Chilliwack electric fly-in

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Nestled in the mountains one hour outside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is Ron Dodd's farm, home of the Fairfield R/C Club's flying field. This unassuming site boasts spectacular mountain views, a neatly mown runway and an over-fly courteously padded with young hay. For six years, this site has been host to the Memorial Day Electric Fly-in. The event continues to grow each year, and last time, 75 pilots attended along with many spectators and families.

I got up early on Saturday morning eager to catch the first official flight of the meet, and I didn't have to wait long. In the calm morning air, I caught Robert Fishwick of Vancouver, BC, flying his Litestick. It seemed fitting to start the fly-in with a plane that represents a growing facet of our hobby.

Not long after Robert's flight, we took a short trip to a pond for float flying. Hal Norrish was the first off the water; his plane can best be described as a distant relative of the Mitch Polling Aquasport. Up next was Bernard Cawley's Hobby Hangar Scout. Powered by a 7-cell, 2400mAh Ni Cd or a 30OOmAh NiMH, a Jeti 15-4 brushless motor and a 30-3P speed control turning an APC 9x4.5 electric prop, the Scout practically leaps off the water and offers very long flights.

One highlight of the float event was Ivan Pettigrew's 120-inch-wingspan Martin Mars. Ivan is a Chilliwack local and is well known for his scale efforts and his ability to build lightweight models; both attributes were evident in the Mars. Powered by four 550-size ferrite motors, this plane really flies with authority. An all-up weight of 10 pounds, 5 ounces, spread over an impressive 1,515 square inches of wing area, explains why Ivan says it flies like a trainer. Flight times lasted about 10 minutes, and the Mars got everyone's attention.

Hal Norrish, another local, also put in some nice flights on his CL-215, which is powered by two Ruby Trinity car motors geared 6:1 on 17, 1700mAh cells. This is a great example of how an inexpensive power system can make a spectacular model.

When we returned to the field, many interesting planes were in the air. One was Norm Cecil's Top Flite Gold Edition P-47-a fantastic plane that was nicely finished and skillfully flown.

Next, I found Russ Tront with Jeff Breece of Kent, WA, trimming out a cute-looking canard based on a Sig Riser wing. Powered by nothing more than a pair of geared Speed 280 motors, the canard could provide long, cruising flights.

Randy Smithhisler of Edgewood, WA, had a nice collection of Cubs with him, including a 105-inch-span, 1/3-scale J-3. Powered with an Astro 90 on a standard Astro gearbox and 36 cells, the model's flight was extremely scale.

Russ Tront, Glen Peden and Fred Bronk all put in great flights with their helicopters, although the award would have to go to Glen for tearing the biggest hole in the sky with his Logo 20. It truly spent less than 25 percent of its 6-minute flights upright. Glen couldn't find enough good things to say about his Logo, which he set up with a Plettenberg HP300/25/A3 H, a Schulze Future 35 speed control and 24, 2400mAh batteries.

Russ got nice, long flights out of his Ikarus Eco 8 outfitted with an Aveox 1015/2YA, Kontronics 3SL-40-6-18 controller and a Panasonic 10-cell, 30OOmAh NiMH. His aerobatic flights lasted 8 to 9 minutes, but his cruising flights lasted up to 16 minutes.

Some of the day's last flights were made by slow flyers, which seemed to fit into the event really well. Slow-fly pilots hopped in whenever there was a break in the action.

Awards were given out after the Saturday barbecue, which was generously hosted by Ron Dodd and his family. Fred Bronk of Vacaville, CA, received the award for greatest distance traveled. The award for most aerobatic flights went to Steve Cheung of Vancouver and his Aveoxpowered profile Hots, which he built from a Model Airplane News plan. Todd Long won the `Ron's Choice" award for his Lorenz Silent Dream; Ivan Pettigrew won Best Scale for his Bristol Freighter; Norm Cecil was awarded Best WW II Plane for his P-47, and Ron himself took Best WW I Plane for his Eindecker. I earned the award for Best Park Flyer/Slow Flyer for my Demoiselle, which had been featured as an RC MicroFlight plan.

On Saturday night, Bernard Cawley got everyone's attention with his LT-25 equipped with TEC Systems Night Ops for night flying. Everyone gathered at the flightline to watch Bernard put on two aerobatic flights. I had never seen the Night Ops system up close before and have to say I was very impressed.

On Sunday morning, Bill Warner of Kent, WA, practiced precision flying with his Zagi. It was probably the most common plane at the event; it's a lot of fun to push your limits when you are flying a nearly indestructible plane,

Sunday was a little cloudier, but it was still an excellent day of flying. Todd Long's Silent Dream pattern ship and Anton Eiselle's Speed 480-powered Twin Otter were definitely two of the highlights. The variety and quality of models at the event were first-rate.