Heli Invasion -- Oct 3-5, 2008

[shamen222]

If you where not here for this you missed out.... what a great event.... I can not wait until next year for this.....Joe, Clay, you guys worked your tails off. All of the pro's where great too, very approachable and would get their hands dirty for anyone that needed it. Lots of spectacular flying and crashes too..(mainly by me) the night flights where crazy. Xerogear really showed their stuff off well, those night setups are a MUST... BEAST you are #1... thanks for the input, thoughts, and help. SEGWAYS RULE!! Also a big thanks goes out to the Fredricksburg RC club... a Great club with very nice people and a lot to offer their members. Greg is ACES... and he has all the cool stuff.. thanks for all the demo's and I think I have to go buy some more bats for the trex 500... the 25c 6s 3000s I think that was what it was never let go the ENTIRE time we flew... and if Bert can kick the hell out of it for 4min and come out with a big smile on his face and with a big thumbs up, I know I have a lot of room. Thanks for the turbin demo...Burgen heli's, there was a lot of there. Min Aircraft with the super secret 50 nitro and Nick on the sticks...wow... I want two.
This event was 100% great... can I pre register for next year now??

PS That VIBE was mine..... missed it by 3 numbers...

[oddball1972]

yea there was what 10 prizes went to 3 people

[iflymyhelishigh]

I wanted to win that vibe!!!

Oh well, at least I was there :) Who won the HH raffle? They said it was going to be on the site... LOL

[shamen222]

I won a light kit from Xerogear....I wouldnt have minded winning the VIBE as well.... I thought my chances would be good... I did buy like 45 tickets.... and that guy that won so much bought about the same as me if not more....LOL

[wannaheli]

That one guy made out with a 770 gyro and a G5 kit. Luck dog!

[invertmast]

That one guy made out with a 770 gyro and a G5 kit. Luck dog!

I still say it was rigged :D

[ofsrider]

My last couple of videos...

Curtis and Don heli / plane:

http://gallery.me.com/afbon#100116

450 truck chase:

http://gallery.me.com/afbon#100124

[ClayK]

yea there was what 10 prizes went to 3 people
Actually, there were quite a bit of prizes.

Vibe 50
JR770
G5 w/motor and battery
Outrage .50 pipe
3S Outrage Pack for the truck chase
2 sets of hex tools
2 blade holders
2 ball link sizers
2 Heli-Invasion embroidered shirts
Signed hat
Signed shirt
A painted canopy by U-neak Designs
A canopy condom of your choice
G4 Simulator
Shirt from Heliproz
Shirt from Hobby Hut
2 $30 gift cards from Hobby Hut
2 sets of night gear from XeroGear
~4 sets of blades
and some other nick knacks that I'm sure I'm forgetting about.

I'd say the prize pool was pretty good. The value of the prizes was well over $2000. Also considering that an end of the year event and it's the first year, I'm not really sure what you were expecting. Sure I would have liked it to be bigger, but it's tough for a first year event to get much of anything. I was extremely pleased with the donations we got, all things considered. Our vendor support was extremely good and I will continue to support the vendors that support events with my hard-earned cash. Big thanks to Hobby Hangar, Outrage RC, Hobby Hut, XeroGear, HeliProz and U-neak Designs.

I have been to over 60 events in just the last 3 years and I've only won something three times. A JR500 gyro at MHA a couple years ago, a TRex 500 at VAF like 2 months ago and a 500 battery at IRCHA. Considering the prize pools at IRCHA are huge and there is usually something at every fly, I would say the odds of coming to an event and expecting to win something are extremely low. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't win anything. I always buy tickets at events because it supports the club that puts it on. I never expect to win anything, cause the chances of it happening are just so slim (unless you buy a large amount of tickets like the people that won a couple of items each).

[Greg Alderman]

Yes...absolutely an awesome event! Was great seeing old friends that I hadn't see in a while...and meeting new ones...

