Model Aircraft and Model Flying - W3MH

Sixth Annual Mid-Atlantic Model Helicopter Expo 1997 Return to W3MH Archive / Online Articles

Ben Mann

Because of the impending bad weather the two day event was compressed into one day. Many "THANKS" to all who helped make this year's Mid-Atlantic Helicopter Expo a success. And to Michael Dean who took MOST of the pictures. And Burt Rupert who took pictures and filled in where ever needed.

The 6 th. Annual Mid-Atlantic Helicopter Expo was held at the Central Carolina Radio Control, CCR/C, field, in High Point, NC, September 26, 27 and 28.

The weather was perfect Friday and Saturday. Temperatures were in the mid-seventies both days with the wind increasing Saturday afternoon. On Saturday night and Sunday morning the rains came. Helicopters with floats and small boats were the only things moving. The rain stopped late Sunday afternoon with only a few "dedicated", I didn’t say "committed", pilots stayed through the rain. Dave Story, Gary Wright, Larry Bergen, Tony McDowell, Jerry Leonard, Jeff Rankin and a few others worked on helicopters during the monsoon and as the rain lifted put on a private 3D demonstration.

With all the parts of Bergen Machine and Tool and Gary Wright, Larry Bergen and Jeff Rankin on hand, Gary "upgraded" my Intrepid gas machine. Thanks Gary. Gary then proceeded to put on an impressive 3D demonstration with the gasser. I have a Hanson 3.3hp engine in the machine and I think Gary, Larry and Jeff were impressed with the performance.

Because of the impending rain, the two-day event was compressed into one day. All the volunteers, Jerry Wrightenberry, Chris Myers, Jerry Leonard, Wayne Apple, Jerry Loy, Burt Rupert, Tom Sanders, Phil Lewis, Steve Underwood, Jack King, Howard Payne, Jessie Brinfield, Mark Willard, Tony McDowell, Wayne Mann and myself with the help of others like Wayne Hildebrand, Tom Dooley, Gary Wright and many others helped make the event a success.

Starting off the class events was the experts. They had two tasks to accomplish. Task one was "Ring Around the Rosy" in which pilots pick up rings and return them to the starting circle as quickly as possible. Task two was "Spot (auto-rotation) Landing". Each pilot does three autos and the lowest sum of the three attempts is the winner.

The intermediates also did the "Ring Around the Rosy" as task one. Task two was "LeMans" in which the pilot dragged a ball around a "race" course laid out on the ground.

The novice class had two tasks. One was to hover over four circles for five seconds each and return and land. Task two was "Connect the Dots" in which the pilot had to land in each of five circles.

Considering the windy conditions, all contestants did an EXCELLENT job of completing the tasks.

Of the planned open events three were held. Night flying, drag race and bomb drop. The altitude record and climb and glide were not held due to time and weather constraints.

The drag race was a multiple elimination race with the winner returning to race again. Close racing was the norm. Quick reactions allowed Dave Story to prevail.

The bomb drop was AMAZING. Only three balls were lost in the grass and most pilots and bombardiers hit well within the seventy-five foot circle. Randall Goforth, the winner, dropped the ball from 893 feet and hit within one foot of the target. The ball then rolled four feet ten inches for the winning drop.

The night flying was great. It was the first night flight for Dave Story and he said he just wanted to see if he could get oriented. Well it took about thirty seconds to get oriented and he did all his normal 3D for us at night. Lane Rictor, who normally puts on a great show, had his lights fail in flight and landed with only his main rotor blades lights and a nervous flashlight holder providing illumination. Lane did a great job saving the machine. With his helicopter looking like a firefly on steroids, Steve Pierce won the night flying event. All the guys put on a GREAT show for the people.

Wayne Mann had his Kalt Baron 30 and Airtronics Stylus radio hooked up on a trainer cord and allowed anyone to try and hover the helicopter. Many people enjoyed the thrill of flying a model helicopter for the first time. I think Wayne got a few thrills of his own, but no crashes.

In fact there was not one crash at the entire event. That speaks well of the skill of the pilots attending and participating.

Saturday night a dinner was catered, at the field, by Henry James BBQ, of High Point, NC. Carolina pork BBQ, BBQ chicken, hush puppies, slaw, baked beans, rolls, tea and peach cobbler was served. Yummmm! Yum!

Following dinner an auction was held. There were MANY great buys. We plan to expand on the auction next year.

As the night sky darkened pilots readied their machines. Strange blades and lights were attached. It was time for the night flying event. People who have seen helicopters fly at night are amazed. People who had not seen night flying before could hardly believe their eyes.

And the rains came.

What a great event. Two days were packed into one, but thanks to the volunteers and pilots we got in most of the events.

"THANKS" to all the sponsors. Bergen Machine and Tool for the grand prize, an Intrepid 60. King R/C for the many mailings and prizes. JR and Horizon Hobbies for the Ergo 30 helicopter. Airtronics for the computer helicopter radio. Futaba for the computer helicopter radio. Arcamax for the new Pi System Gyros. Great Planes for the Nexus 30 helicopter. Wildcat for providing all the fuel for the event. Jerry Wrightenberry of Wrightenberry Mills for the BladeSocks™. And Rave’s Design, Miniature Aircraft, The Tool Man, VEL-TYE, Capital USA, Livesay’s Model Products, BK Product, Tower Hobbies, Fox Manufacturing, RC Modeler Magazine, Vario USA, Boca Bearings, McDaniel R/C, HeliCam, T&T Engineering, K/C Hobby, W3MH Model Helicopter Magazine and Cellular Plus.

"Thanks" also go out to all the web sites that linked to http://www.thisoffice.com/heli-expo and spread the word about the Mid-Atlantic Helicopter Expo. Thanks Guys. By popular request, we are going to continue the "On-Line" Auction. It is being updated and automated.

And a special "Thanks" to Tom Hansen and the guys from Georgia Tech Aerial Robotics Team. They drove up from Atlanta and setup the autonomous robotics helicopter.

Now for the pictures. Because all the volunteers were busy trying to do the impossible, compressing a two day event into one, some of the pictures didn’t come out too well. Many "Thanks" to Mike Dean for many of the pictures.

Don't forget that the thumbnail pictures are hotlinks to larger versions!

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Ben Mann