft are welcome.

They say we're welcome and then expect us to pay full price to get in and only have 1/16th of the available time per day to fly. NO helis at all the rest of the day even if we wanted to fly in the pattern. (MAYBE another 1/16th in the afternoon depending on demand, not likely to happen IMO).

That is a back-handed invitation if I ever saw one. The club is clearly anti Heli and they should just be up front about that and not extend ANY invitation to helis at all...

There is no reason they could not cordon off an area to the east or west of the runway for 3D plane / heli use. See pic. There is a ton of air space at this field, and only the fastest jets actually need the entire huge runway. They are just being stubborn about it.

Best to just not go and not spend any money at the vendors or on the raffle. Let the club make money off of the plankers they actually want there.

-Fog

[DavidH]

Why get all worked up over this? It is the people that put on the event decision to how it is run. Don't like the schedule. Don't attend the event. Fairly simple I would say. Like was mentioned there is plenty of pilots that fly both helis and airplanes. There is quiet a few of the top airplane pilots that fly helis also. So I am sure they will have some helis at the event. And the ones that have them will fly in the time slot allowed.

David

[DavidH]

yep David...I believe all of the events that I was thinking about you were at also...The one I really remember was the Raptor 90 and the foamie...and the smoking battery! Believe that was your event in B-ham...wasn't it? Maybe it was Chatty...they all seem to run together in my brain these days!

Nah the one I remember most is the incident at BSRC. One of the parties in that one was really upset. LOL

David

[WillJames]

yep David...I believe all of the events that I was thinking about you were at also...The one I really remember was the Raptor 90 and the foamie...and the smoking battery! Believe that was your event in B-ham...wasn't it? Maybe it was Chatty...they all seem to run together in my brain these days!

It was at BlackSheep. I remember it.

If the event organizers want it heli only, then that is how it is. At HeliFreak invasions we fly what we brung, but at other peoples events we fly what is allowed and enjoy the event, or if we can't fly, we don't go or don't take our machines.

[BarracudaHockey]

I am SO GLAD we have 2 runways and it's not an issue, I pretty much changed my daily flying club just for that reason, and I fly both too.

Add to that SS and you don't have frequency conflicts and its almost heaven for RC.

[r40734]

I fly both, so I was rather excited about going to this event. I'm fairly new to the heli scene, though. I haven't been to any big R/C events in several years, and had made plans to attend this one (to the point of taking days off of work, since I'm scheduled to work every damn weekend of my life).

I had already seen the schedule saying "Helicopter only 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM all days", but it made no difference. I wasn't going to be crashing one of my helis at this event anyway. My main interest in this event relating to the helis was to see the Factory Align pilots do their magic.

Now that they're not going, neither am I.

My suggestion to the event organizers is this: Go ahead and restrict the participants air time. I fully understand why you're doing it. BUT, you should have made special concessions for the Factory Pilots. Setting aside more time for demos from them would attract more people. Seeing the align pilots do what they do puts almost all newcomers in awe of this sport and would have only sold more tickets to next year's event... not to mention selling more kits at the LHS, more parts, more radios, more AMA memberships, etc.

Get it. Figure it out.

[fogger]

There is a big helicopter event in the works right now, I'll post more on it when we get everything nailed down.


In AZ?

[Rodan]

The annual Phx Fun Fly is coming in March, but other than that I don't know of anything off the top of my head...

http://phoenixfunfly.armsaz.com/

[fogger]

I have heard the SRCHA guys are thinking about bringing back the heli rodeo, but I am out of the loop on that one... I wish the clubs would all get together like one big family, but I have heard there are / were conflicts of some kind? Don't know the details, but that's a bummer if it's true. We rotorheads need to stick together man! :)
:hug:

-Fog

[Rodan]

I went to the Phoenix Fun Fly last year and it seemed well attended. Another good Southwest event is the Albuquerque FF, but that won't be until next fall...