Thanks for everyone stopping buy the Outrage Booth and testing packs and such! I always enjoy the comments about the packs when the test pack is returned!

Thanks to everyone involved in putting the event on! Bravo!

[joco]

I still say it was rigged :D
Well if it was rigged then you would have won the Zach Johns autographed blade!! ROFL!!!

[LoveMyTrex]

what do you guys think of the videos? can you view them?

[joco]

They look good to me... except some kid with a pony tail keep getting in the shot.

[oddball1972]

the kid in the pony tail seems to be in all the videos and 90% of the pics

[iflymyhelishigh]

ROFL *cough* LMT *Cough*

[invertmast]

Well if it was rigged then you would have won the Zach Johns autographed blade!! ROFL!!!

LMAO.. sooo very tru.. cant wait till next year!

[RPM 1.5]

WELL WELL WELL?????????
I hate to tell you BUT raffle was up and up !!!!!!!!! about ten minutes after BEAST got a 9650 servo from me for $40.00 I went a took that money and got 60 tickets with it to HELP THEM OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on raffle money taken in,so thats how I won things end of FREAKIN STORY
RAY= 1.5
Had a GREAT TIME will be back next year THANKS Clay, Joe and Carrie

[shamen222]

I thought the Prize pool was great, Let me tell you guys something... if it was rigged I would have def. gotten more.... Hey Guys can we rig it next year.... Shawn wins it all..... I WONT TELL any one... and I am sure they wont mind....

[iflymyhelishigh]

SHAWN! I get something small :P

[invertmast]

man... im kinda getting beef (but not directly) for a joke of a comment... was a great event, just thought i'd put some "humor" in it.. guess i failed miserably

[rollin1inpa]

I was surprised that the raffle had as much as it did. I thought that it was great. I have to give a big thanks to the hobby hangar for putting up a second set of night blades for the night fly contest. Took the sting out of my crash. Thanks guys.

[sgrim80]

I was surprised that the raffle had as much as it did. I thought that it was great. I have to give a big thanks to the hobby hangar for putting up a second set of night blades for the night fly contest. Took the sting out of my crash. Thanks guys.

Anyone have Rich's night flight on video? That would be nice to see again! Great flying Rich.

[ClayK]

I think our support will be better next year. It's hard getting on the budgets for vendors, especially since it's after IRCHA. With the support from the pilots and vendors, including the feedback from the attendees, I think the end result will be a better event next year.

I know everyone had a great time, but there are always lessons learned and takeaways to make the next event better. More feedback is good, let's us know what to improve on, what to change, etc My goal is to put on a event that's like a mini-IRCHA for everyone on the eastern seaboard. It's unfortunate more MHA, BaltiBoyz or the southern crowd didn't make it up. Honestly, that would have been another 50+ pilots easy.

[merlin703]

Everything was really good... even the heli gods brough good weather, you couldn't have asked or better weather than that. The one thing I hope it improves is to stay a little bit closer on schedule. I'm referring to the night flying event. It was WAY too late. I'm not sure how late behind schedule it was and I'm sure I wasn't the only one I felt that way. I'm also sure there were other factors that contributed to that. Everything else was top notch :noteworthy

[joco]

Our night fly went late for a few reasons. The Q&A and Setup clinics went longer than expected, but I felt it better to let them run so people could get everything answered. Also the club put away the sound system not realizing we needed it for the evening. So it took us some time to get it setup and working again. Also once we completed the Amateur event our amateur challenger didnt have a rx battery for his challenge flight, so we had some time scrambling around trying to get him setup.

The problem with these events is that things go wrong, like plane engines not starting when their supposed to, slow to clear the flightline, etc. So it makes it hard to stay exactly on schedule.

[shamen222]

Rich, Next year we will be playing Beer Pong....you and the miss, missed out on the beverages.... It was great to meet you, great flying by the way.

Shawn