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Bert Kammerer and Bobby Watts
Colin Bell
Matt Botos
Jamie Robertson
Al Austria
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On Saturday, I was able to snap a few photos during the festivities and you can check them out below. Check out Tommy’s complete event write up click the following link. 2010 Central Alabama Fun Fly! Did you “dig the ditch?”
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As Tommy has already informed you guys, the Birmingham Event was spectacular. I was able to snap a few photos during Friday’s festivities and you can check them out below. For Tommy’s complete event write up, click the following link. 2010 Central Alabama Fun Fly! Did you “dig the ditch?”
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Even though the event did not start until Friday, enthusiastic pilots began arriving Monday, promptly followed by a caravan of campers and RV’s on Wednesday. Most people showed up early Friday and trickled in as the weekend progressed. By mid day Saturday the total registered pilot count was around 150 although it could have been slightly higher! As far as weather was concerned it has to be the best I have ever seen at an event! Friday was bright and sunny with a high of 75 degrees and no wind, followed by Saturday around 70 and a few gusts.
You can really tell that the RC helicopter industry is on the right track and really exploding when you come to an event and notice the diversity and variety of all the different pilots and types of helicopters. One of the first things that I noticed at the event , after starring down the hungry ditch, was all the different types of helis there. Sitting on the nice long flight line you could see everything from Outrage, Thunder Tiger, Compass, Bergen, ElyQ, Align, and the well known Synergy helicopters.
There were a few things to be done before even beginning to fly and start carving out the legendary “ditch”. I saw many pilots checking out the multiple vendor tents that were all up and down the flight line, knowing that they would become very familiar with them over the next few days. Everyone knows you can’t play with the ditch without sacrificing a few parts. The vendor list included RRE Models and B&B hobbies. There was also reps from Esprit models, Morgan Fuels as well as Readyheli cruising around the event and talking to pilots!
Friday’s flying was nothing short of entertaining at the least!! Many pro and notable pilots showed up at the event this year including Bert Kammerer, Bobby Watts, Mike Fortin, Will Fannin, Colin Bell, Marcus Kim, Jaime Robertson, Henry Caldwell, Mike Trueblood, Jared Graznow and Matt Botos. These guys put on some absolute smack down for the entire day until sunset with everything from high speed passes , straight up smack 3d and Bert and Bobby’s well known tandem flight.
The flight line stayed extremely busy throughout the day, but still allowed every pilot to get in as much flying as they wanted. The day began to wind down as people began to clean up at dusk, with just a few daring pilots continuing to fly. The flying field is conveniently located near many hotels and great restaurants where a lot of pilots retired to with old and new friends alike for the evening.
As Saturday began it was quite obvious it was going to be a fun filled, high energy, day at the field. Jaime Robertson was no stranger to the flight line over the course of the weekend. His repeated flights with his Trex 700 never ceased to amaze everyone watching. Close to follow Jaime was a continuously revolving door of amazing flights from Bert and Bobby as well as some great flights by Mike Fortin, all with their Trex 700′s. It was also quite interesting seeing Bert’s ability to rotate back and forth from his flybar and flybarless machine. Not to be forgotten was Matt Botos flying the new prototype N5 which is soon to be released alongside his electric monster E9. As always Matt’s unique flying style stopped the crowd as they passed!
Along with all the spectacular flights over the course of the weekend one can only expect that the ditch would claim a few souls!
Late afternoon led to the pilot’s raffle which was adorned with numerous and generous donations from sponsors and vendors. Dave Harkey was sure to get a prize to every single pilot at the event whether it be a set of Trex 250 main blades or a new Trex 250 kit!
As dusk approached pilots at center stage began to get a little on the daring side and spectators saw some of the best flights of the weekend. A line of pilots gathered behind the flight line, cheering on whoever was flying to get lower and fly harder! Which as you can imagine resulted in about four flights ending up with helis in pieces, which also includes Will Fannin’s infamous 20 second smack down flight. Sorry Will. While not being the record turn out expected to beat last years 170 pilots this was probably one of the best ways I could imagine starting off the 2010 flying season. A big thanks to all those involved in hosting this great event and look forward to being at the 17th Annual Central Alabama Fly In!!!!
Check out the following links for more extended photo coverage by Earl McCoy!!
Friday photos and Saturday Photos
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