San Diego Electrics fly-in

Model Airplane News, Jul 2002 by Reid, John

Southern California E-XTRAVAGANZA

San Diego is known for its sunny, warm weather, but for four days over Presidents' Weekend (February 15 to 18) at the 2002 San Diego Mid-Winter Electrics, the skies were stormy and winds blustery. This didn't dampen the sprits of the promoters, vendors, participants and spectators who filled the flying field on Saturday; approximately 600 spectators watched 140 registered pilots compete in five events. Pilots came from as far east as New York and as far west as Hawaii.

The Fly-in was presented by the Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego and sponsored by Hitec and Model Airplane News. The West Coast's largest electric-airplane event lived up to its title despite the weather. At any given moment, the sky was teeming with four to six planes, each one with a pilot trying to impress his respective judge. The static display covered a large part of the pit area, with planes that ranged from small-- scale backyard flyers to 1/4 scale and beyond. Spectators lined up two and three deep to study the details of these silent flyers. A well-managed radio impound assured that there were no mishaps with radio conflicts; all aircraft made it back to display.

Twenty-eight vendors stocked the supplier booths with a wide variety of goods for the electric flier. Aero Model, Airtronics, AstroFlight, Diversity Models Aircraft, Electric Jet Factory, EMS Jomar, Hobby Club, Hobby People, K&A Models and Peak Electronics are just a few who were there.

EVENTS

Saturday opened with an electroglide contest. All the planes were launched together and flown powered by Speed 400 motors on 7 cells for 90 seconds, at which time the judge yelled, "End power!" At that point, the pilots tried to keep their planes aloft for as long as they could, without going over 20 minutes. To keep the timed points, each plane had to land on the marked runway, and if the plane stayed aloft longer than 20 minutes, no points were awarded. After three rounds, the pilot with the most accumulated time points was declared the winner. Pedro Brantuas took top honors with his Sunbird, followed by Tom DeShon (also with a Sunbird) and Don Wemple with his Systole.

The scale events followed, with five to six planes in the air at any one time. Every flyer had a judge watching its maneuvers and grading the flight for scale realism. Spectators lined the runway with cameras and camcorders while they watched many uncommon models as well as the usual favorite scale birds cut through the somewhat murky skies. With so many planes from the static display being flown, this popular event ran overtime, but no one minded.

In the open class, Dan Savage prevailed with his scratch-built F-106. The runner-up spot went to Geary Keilman and his Graupner Me-323 Gigant with six (yes, six) Speed 280 motors, followed by Ward Shelley's beautiful AT-6 Texan. The San Diego class featured planes with less than 50-inch wingspans. Frank Gagliardi topped the podium for his scratch-built Eindecker E-III powered by a direct-drive Speed 600, Don Wemple took second with his Nieuport 17, and Chuck Haverlak's P-51 Mustang took home third.

During the lunch break, numerous aerial demonstrations kept the crowd's attention. Ducted-fan jets took to the sky, using a type of launching platform that many combat pilots use. These jets flew fast without the roar of their gas-powered counterparts and landed perfectly after a few low passes.

Next were the electric helicopters. With his orange and black R/C Direct Logo 20 Mikado helicopter, Mark Mercer performed extreme aerobatics that drew gasps from the crowd. Mark stood it on its rotors in every possible position. He rolled, flipped, looped and rotated all over the sky and ended with a deadstick autorotation from a couple of hundred feet to a perfect landing. Not to be outdone, Allen Szabo gave his own acrobatic clinic with his Calet Whisper. His stint culminated with hovering action within inches of the ground-upside-down!

The crowd waited with great anticipation for what was billed by the announcer as "the world's fastest Sky Scooter." Hitec's popular foam flyer was launched by a large bungee cord, with a 30-pound pull, at approximately 30Gs. The first launch was less than spectacular; the force from the bungee pulled the towhook out of the plane-and moved the Sky Scooter about 5 inches. The problem was rectified with an 8-inch spike nail pushed through the nose and attached to the bungee. The second launch yanked the plane into the air for just a second, and then the Sky Scooter plowed nose first into the dirt on the other side of the runway!

In pylon races with gas-powered motors, you can usually identify the fastest plane by how loud it is. Here, the Speed 400-pylon racing is fast and furious, but without a lot of noise. If I hadn't been looking at the course, I wouldn't have known when the planes were up.

Steve Neu placed first with his Stinger. All competitors used Speed 400 motors on a maximum of 7 cells, and the models weighed between 11 and 12 ounces. The race consisted of ten laps around a 1/2-pylon course during which some racers approached 100mph.