More E flight events needed in OZ

[Mavrik]

We could do with more E flight events in OZ. With the advent of Lipos and cheap entry levels, I am noticing more and more people getting into electric RC. We could start with some more clubs offering fun fly days. This would help grow the hobbie and further share our interest. Any thoughts ???

Chris :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Stuntman]

Heres a list of all know electric related events so far for 2006 :D

Theres maybe more and theres no reason to add to it. If you let myself or Peter Pine know, we will add it to the list for publication ;)

cheers, Shawn

[Cerberus]

Id be interested in more indoor e-flight events, unfortunately the local one at sutherland basketball stadium run by HStore was closed down due to exhorbident insurance costs... curse those frivalous claims.

[AXI Motor Models]

I agree that we should have more e-events. The local club at Gosford is more into fuel powered planes but there have been some fun fly days there.

[Pecorino]

Shwn,

Thanks for posting the list. More info on upcoming events can also be found at the Australian Electric Flight Association Web Page www.aefanet.com

Cheers

Colin

[Mavrik]

Thanks for posting E flight calender of events Shawn.

This is my point exactly. The first E flight event near Sydney is 4th June 2006 fun fly at IMAC Woollongong ??

F5B events almost non existant. There seems to be more activity in Melb for electric flight.

I think we need to do more to promote eflight and get more frequesnt venues and events happening !! There is a club at Macquarie and Dural. I might join the Macquarie club this year and see if I can rev them up as my club Sunset soaring has banned lipos.

Any thoughts anyone ?

Mav :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Stuntman]

Banned LiPo's - aren't Sunset a predominantly electric club? Jeez thats just gonna push the E-flyers into non-regulated footy fields, etc.

The rebel field in Newcastle is open for electric or glider related activities only the third Sunday of every month. We'd have the field pretty much to ourselves as its not really used at all this day.

Shawn

[CustomPC]

I think we need to do more to promote eflight and get more frequesnt venues and events happening !! There is a club at Macquarie and Dural. I might join the Macquarie club this year and see if I can rev them up as my club Sunset soaring has banned lipos.

Any thoughts anyone ?



The Maquarie club has a few keen electric glider competion flyers. The club president and secretary regularly organise comps. The field is very small and not suitable for anything over 2m. For that reason they have developed their own Speed 400 class.
For larger glider events they arrange for the use of other club fields like Heathcote or Blacktown.

The Dural (Galston) club is purely a social club but is a great place to fly with a bunch of nice guys.

[becsta]

Where is the Blacktown field?

[CustomPC]

Where is the Blacktown field?

They're out near Doonside. I don't know the exact address and i have heard that the land where their field is currently placed will be developed soon.
I've also heard that the club is mainly nitro planes and they aren't too friendly to electric flyers.

[CustomPC]

Banned LiPo's - aren't Sunset a predominantly electric club? Jeez thats just gonna push the E-flyers into non-regulated footy fields, etc.

Shawn, i've never been to the sunset club but i've heard that their field is a baseball diamond on a plateu surrounded by extremely thick scrub. I've heard that losing a plane out in the scrub means you have to don some overalls and a machete to search for it. It's in a bushfire danger zone so LiPo's are banned in case there are any fires from downed planes in the scrub.

[Stuntman]

Shawn, i've never been to the sunset club but i've heard that their field is a baseball diamond on a plateu surrounded by extremely thick scrub. I've heard that losing a plane out in the scrub means you have to don some overalls and a machete to search for it. It's in a bushfire danger zone so LiPo's are banned in case there are any fires from downed planes in the scrub.


Ah ha that makes sense. I have flown there myself and understand fully the dangers of an "outlanding" at that field. :eek:

Theres an electic only club somewhere around Hornsby also. Anybody have details - I'd like to have a fly with these guys sometime soon and maybe even get a story or two (or at the very least some pics) for the AEFA newsletter.

[Stuntman]

On another note. The Aussie Neu motors distributor lives just up the road from me. We have been talking (dangerous - I now have two new neu motors :rolleyes: ) and are a bubbling up some ideas for an event or two.

We are thinking about a competition based event, something E-heli based and something glider based (be it 7cell, F5B, or whatever). Initially we would be intending to use the Rebel Field in Newcastle on the third Sunday of whatever month we decide upon. So guys we need some ideas - lets just work on an E-heli event initially - whats your thoughts - I think we could run a couple of events in a day but as I don't fly heli's I need some help here.

cheers, Shawn

[CustomPC]

Shawn,

I'm a member of the Hornsby Electric Model Flying Club (HEMFC). We fly out of Fagan Park at Galston every Sunday from 8:00am till whenever. Most have left by lunchtime but there's always a couple of us diehards in the afternoon.

I can only fly every alternate sunday (weather permitting) and i would love to meet up with you sometime. Let me know when your interested in coming down and i'll try to make sure i can make it.

Regarding the E-Heli event. I'm not sure how you would judge a comp. Maybe something along the lines of a fun fly with some presision hovering/flying gymkhana style events like take off and land in 5 different circles (with scoring zones) and flying past a certain point/line/pylon between each landing (timing the whole sequence).
That would be a good start as it doesn't require a whole lot of pilots skills. It would be very fun to fly and the judges don't need to be heli-knowledgable to score the event.

Bonus points (difficulty weighting) if you can auto-rotate the last landing on the spot.

You'd probably need 2 classes. There's a whole gammat of e-helis available. I fly a Logo 14 which is a large, powerful and agile machine. There's a lot of T-Rex's out there so a micro class (<800mm rotor dia) and a bigger class would be a good start.

[Tonystott]

You could also run a "pick-up" event, where the heli carries a suspended magnet below it, and has to pick up a metal disk from the ground - the smaller the disk the large points awarded.

[Stuntman]

Those two ideas are sounding excellent, fun and easy to run. And two classes, one for micros and one for the larger helis.

Keep em coming.

Custom, I'll shoot you a PM about HEMFC

cheers, Shawn

cheers, Shawn

[Stuntman]

OK,

I am just putting together my Quiet Storm and I got to thinking wouldn't be a great if there was pattern aerobatics comp for models like this. So I am proposing that for latter on the year (July - August after the proposed heli comp which I suspect will be around May) - an electric sports pattern and maybe 3D as well (depends on numbers I guess) event for models of less than 50" span.

Why less than 50".. because there are plethora of models, ARF's, kits and plans, this size on the market all of which can be powered on 300 watts or less on 3S cells - theres the hyperion Yak 55,3De light, cap, extra and sukhoi (perhaps getting on the small side) the fliton quiet storm, jumping jack , prodigy, extra and edge, the Precision aerobatics mini-katana, the stevens aero edge and groove, the awesone RC Cyclone, Eflite edge and mini-funtana, GWS formossa, Mountain models E-tanna, EVA, and Flashback, the Hotpoint, the ultrafly ultimate and extra and even the great planes super sportster - no doubt I've missed some but there's heaps of readily accessible models here - and I think all of them are now available locally. :D

There would be no restriction on motors, cells, watts or weight. Just 50" or less span and a time limit from take off to landing to perform the prescibed manouvers (in order to get through everybody and have enough time afterwards for some fun-flying).

So there you go- what do think.

Cheers, Shawn

[pldaniels]

Shawn,

Sounds like good ideas. So, you guys going to come up here into the mild heat (it's only 38'C here, not 44'C like in Sydney) and compete? :D

I'll even supply some sponsorship :)

Paul.

[CustomPC]

44C was just for new years day.

We've had cloudy, overcast, drizzly days ever since.
It's also been blowing a gale for what seems like months. I have'nt flown for a long time due to weather. Mother nature and I are at war it seems sometimes.

[pldaniels]

CustomPC,

Amen to that. I swear, it can be dead calm outside, so I grab my little mini-Dragonfly to go get some stick time and no sooner do I connect the battery do I feel a breeze on my back.

No problem, I'll take the Slipso400 pylon racer down for a run... I get to the park and it's blowing an insane gale and even at 100km/hr the slipso feels like it's barely getting through the wind, worse though usually the wind is flying across the length of the pylon course - more fun.

Paul.

[Mavrik]

OK,

I am just putting together my Quiet Storm and I got to thinking wouldn't be a great if there was pattern aerobatics comp for models like this. So I am proposing that for latter on the year (July - August after the proposed heli comp which I suspect will be around May) - an electric sports pattern and maybe 3D as well (depends on numbers I guess) event for models of less than 50" span.

Why less than 50".. because there are plethora of models, ARF's, kits and plans, this size on the market all of which can be powered on 300 watts or less on 3S cells - theres the hyperion Yak 55,3De light, cap, extra and sukhoi (perhaps getting on the small side) the fliton quiet storm, jumping jack , prodigy, extra and edge, the Precision aerobatics mini-katana, the stevens aero edge and groove, the awesone RC Cyclone, Eflite edge and mini-funtana, GWS formossa, Mountain models E-tanna, EVA, and Flashback, the Hotpoint, the ultrafly ultimate and extra and even the great planes super sportster - no doubt I've missed some but there's heaps of readily accessible models here - and I think all of them are now available locally. :D

There would be no restriction on motors, cells, watts or weight. Just 50" or less span and a time limit from take off to landing to perform the prescibed manouvers (in order to get through everybody and have enough time afterwards for some fun-flying).

So there you go- what do think.

Cheers, Shawn

Great Idea Shawn. Put it together and we will be there. What venue are you thinking of ???

The only club that I can think of that would host such an event is in Dural Sydney NSW.

Chris

[Stuntman]

Hi Chris,

Our field in Newcastle can hold an event like this. Third Sunday of the month is "quiet" day so we'd have the whole field to ourselves to get upto whatever we like. But if theres some more central alternatives - like maybe the field at Hornsby - they are options as well.

cheers, Shawn

[pldaniels]

Shawn,

Send me a plane ticket! :D I'll even bring down some goodies :P

Actually on second thoughts, I don't like flying in real planes so I'll have to pass.

Paul.

[Mavrik]

There are 3 electric clubs around Sydney.

# Macquarie

# Hornsby

# Dural

I will see if I can arrange something at Hornsby.

Dural, however has the best venue. Their field is great. We could also try Belrose WRCS, but they are 90% IC club. May be have a visitor day as I know a committee member.

There is a big club at Woolongong called IMAC, but this is 1.5 hours drive south of Sydney.

[Stuntman]

Yep, IMAC hold a few electric events. Its a glow/IC field and it costs them a packet to have it so I don't think they'd be to keen to "close" the field down for too many more events (and they must have the canteen manned for them to make it worthwhile)

I didn't realise Dural was an E-only club, hmm I need to do some day tripping.

If we are going to run an event, other than a "fun-fly" then we really need to have complete access to the field for the day or the 3-4 hours to run it.

Alternatively we could hold "gatherings" where a group meet at one club for a days flying.

cheers, Shawn

[CustomPC]

There is not a Hornsby AND a Dural club. You're thinking of the one club.
The HEMFC flys out at Galston which is the town next to Dural.

It's a social club and they're not really intersted in competions. I've had that discussion with them already. They're a friendly bunch and they might allow you to use the field on a Saturday because Sunday is the only club sanctioned flying day.

[Mavrik]

There is not a Hornsby AND a Dural club. You're thinking of the one club.
The HEMFC flys out at Galston which is the town next to Dural.

It's a social club and they're not really intersted in competions. I've had that discussion with them already. They're a friendly bunch and they might allow you to use the field on a Saturday because Sunday is the only club sanctioned flying day.

I just remember the name now for Dural/Galson. It is Fagan Park. I was told there was an E club at Hornsby. may be this is the same place. Macquarie also have an E club, but field is nothing to get excited about.

Fagan park is a great venue. Did you speek to these guys ???

Chris

[CustomPC]

Yes, i'm a member there (HEMFC, Fagan Park). I was speaking to a member of the committee yesterday. The club "profile" is as a social club. I can tell you that most of the regular fliers are not interested in any sort of competion.

They also have to be careful not to do anything wrong by the council. The council has given the club exclusive use of the land but the equestrian people are fighting for it.
The park ranger is happy for us to be there because we maintain the land and don't cause any environmental problems like horses would. But we still have to make an effort to maintain the good relationship with the council/rangers. Thus, competitions may be out of the question.

[mhale71]

alan szabo and jasoun crause and their helis have been flown in from america for the heli smackdown, an event next weekend.

mike

[Mavrik]

alan szabo and jasoun crause and their helis have been flown in from america for the heli smackdown, an event next weekend.

mike

Where is this event being held ??????

[mhale71]

in melbourne, theyre also getting lots of peopel from all aroudn australia to it, most are flying down by jetstar on friday morning, and theres been a designated driver who will be driving several peoples from the sydney groups' helis down.

the entry fee is $10, you need a bib, and MAAA registration, and a recently certified radio.

why is it called smackdown?

the main event is a competition to autorotation land your heli from 20 metres up onto something the size of a card table, the good bit is its lifted 50cm off the ground, landing... even hovering over raised objects is difficult...so an autorotation landing... yer... smackdown.... the winners will go into the draw to win a HENSELEIT 3DMP

there will also be cometitions such as drag racing, etc, with various other prises, and 3d comps judged by alan and jason, they will also be giving demo flights.

hope to see you there!

mike